Doncaster reviews child protection ‘failings’ for children at risk of abuse

Doncaster council has launched an internal review into how social services and police deal with children at risk of sexual abuse.

The review was announced in a progress report for the council’s children’s services and comes just days before the authority’s children’s services are transferred to an independent trust.

It follows the publication of a report into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, which found at least 1,400 children had been raped and abused in the South Yorkshire town.

Doncaster’s progress report revealed details of an inspection into child safeguarding work carried out by South Yorkshire Police, the same force heavily criticised in the Rotherham report. The inspection was carried out in May, but has not been published in full yet.

“During the inspection some failings in the way the council and the police responded to a small number of children in one of our homes was identified,” the report stated.

It also said that the Doncaster safeguarding children board will lead a ‘Learning Lessons’ review into this matter.

Prior to January 2014, there was no dedicated child sexual exploitation (CSE) team in the area, the report revealed. Since January, however, a group of police and social care workers have been brought together to form a specialist CSE team.

The government decided to outsource Doncaster’s children’s services to an independent trust, following a damning report in 2013. The report followed years of failings and government interventions in the troubled council.