A foster carer was accused of sexual abuse by three different children in a case that exposed failings by Wirral Council's child social care services.
The situation came to light in a Serious Case Review, an independent investigation into the case of a 13-year-old girl carried out by Wirral Safeguarding Children Partnership, involving several different agencies.
The review described a miserable childhood for the girl, given the pseudonym 'child Scarlet', where she and her siblings witnessed domestic violence, drinking and drug abuse from a very young age.
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Scarlet was moved to several different foster carers after being taken away from her parents at the age of six.
In 2016 Scarlet was moved to a foster couple, codenamed 'Jean and Bill' in the review.
Concerns had already been raised about Bill, and he had been investigated by police over an undetailed "incident" four months before Scarlet's arrival.
The review stated: "Although the investigation was not of direct harm to a child and no offence had been committed; the incident raised concerns about whether Bill might pose a risk of harm to children.
"Allegations of risk of harm posed to children by professionals are managed by the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO).
"The LADO concluded that, in Bill’s case, those concerns were ‘unsubstantiated’. Nevertheless, as the circumstances suggested a breach of fostering standards; the local authority fostering service should have asked the Fostering Panel to review the appropriateness of couple’s registration as foster carers.
"That did not happen. Scarlet’s social worker was unaware of the concerns that had been raised about Bill."
After around a year, concerns were raised about Bill for a second time over an "inappropriate" incident at a school - but again did not result in any action around his foster care.
Scarlet's placement began to deteriorate and Jean asked for her to be moved, but the review found little was done to explore her concerns.
That year, supervision of Bill and Jean's fostering arrangements was passed to a newly qualified social worker without any form of handover.
The review said: "There is no evidence that a case transfer discussion took place or that any of the issues which had previously been raised about Bill were discussed with the new worker."
The new supervising social worker was then told by Jean that she had concerns over Scarlet's "sexualised behaviour" and feared a "false allegation" against her husband.
Again, although the supervising social worker mentioned it to her colleague who was dealing specifically with Scarlet's case, Jean's comments were not challenged and nothing was done to investigate what was going on.
After two years Scarlet was moved from Jean and Bill's home, but her behaviour continued to deteriorate and after a few weeks in a temporary foster placement she was found collapsed in a park, having taken a drug believed to be ecstasy.
Shortly after she left hospital, more concerns were raised about Bill.
Scarlet told a social worker that children she used to live with told her that another child, referred to as Child A, had made an allegation of sexual abuse against Bill.
Scarlet also revealed that Bill had been texting her and giving her money - some of which she spent on vodka.
However when the social worker made enquiries she found the allegation by Child A had not been recorded by the LADO.
The review stated: "The duty Supervising Social Worker and Jean spoke by telephone. Jean said that Child A had made an allegation of sexual abuse against her husband when she and others were on holiday almost two weeks earlier.
"Bill had not been with the group as he had stayed at home. Jean explained the circumstances in which the allegation had been made.
"Jean said that she had spoken to Child A and to Bill, by telephone. She and Bill had agreed that he should move out until the matter was ‘sorted out’.
"Jean said that she had been trying, without success, to make contact with her supervising social worker and Child A’s social worker since then."
Two weeks later yet another child, Child B, also made allegations against Bill - followed by allegations from Scarlet herself.
The review stated: "Scarlet told a member of school pastoral staff that Bill had seriously sexually assaulted her earlier that year.
"Scarlet said that the reason Bill had been giving her money was ‘to keep her quiet’.
"Scarlet later told a social worker that she would be willing to make a statement to the police and an arrangement was made for her to be interviewed the following day.
"There is no evidence that a strategy meeting was held, or planned, to consider what the next steps should be. No consideration appears to have been given as to whether Scarlet should have a child protection medical.
"Scarlet showed her social worker some of the text messages that Bill had sent her. The social worker gained the impression that Scarlet was telling the truth about Bill.
"The social worker referred Scarlet to the sexual assault support centre. Bill was arrested."
Despite the allegations against Bill, two years later the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided there was not enough evidence to bring charges and the case was dropped.
Jean and Bill are no longer registered foster carers.
After the allegations Scarlet's mental health deteriorated, and she was taken to hospital after ringing Childline and revealing thoughts of suicide.
According to the review: "There were gaps in the different interacting processes for keeping children safe in foster care.
"As a result, the capacity of the system to keep children safe was weakened.
"These gaps have been acknowledged by the local authority and details of improvements which have been made, or proposed, been provided. "
Failings were also identified in support offered to Scarlet over potential sexual abuse, the time taken to find her a permanent placement and failure to share information effectively.
A Wirral Council spokeswoman said: “When a serious allegation is made against a person in a position of responsibility, such as a foster carer, it must be - and will be - investigated.
"This is vital for both the person making the complaint and the one accused of wrongdoing. In this case, social workers acted swiftly after being made aware of the allegations.
“However, the council also acknowledges the shortcomings raised in the report along with a number of recommendations for how these can be addressed.
"The safeguarding partnership has accepted them all and has already made significant progress in implementing them to bring about changes in the fostering service, including about the way allegations are managed, to provide the best possible support to children who need it in the future.
"The review looked at practice from 2004 to 2018. During this period, Wirral Council’s Children’s Services were judged by Ofsted to be ‘inadequate’.
"Ofsted inspected Children’s Services in June 2019 and commented positively on the progress that had been made in fostering."
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