Social worker suspended for affair with child’s uncle
ASEFTON social worker has been suspended for a year after lying to bosses about a relationship with the uncle of a child in her care.
Lucie Emma Taylor, who worked for Sefton Council, told her managers that the uncle want to start a relationship with her and while they had been out for a drink, they had not been intimate.
But Ms Taylor later admitted that she had been in a personal and sexual relationship and that she had not been truthful about the nature of the relationship.
She was dismissed by Sefton in January 2015 and last week suspended by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) over the dishonesty, which the watchdog called a “fundamental breach of professional standards”.
The HCPC said: “[Ms Taylor] had engaged in a prolonged sexual relationship with Person B over several months.
“She had been dishonest in concealing the extent and sexual nature of that relationship when speaking to her managers and during the employer’s internal investigation.
“In spite of her association with Person B she had continued to oversee the care of Child A, thereby creating a potential conflict between the needs of Child A and any risk posed by Person B as a member of that family and household.
“Dishonesty is a fundamental breach of professional standards.
“She has shown insufficient insight and has not made adequate attempts to remediate her conduct.”
Ms Taylor was employed by Sefton from 2008 until 2015.
She had been told in late 2013 that she would have to cease looking after the child if she wanted to continue the relationship.
But she continued as a social worker for the child before admitting in January 2014 that the relationship had become intimate.
Suspending her registration, the HCPC said she had “shown insufficient insight” and had “not made adequate attempts to remediate her conduct”.
Taylor, who was present at the fitness to practise hearing, admitted the misconduct charges.