Waltham Forest SCR is trigger for extra training

A serious case review into a three-month-old boy who died at the hands of his mother has led to extra training for health and social care workers in assessing the needs of families in Waltham Forest, London.

Joseph Kompus died at his home in Walthamstow, in September 2007, after suffering a massive head injury and a fractured arm and rib. His mother, Maria Kompusova, 22, was convicted of his manslaughter.

The SCR, published last month, found the child was not known to children’s services but had been seen by GPs and midwives in Waltham Forest, Hackney and Haringey.

Missed opportunities

The review found health professionals had missed opportunities to identify that the family had additional needs and that the quality of assessments was “very variable”.

Waltham Forest Local Safeguarding Children Board has recruited a team of trainers to coach frontline staff in the borough in the common assessment framework – a standardised approach to assessments designed to promote early identification of children’s needs.

The SCR also said that organisations working with children in the three London boroughs should understand the importance of the recording and transferring information by frontline staff.

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External information

Common assessment framework – information from the Every Child Matters website