Leeds council has launched an urgent review into a child protection case linked to disorder in a suburb of the city last week.
Disturbances broke out in the Harehills area last Thursday (18 July) after social workers visited a Roma family, reportedly to remove their children.
A bus was set on fire and other vehicles damaged, said West Yorkshire Police, which subsequently made arrests and have so far charged three people with violent disorder and arson reckless as to endanger life.
Social workers ‘met with hostility’
Its chief constable, Pat Twiggs, said: “Our officers responded to a call from children’s social care at around 5pm yesterday (Thursday 18 July) after social workers reported being met with hostility when dealing with a child protection matter.
“Responding officers were attacked and helped children’s social care staff withdraw to a place of safety.”
Following the disturbances, a group of organisations supporting Roma people issued a statement, condemning the violence but also raising concerns about child protection practice towards the family.
Concerns about treatment of family and wider community
The statement, supported by the Romani & Traveller Social Work Community Group, referred to the “forceful manner in which the children were removed and the impact this has had on them and the wider local community”.
It also cited wider concerns about child protection practice with Roma families generally.
“Frontline casework of Roma [non-governmental organisations] finds that Roma families report negative experiences when engaging with children’s services in England, including direct and indirect discrimination, poor communication, lack of access to information and lack of appropriate support, generally making them feel scared and powerless.”
According to a 2022 report for the Department for Education on ethnicity and social care, children from White Irish Traveller, Roma and Gypsy families were the most overrepresented of any group in the system, at four times their share in the population.
Call to reassure Roma community in Leeds
The charities urged Leeds council to “immediately enable meaningful engagement with the Roma family subject to this case, to achieve the best outcome for the children”, working with a Roma charity and/or a bi-lingual advocate.
They also called for Leeds children’s services and police representatives to meet with Roma organisations to reassure the community and “prevent the possible negative impact this incident could have on Roma families and their engagement with local services”.
Following this, the council issued a separate joint statement with representatives of the Roma community in the city following a meeting they held last Friday (19 July).
Urgent review of case
It said: “The council has agreed to undertake an urgent review of the case and work with Romanian and Roma led organisations, the churches, and the Honorary Consulate of Romania and other family representatives for the best interests of the family and wider Roma community.”
“The Romanian and Roma community have played a fantastic role in the community and have contributed much to the diversity and richness of the Harehills”, the joint statement added. “We want this work to continue and develop further work that makes Harehills an even better place to work and live.”
The council and the community representatives also called for calm, and for co-operation with the authorities, stressing that last week’s disturbances “would not help [the] community or the family”.
National changes urged for Roma families
The prior statement from the Roma organisations also called for national changes to improve children’s services’ response to families from the community. These included:
- For children’s services across the UK to “address the scarcity of kinship placements and foster care placements within Roma families, and the lack of cultural competence in foster care placements to ensure the cultural, emotional and psychological needs of Roma children in care are being met”.
- For the DfE to “investigate the failures of children’s services to address the barriers and disadvantages Roma people experience during child protection cases”.
- For the government to “take immediate action to ensure Roma families have access to culturally appropriate support and a fair process during child protection investigations”.
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More outreach Roma( Romanian, Czech/ Slovak, etc) support workers needed.
If there is no funding for this, then social care and other services should receive suitable training around Roma culture.
Many Roma parents are illiterate and their struggles are linked with what happened recently in Harehills.
I have not been able to find the source of this conflict. Were these children taken into care because of non attendance to school or some other problem? It makes a difference to know the reason.
Not just Roma community, other minority groups are in similar position. Children protection team shows in public eyes how they can treat children. The manners how kids has been removed is unacceptable.
Children service in UK always treated minority children in very bad way, not supportive, terapeutic way like their children.
It is because biases and prejudices, they feed they Ego,
Best intrest of minority children in UK, ….. I don’t think so.
However, I believe sooner or later all does unfair cases will end up in Human and Children Right Commission.
P.s.
I may be in danger sharing my opinion in public.
Gipton and Harehills are very distinct and separate geographies, populations and radically different estate layouts or street arrangements. Where’s the research effort gone?
