'Sorry
saga' of false abuse claim
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/5188198.stm
BBC
- 17th July 2006
A council
has been asked to pay £89,000 plus legal costs to a man wrongly
accused of abusing his daughter.
Wrexham
social services were accused of "serious maladministration".
Public services
ombudsman Adam Peat called it a "sorry saga". Police took
no action over the girl's complaints, but the man had a breakdown
after his other children were made "at risk".
The council
is considering its response but said steps had already been taken
by relevant agencies.
The report
said the girl was seriously ill in hospital with a psychiatric disorder
when she made her first allegation, in 1997 when she was aged 13,
that she had been abused by her father.
She made
similar allegations in 1998, 1999 and 2000, but in each case never
gave her consent for social services to investigate. The department
took no action and the father was not informed.
In 2001,
the girl complained that her father had raped her. The police were
involved, but took no action after the girl withdrew her complaint.
But the
father's two other children were placed on the child protection
register. The man then suffered a severe nervous breakdown and left
his job, where he had been working with children.
'Extreme
distress'
An independent
social worker later said there was no evidence that the children
had ever been at risk from their parents.
Mr Peat
found that, had the council investigated the initial allegation
promptly and effectively in 1997, the allegation would not have
been substantiated and the subsequent course of events would have
been very different.
He said
he found the council's "repeated, prolonged and serious maladministration"
was "a major causal factor" in the man's breakdown and
loss of livelihood.
He recommended
the council pay the man's legal costs, plus £84,000 for loss
of income, and pay the man and his wife £5,000 each "in
recognition of the extreme distress which the council's maladministration
has caused the family".
Mr Peat
also said that, in the interests of child safety, the council's
social services department should recognise that investigations
into possible child abuse may need to be undertaken without the
consent of the child concerned.
Mr Peat
said: "It is evident that major lessons for future practice
needed to be learnt from this sorry saga".
Terry Garner,
Wrexham's strategic director for children and young people, said:
"It is important to point out that the local authority has
a duty to safeguard and protect children who may be at risk of harm
whilst at the same time considering the rights and responsibilities
of parents.
"It
takes these statutory responsibilities very seriously.
"This
was a complex case which began nearly 10 years ago and a number
of actions had already been carried out to address any lessons learned."
Council
must pay £500,000 for wrongly taking girl into care 17th
March 2006
