Killed foster mother ‘failed by social work department’

A WOMAN stabbed to death by a boy she was fostering was let down by council social workers, an inquiry has heard. Dawn McKenzie, 34, was killed at her home in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, in June 2011 by a 13year-old boy placed with her and her husband Bryan.

The boy later told how voices in his head told him to get a knife from the kitchen drawer of the house and ‘hurt Dawn’.

He was jailed for seven years in 2012 after admitting culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Now a fatal accident inquiry into Mrs McKenzie’s death has heard that social workers did not do enough to support the family when the boy, who had a history of neglect, was placed with her.

Colin Anderson, who chaired a Significant Case Review, said the actions of staff at Glasgow City Council had been ‘inadequate’.

The inquiry heard earlier that a social worker from the council did not visit the boy at the McKenzies’ home for more than six weeks after he was placed there because of wintry weather conditions.

Mr Anderson, 64, said placing the boy with the McKenzies, who were first carers, was a ‘stretch’ given their lack of experience. He said: ‘If I was in the position of the social workers I would have supported the placement, given the circumstances and the lack of other options at the time.

‘You had foster carers who were very new and had stated a preference for a younger child. They had no experience of children of that age and had received no training in dealing with challenging behaviour.

‘They had no experience of dealing with a child of his background with a history of neglect and he had shown reactions in the past.

‘It was not an ideal placement, it was a placement which was stretched to meet a set of circumstances.

‘The response of the local authority was inadequate. It may have been caused by the weather and other factors but for the child not to have been visited in placement for that period of time is not an adequate response. The fostering agency should have been putting more pressure on the local authority to step up and provide more support.’

The inquiry earlier heard from an expert social worker who said the boy should never have been placed with the McKenzies.

Kirstie MacLean, a senior social worker who produced an expert report into the case for the inquiry, said Mrs McKenzie did not have enough experience and had not been given sufficient training to deal with the boy.

Bryan McKenzie, 40, told the inquiry that he and his wife were not given enough information beforehand.

The i nquiry in Motherwell continues.

‘The response was inadequate’