The things that they have in common are
(i) pretty poor places for children to play out and safely enjoy themselves free from or with little adult supervision,
(ii) the housing stock isn’t suited to today’s family needs and especially larger families,
(iii) for the past 30 years both area’s have been structrally neglected, except for the major gateway projects moving traffic in and out; the neighbourhood infrastructure to meet family needs woefully inadequate and
(iv) while the surrounding area’s have gained from gentrification and repopulation by incoming professionals these area’s haven’t gained anything.
Framing, correctly, the issues raised by this incident is more important than whether there’s an improvement opportunity to develop kinship care and foster care arrangements; the financial incentives of which must be weighed in the mix.
One thing is for sure; exposure to the wider benefits of a major City like Leeds must be guaranteed to all its children and by the City Leaders including, say, overseas educational travel or cultural affiliations with other people and places, it simply broadens any child’s horizons.
Limiting any review to within the MacAlister Review is shortsighted and inevitably another fix-that-fails and at worst a tragedy of the commons.
Come On Leeds, United !!!
Free tickets to the footy rugby and [add the activities] ordinary give away for every home game ~ it’s the little stuff that counts too.
The bigger stuff will as with the former East Leeds MP and, then, Minister for Youth, George Mudie MP require Government to be positively seen and felt.
Yvette Cooper, as a constituency MP, knows all too well about the crazy pace these incidents can catch fire both figuratively and literally speaking. Give Stella Creasy MP a Ministerial role as happened before with George Mudie, and drive out fear…
Thoughts …
Yes 🙌🏼
40 years ago I was saying the same in lancashire plus ca change harms our kids our families our communities
This has absolutely nothing to do with ‘minority groups’ , this is the modus operandi of social services nationwide.
I speak from professional experience.
Social services need reforming certainly.
then, Speak Out, Bob! just say it! like, what’s the worst that can happen?
An escalated and increased risk of State violence? which incidentally has been avoided by the Police withdrawl in Leeds.
The initial press coverage focusing on ‘agency workers’ with no ‘why’ in the narratives being pushed.
The dramaturgy of the event requires onvestigative scrutiny as the available press stories including the broadsheets are woefully inadequate.
Asking what’s the common denomination may yield deeply uncomfortably uncomfortable truths.
As with other areas thecactivity of and the relationship to the night economy, woman’s health and opportunity and child exploitation is overlooked, again ~ who are the carers, cleaners, cooks/chefs of the growth sectors in the surrounding area’s?
Interrelational social work just got very real, no?
For many years I was a foster carer working with the most diturbed teenies, had a reputation for being forcefully direct in defence of the best interests of young people.
My recent experience has been of being a grand parent of children who were suddenly in the child protection sphere. The outright hostility in the room in the initial meeting, where we suggested the children should be placed in our care was a real suprise, there was a full on attempt to supress us, deny any previous experience, this was not the LA we had fostered for including telling us the LA would “not allow” us to apply for and SGO. Then when we applied for one anyway, the uproar when we arrived in court and the LA found out we had. Things got even worse when the judge allowed our application, the LA had a really good QC but we were not funded so we were applicants in person. We had to fight every inch of the way. We supplied references to the LA asking them to send them to the court, which they promised to do, but didn’t. When the judge opened the next hearing refering to the references she had received that very morning, there was even more uproar in court.
Eventually, they got their care order, but we got to look after the children.
I had been an assosciate lecturer in university working contributing to Social Work courses at both degree and masters level. The last time I had met the lead social worker was in a seminar on the Childrens Act when she was not a particularly bright second year student.
When she turned up at our house and gave us a load of instructions about contact that were unlawful and I told her so, she was unconcerned and just told me those were her decisions.
Thats all under the bridge now, I’m sitting here listening to the sound of children defying bedtime Playing in their room, safer now we have the SGO
Maybe parents should prioritise their children’s needs and ensure their children are safe? Taking responsibility for the situation or do we blame the social workers?
