Struck off, social worker who failed to safeguard Liam
Woman ‘neglected’ other vulnerable children
THE social worker who failed to follow up the concerns of Liam Fee’s childminder was struck off yesterday after being found guilty of professional misconduct.
But the sub-committee probing social worker Lesley Bate’s case said there were also ‘systemic failures’ which were not addressed by her employer, Fife Council.
Bate, 60, of Cupar, Fife, ‘exposed very vulnerable service-users to risk of harm’, the misconduct sub-committee of the Scottish Social Services Council found yesterday.
At a hearing in Dundee, the social worker was found guilty of 12 charges of misconduct relating to 15 different children when she was employed at the Child Protection Team in Glenrothes and the Children and Families Team in Dunfermline between December 2011 and August 2014.
She was found to have ‘neglected’ children who were assigned to her over
‘Emotionally paralysed’
a sustained period – including Liam, whose case ‘went off the radar’ before his death, according to Bate’s manager at the time.
Earlier in the hearing, Bate was described by a former boss as ‘chaotic, erratic and emotionally paralysed’.
The sub-committee also criticised several witnesses from Fife Council for their ‘defensiveness and evasiveness’ when giving evidence and said ‘effective management intervention’ from the council might have prevented Bate’s pattern of misconduct from developing.
Yesterday Fife Council said it had confidence in the witnesses, but refused to comment further on the subcommittee’s remarks on intervention. One of the children assigned to Bate while she was with the Child Protection Team was Liam Fee, labelled as ‘FF,’ who was killed by his mother Rachel Trelfa or Fee, 31, and her civil partner Nyomi Fee, 29, at their home near Glenrothes, Fife, in March 2014. They have since been jailed for life.
Bate was put on Liam’s case after concerns were raised about bruising to his face. Following a visit to the family home with police, it was concluded that no further social work intervention was necessary after Trelfa offered a ‘plausible’ explanation for his injuries.
But after the visit, Bate was instructed to follow up with the health visitor and the school attended by other children living with the Fees, which she failed to do.
She also failed to follow up concerns raised by Liam’s childminder, Heather Farmer, that he had a sore neck the following month.
In neglecting these follow-ups, Bate ‘failed to take necessary steps to minimise actual of potential risk of harm’ to Liam, it was found. Among the other charges, Bate was found to have failed to properly risk-assess the circumstances of a oneyear-old boy who had swallowed his father’s anti-psychosis medication, and failed to record the outcome of a joint interview with a six-year-old child who alleged her father had sexually abused her.
Whilst the sub-committee praised the reliability of two witnesses – James Ross, Bate’s team manager at Dunfermline, and Jackie Meek, a social work assistant – it criticised the evidence given by several other witnesses employed by Fife Council, including Bate’s team manager Karen Pedder, who gave evidence at Liam’s murder trial.
Convener Catherine Duthie added: ‘The sub-committee was disappointed that the remaining witnesses showed varying degrees of defensiveness and evasiveness when giving their evidence.’
Shelagh McLean, executive director of Education and Children’s Services at Fife Council, said later: ‘I have every confidence in the professionalism and integrity of the staff who gave evidence during the hearing.’
In a further statement, a council spokesman said: ‘This case does not reflect our current practice or the high standard of professionalism which we expect and receive from our social work staff.’
An NSPCC Scotland spokesman said: ‘The failings highlighted by this hearing in the safeguarding of Liam Fee and other vulnerable children are highly disturbing. Children like Liam Fee suffer the most when the systems set up to protect them fail to function properly.
‘A significant case review into Liam’s death is ongoing and it is vital that it helps ensure the most vulnerable members of society are protected to prevent other children from suffering as Liam did before his murder.’