Haringey failed to stop 'appalling' abuse of family of ten children over seven years

Warnings from teachers and public about starving, filthy children were ignored
Victim: Haringey council was criticised over the death of Peter Connelly

Ten children in one family suffered “appalling” neglect and cruelty during seven years of abuse in the borough where Baby P was killed.

An investigation in Haringey has found that social workers, NHS staff, housing officials and pest control workers all failed to ensure that the children were protected despite the abuse occurring over a “prolonged” period.

Warnings from teachers, a nursery and members of the public about the dirty condition of the children — who were aged between eight months and 16 when police were finally called in — failed to prompt action.

The failings continued even after the children were placed on Haringey’s child protection register.

One child was so hungry that when a foster carer fed her she pressed the milk bottle to her mouth with such force that it left a red mark and their rat-infested home was so filthy that council staff had to wait for it to be cleaned before tackling the rodents. An email from an education welfare officer asking how social workers could rule out neglect when the children had not been seen was also rebuffed.

It was only when a neighbour alerted police that the children’s mother and her former partner were arrested.

The abuse is revealed today in a report by Haringey’s Local Safeguarding Children Board, which found that the “chronic neglect” lasted from 2002 until 2009. The report adds: “The appropriate action of the police came too late for these children and… is likely to have profound and long-lasting consequences for them. This was not a family unknown to professionals.

“The nature of the vulnerabilities and challenges… were not hidden, nor were they of an unusual kind.”

The report says Haringey failed to act because the abuse involved persistent, but apparently less serious neglect rather than one major incident.

It also blames autocratic management and criticises the lack of action when one social worker reported the younger children to be “flat and unresponsive” and when social workers were refused access to the home. Only one child was registered with a GP; the registration of the others was a requirement of a child protection plan but the council did not ensure this happened.

Graham Badman, the chairman of the board, said: “The children were in appalling circumstances and left there for far too long.”

The mother, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was sentenced to 18 months at Wood Green crown court after being convicted of 10 charges of child cruelty. Her former partner was jailed for five child cruelty offences.

Haringey’s cabinet member for children, Lorna Reith, said: “This review covers a period when there were serious shortcomings in our children’s safeguarding services, and we apologise unreservedly for the past failures identified in this case… The key lessons for learning raised by the report have already been addressed.”

Haringey was criticised over the death of 17-month-old Peter Connelly, known as Baby P, at the hands of his mother, her boyfriend and her lodger in 2007. An independent report also found that borough social workers failed to protect eight-year-old Victoria Climbié who was murdered in 2000 by her aunt and the aunt’s boyfriend.

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