Glad to see this
All mu comments ob this page are always deleted. Normally only see the ones praising
But Leeds have consistently claimed its Outstanding Ofsted rating. Perhaps Ofsted needs to reavalute?
evaluation methodology needs a re-evaluation, no?
Oh because of course this must be the social worker’s fault for doing their job.
Exactly this! If this was a white English family the same procedures would have been followed. How about a review for the support and protection of social workers and police who have went to their work to also be abused! This behaviour was not acceptable and more needs to be done to stop abuse towards workers!
Come on!
When I was working, and very separately, in both Gipton and Harehills I was lifted, and almost manually in one instance, from the bus going home on suspicion of buying drugs and separately, also threatened, as a social landlord, with drugs on premises legs ; the assumption that the only reason I’d be in the area’s and seen chatting with people informally, was?~ implicit stereotyping is very, very real and the challenge to such the bread and butter of social work, no?
Social work is all about whose claim to moral authority has authority, begging the question of who writes the amicus briefs for the Courts and based on bayesian probabilities ~ gains made by access to referential power are crucial the absence of which makes the situation in Leeds ineluctable*, no?
Is it time to change the mindset? If so, how so?
*ineluctability, in this context, is the weight evidence suggesting an event of this kind was unavoidable ~ finding out what the differences are similarities are between seemingly irreconcilable world views the actual social work seemingly missing but very much needed*
Councils across the country must be able to demonstrate that they are actually a Local Authority ~ with representatives and Officers who demonstrate that they actually serve local people.
The contracting and procurement landscape for Children’s Services, is, now, a regional category sourcing programme of market position and share and simply doesn’t support this ~ like at all.
Constancy of Purpose through Servant Leadership, once a hallmark of excellence, is going to be achieved how?
MacAlister’s Review is incomplete! As all reviews are including those of the IROs who must consult with parents, right?
Thoughts …
as with children peer pressure impacts massively on professionals too ~ just saying!
Social work has always been a profession that beats it chest and wears a hair shirt over doing its job. If we did not do it, that would be wrong but instead of taking the high ground and telling the public like it is, we are all apologetic and mealy mouthed. Then when things go wrong the people nearest the scene of the crime (I.e. the social worker and manager) get the blame. You could write the script every time, “it is as clear as the summer sun”, as Shakespeare wrote. .
The whole system needs a shake up. Open up family courts . Let there be a jury for these cases . Take away the saying ‘at risk of furred har.’ In the cases for those poor people who loose children if they have been in the care system. If they have mental health problems but seek help from professionals. Make sure that that rule is fairly used. Yes if serious abuse has happened then the saying risk of future harm is justified . HOWEVER, this phrase is being used inappropriately and to take children away from loving and respectful families. Put in place better support staff. Whether it’s to help with the children, help with daily chores , help children and parents attend socioa settings etc. There is no family support. Cheaper to work with the families than paying foster care. Taking children rather than support us said to be the quickest option to get cases closed. You will not get supportive and good social workers because most don’t want to see children taken. Look into the incentive schemes and how the departments are praised . Look at Tony blairs incentives and scrap them. Listen to those who have had children taken in the last 5 years. Open up that into invention. You will be surprised at how many cases have been corrupt. Let’s learn from.all this.
This is nothing to do with poor social work practice. I know that in the past as in 10,20 or 30 years ago, social workers did lack understanding of different cultures they worked with. But not today. I am a Black social worker with 30 years experience and I know the difference between institutional and cultural racism practices based on poor social work practices. I’ve worked in similar areas in communities such as Leeds and I know from experience that social workers who worked in those communities, including myself, have had a rough time. The local authority I had worked for gave the community every opportunity to work with us. We had a dedicated manager who specialised in their community and gave regular work shops on how to work and approach them in a positive manner. Child abuse and child exploitation is no different in any community and should be handled similar across all cultures. Instead, we feed into racism by behaving as if different cultures and communities do not understand child abuse. That is patronising.
Hear hear. If we can’t support our social workers for trying to protect children in very difficult circumstances with very little resources ourselves, then how on earth will the media?
Well said.
