Professionals missed string of chances to save Elsie
Social services apologise after case review reveals a series of errors in assessing injured baby who later died
A FITNESS instructor and his husband were seen as such “positive” parents for their adopted daughter that the injuries she suffered before her death were dismissed as accidents, a review has concluded.
Elsie Scully-hicks had been formally adopted by Matthew Scully-hicks, 32, just two weeks before he killed her by violently shaking her.
A serious case review has now found that professionals missed a series of opportunities to save her – viewing a catalogue of injuries in isolation, lacking any “professional curiosity” and accepting what her killer told them.
Before that fatal attack at their home in Llandaff, Cardiff, Scully-hicks had left his 18-month-old daughter with a large bruise to her forehead and her leg fractured in two places.
But the review concluded: “This family were perceived to be very positive parents for this child. The injuries that the child sustained were never considered as anything other than childhood accidents.”
No disciplinary action has been taken against any staff involved in Elsie’s care, admitted Lance Carver, the director of social services at Vale of Glamorgan council, yesterday as he apologised for any failings.
Elsie was placed with Scully-hicks and his husband, Craig, in September 2015 when she was aged 10 months.
The men, who had already “successfully adopted” an older child, were seen as a “well-educated and articulate couple” who were “very well regarded by each of the agencies as good parents”. But Scully-hicks, who stayed at home while Craig worked, began to struggle with caring for Elsie, even describing her as “Satan in a babygro”.
The report, by the Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan Safeguarding Children Board, noted that “the professionals working with the child did not either consider or raise the possibility that the child was being harmed by a parent”.
This is because they saw the placement as “being very successful” and therefore they viewed events through a “positive lens”.
The agencies involved all said that they accepted the recommendations of the review and would learn the lessons. Sarah Mcgill, of the Cardiff board, said it was “very, very difficult” to answer whether Elsie’s life could have been saved. The review revealed that no safeguarding concerns were raised despite Elsie suffering a number of injuries including a fractured leg in November 2015.
The registrar who examined X-rays of her injuries was not a specialist and did not spot a second fracture on her thigh, which would have been “highly unusual” and should have prompted the child protection process to begin.
A month later, social workers failed to record a large bruise to Elsie’s forehead that lasted for eight weeks and did not bring it to the attention of the adoption court, along with concerns that Elsie was developing a squint.
Last year, Scully-hicks was jailed for life after being convicted of murder following a trial at Cardiff Crown Court.