Arthurworrey failed Victoria Climbie, tribunal told

The woman fighting to have her name removed from a list of people
unsuitable to work with children failed in her fundamental
responsibilities as Victoria Climbie’s social worker, a
tribunal has heard, writes Simeon Brody from the
tribunal.
 
Barrister Philip Coppel, acting on behalf of the government, said
the file Lisa Arthurworrey was given when she took on
Victoria’s case should have made it clear to her that the
girl was at risk of serious harm.
 
He told the Care Standards Tribunal that Arthurworrey should have
recognised the warning signs in accounts of scars on
Climbie’s body, her reported nervousness in the presence of
Marie-Therese Kouao, who was later convicted of her murder, and her
bed-wetting.
 
Arthurworrey, who is appealing against her listing on the
Protection of Children Act List, had argued she did not have enough
training, support or experience to carry out her child protection
role at Haringey Council.
 
But Coppel told the court: “You didn’t need more
training, more supervision, more experience for you to pick up then
that this was a child seriously at risk of harm.”
 
He also accused Arthurworrey of not probing deeply enough into
issues of concern at a later meeting with Kouao. He said:
“This was not a point of needing to dig beneath the surface,
it had been put on a plate right in front of you. You just failed
to follow it through. That’s correct isn’t
it?”

“No, that’s not correct,” replied
Arthurworrey, who maintained she had not received a clear medical
diagnosis that Climbie might have been suffering from abuse.
 
The case continues