Children’s needs being met and the welfare of the child is the main focus here, and here again, people just get on their high horse and blame everybody else. It like a football match where everybody else in the crowd know how to do better than the manager. NO YOU DONT!!!
There are processes for protecting children and also to support parents to be able to do so and of they don’t make the relevant changes then of course they will lose the right to parent the child. The courts process including legal representation for the child and the parents is there. Nothings perfect and of course there will be mistakes(that we need to learn and improve on) but from experience people will abuse their children and rewrite the narrative to suit themselves.
Nobody know the facts but what we do know is that people went on a riot, not knowing the facts -is that the kind of society/behaviour we are demonstrating to our children -is that good citizenship -is that good parenting ? Just because particular groups in our society don’t like the expectation /law of how we bring up children doesn’t give them the right to ignore them.
Will be interesting to learn how this develops. It has now been revealed that the children removed from their then caring family have been placed with further extended and presumably familiar extended family just a short distance away from where they were living in the first place. Why was this not identified as an option in the first place? Children are best maintained within their familiar family, friendship, cultural and community networks unless it can be demonstrated that it is unsafe to do so. What went wrong? Leeds has consistently claimed its Ofsted rating as a Local Authority outstanding practice
I have just read that in Court the Judge “endorsed the family placement and her paramount concern was the welfare of the children”. She “asked that all present to be “mindful” of their behaviour and “put the children first.” Presumably this was also directed at Leeds City Council as well as other parties included in the legal process
Where there are concerns/Safeguarding issues inrespect of any child/children, then the local authorty must investigate and make appropriate Safeguarding plan’s for each child, having taken into consideration the childs ethnic identity, is it safe for the child to remain with extended family members whiles further investigation/assessments are conducted? Or is an appropriate placement available to meet the children’s needs.
Regardless of race and or minority groups,any child can experience trauma we may not know what the children/child is experincing therefore further information gathering needs to take place.
What we as social workers must understand( I include myself in this ) we should all be treated with respect and demonstrate professional practice regardless of the community we are working with if we are to get the best outcome and understanding of a child’s lived experince.
I can say without doubt some pratice,attitudes and assumptions made by some professionals (not all) can be worrying to observe and can only serve to heighten what is already a stressful,unpredictable and worrying time for the child/ children, parents and some professionals.
We as social workers work with all sections of sociality,it is fair to say some professionals in all areas of the process can openly treat others with little regard, communicate with Social workers, service users and children in a disrespectful manner,this is worrying to observe and be subject too and only reinforces a negative perception to the public,child and family’s.
Have we lost sight that we are working with vulnerable children and families who still have the right to be listened to.This does not mean their behaviour is justifiable.Social workers must also prove thier concerns are warranted.
I do not know the circumstances in this case and therefore not casting blame as this would be unfair to do so.
However I am speaking from experience and have observed how some situations can excalate.
There is a retention and recruitment crisis in social work and these comments really highlight why. What a thankless job! Poor pay, worse conditions, high caseloads little thought for safety of staff and co-working is a thing of the past. We a pad and pen to protect yourselves, mainly female staff go knocking on doors when other agencies refer in and demand “social workers sort it out”
They cant do right for doing wrong. When things get difficult, you’re thrown under the bus or on front page of daily mail.
What’s the pull factor.
I totally agree with the comments all of which can be interepreted in many different ways.Not everything is has transparent as it seems.
In my opinion what is not appreciated nor understood is the complexity of social work,the demands placed on social workers and the continual undermining of the profession which still remains a much needed profession with the right professionals employed,supported and given appropriate guidance.
The world is now transitant with that brings different challenges which social workers have to address with insufficient support,bad pratice in some cases sorry to say this however it is true.
Whiles it continues the profession is viewed in some cases unfairly.This is one of many issues which need addressing and which social workers have hightlighted for many years now.In my opinion the complexities of the role,the commitments made by most social workers,the unpredictably,high case loads of the work all of which impacts on the quality of service children and employees receive.
So where is the urgent response from Leeds City Council?
Where is the urgent response from Leeds City Council please?
This is now the third time I have asked about the urgent response from Leeds City Council. Are things being hidden?