At the age of nine Alfie Steele was killed by his mother, Carla Scott, and her partner, Dirk Howell, who had a long criminal history. Both are now serving long prison sentences. His tragic death has highlighted the huge challenges that Children's Services face in keeping children safe. Although Alfie had been known to social workers since he was a young boy and recognised as a child in need of protection, he was completely let down by Worcestershire Children's Services due to its failure to protect him. His death suggests that this local authority did not have a sound grasp of the legal knowledge required to intervene effectively with children at risk of significant harm.

Alfie died on the 18th February 2021 while he was the subject of Child Protection Plan initiated in 2019. The Plan stated that his mother's partner was banned from unsupervised access to Alfie and from staying overnight. During the time Alfie was on the Plan there were numerous reports made to Police and Children's Services by neighbours and people passing his house of cruelty towards Alfie that required a formal investigatation. In March 2020 managers considered whether there was a requirement to initiate care proceedings but they decided that the evidence they had did not meet the threshold for this.

Social workers need a sound grasp of how to make appropriate use of their legal powers if they are to be effective in protecting children from physical violence with the family. Obviously, working with this particular family to change dysfunctional patterns of behaviour in the family would have been an impossible task. However, the lack of curiosity by social workers about what was going on in the family and the failure of managers to make use of the legal powers they are given is shocking.

What should have been done

If a decision to trigger a Section 47 Enquiry is made it demonstrates a clear change in direction in which social workers are empowered to adopt a more probing style of working. Unfortunately, the Section 47 has been given a negative connotation by some social workers who recognise that the investigation stage is very stressful for them and for family members. Obviously, this is a complex and highly skilled area of work and I have written about it in my article Social Work Practice: Section 47. Any failures to gather evidence forensically at this stage can create uncertainty about risk and a reluctance to make use of the legal powers social workers are given.

Even if this type of formal investigation had been carried out when concerns were reported to the police and children's services it is very likely that Alfie would have been fearful of speaking openly to social workers about the abuse he suffered. The poor practice in this case shows that much of the social work profession's rich heritage of knowledge underpinning good practice in child protection work has apparently been forgotten. While it true that in child protection work social workers find themselves working in a hostile climate a great deal of the time this does not mean that direct work with a child at risk is impossible to achieve.

Fortunately, there is a rarely used Child Assessment Order which could have been obtained to enable him to speak openly about his experiences within the family. Lawyers should have recognised that there was plenty of evidence to justify an application to the Family Court for this. The social work statement to the court would have included the numerous concerns raised by neighbours and agencies and information about the background and personalities of the parents.

A Child Assessment Order would have allowed the local authority to access and assess Alfie's circumstances over a period of one week. Children’s services may apply for this when they suspect the child is at risk but unable to speak openly within the home environment. The court can only make an order if it agrees there is reason to suspect the child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. A Child Assessment Order lasts for seven days and this gives the local authority sufficient time to assess a child's experiences and circumstances.

Hilary Searing

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