WEAKNESSES in children's services similar to those that contributed to the death of Liam Fee continue to persist in Scotland, an inspection report has revealed.
Departments that oversee the welfare of young people are still failing to retain adequate records of the risks faced by vulnerable children, a Care Inspectorate review has found.
READ MORE: Case worker of murdered Liam Fee was chaotic, boss tells probe
Chronologies produced by social workers - effectively timelines designed to ensure authorities are kept abreast of all possible threats to a child’s safety - are often “not fit for purpose”.
Matt Forde, director of the NSPCC in Scotland said there was a failure to keep track of chronologies in the Liam Fee case and other child protection cases where vital information had been missed.
"They are really important to help workers understand the accumulation of concerns that might happen over time," he said. "Without that overview, things can be missed.
READ MORE: Case worker of murdered Liam Fee was chaotic, boss tells probe
"Chronic neglect is rarely about one single incident."
In the case of two-year-old Liam Fee, who was murdered by his mother and her partner in their Fife home in March 2014, warning signs were not picked up despite being raised separately by medical staff, nursery workers, a child minder and members of the public.
In a hearing into the failings yesterday, it emerged the team of social workers was beset by "personality clashes" and was "split into two camps".
Lesley Bate, a member of Fife Council's Child Protection team in Glenrothes, faces a string of charges at the Scottish Social Services Council conduct hearing over her work for the authority between December 2011 and August 2014.
READ MORE: Case worker of murdered Liam Fee was chaotic, boss tells probe
The hearing was earlier told that Ms Bate had chosen not to intervene after Liam Fee was found badly bruised in January 2013 - and failed to follow up on reports he had suffered a neck injury weeks later.
Yesterday's Care Inspectorate report said staff across children's services teams in Scotland understood that they should be maintaining a chronology to help protect children.
But it said: "Everywhere, a significant proportion was not fit for purpose. More attention had been given to developing a format for chronologies and ensuring there was a chronology in all records than had been given to how to use them well."
The report by the care watchdog covers the findings of a dozen joint inspections of services for children and young people carried out over the last two years by health, education and welfare bodies.
It praises efforts across the country to improve prevention and early intervention in the lives of children at risk.
But it warns that some children are having their physical and emotional development harmed by being left too long in situations where their needs are not being met.
It also suggests there is inadequate monitoring of some vulnerable children living at home or with relatives in kinship care placements.
Inspectors also warned that the integration of health and social care risked marginalising children's services, with disruption caused by restructuring, and some managers warning that a focus on the needs of older people could dominate new Integrated Joint Boards.
The report says children whose safety is of concern, but who are not in residential care, are being left at risk.
"Reviewing processes for children who were looked after at home were not sufficiently well embedded or robust in most areas," it says.
"In some partnerships, the same was true for children living long-term in kinship care placements."
Meanwhile inspectors found that an overhaul of health and social services bodies has contributed to problems.
The report warns: "It was clear that in some areas, a focus on integrated children’s services planning had been lost in the upheaval caused by the restructuring taking place in preparation for integration of health and care services.
"Key personnel had changed or had been given new remits and responsibilities. In some areas, there was confusion about what was required... Some managers described concerns about the profile of children’s issues within integrated structures dominated by the urgency of concerns around meeting the needs of an increasing population of older people."
Mr Forde said the NSPCC had similar concerns. "We think children and children's services deserve more investment than it gets," he said. "The new integrated partnerships need to recognise the vital importance for our nation's health of making sure children have high quality childhoods. The Government should make sure there are incentives for partnerships to invest in children's wellbeing."
The Care Inspectorate said services were responding well to concerns about the safety of children and the report said that where families were receiving help it was having a positive impact.
The report details findings from the national joint inspection programme led by the Care Inspectorate in partnership with Education Scotland, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland.
Inspectors said that in two thirds of the areas inspected, services were performing well in improving the wellbeing of children and young people, with performance rated as good or better. Four areas were rated as adequate and none were below adequate.
Karen Reid, chief executive of the Care Inspectorate, said: “Improving the life chances of children and young people, giving them the best start in life and ensuring that they are ready to succeed are national priorities, but in a small number of areas we need to see more aspiration for the most disadvantaged children and young people.
“The way that the needs of individual children are assessed and planned for has generally strengthened across the country, but we expect to see more work to achieve consistently high performance in all places.
“In almost all areas, there is also a need to strengthen quality assurance in children’s services to ensure the care and support provided is always right."
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