Serious Case Review Executive Summary Presentatio n LIAM

Serious Case Review Executive Summary Presentatio n LIAM February 2020

What are Serious Case Reviews? • A Serious Case Review (these are now called Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews) takes place when a child dies or is seriously injured and abuse or neglect is thought to be involved • The purpose of Reviews is to: o Establish whethere any lessons to be learnt from the case o Identify what is expected to change as a result of the learning o Try to prevent similar incidents from happening in the Liam Serious Case Review

Reason for Initial Referral • Liam, the youngest of 3 children, was admitted to hospital in the autumn of 2018, at the age of 20 months, having ingested a potentially fatal amount of methadone • At the time Liam was in the care of the local authority, placed with his mother • Both Liam’s parents were known to drug and alcohol services, to Children’s Services and to the Police Liam Serious Case Review

Review of the Case • Following the incident of methadone ingestion Liam’s parents were arrested and the children were removed from mother’s care • There was evidence of a delay in the ambulance being called by Liam’s parents • The case was referred into the WSCB and a Serious Case Review was undertaken Liam Serious Case Review

The Previous Incident • The SCR found that whilst in hospital, just after his birth, Liam suffered two skull fractures, with no explanation as to how they could have occurred • Liam’s injuries prompted care proceedings, and during the course of those enquiries, his mother revealed that she had dropped Liam • Children’s Social Care and the Children’s Guardian accepted mother’s explanation that Liam’s injuries were the result of an accident and it was agreed that the children could return to her care Liam Serious Case Review

Findings from the SCR (i) • Liam’s injuries following the first incident prompted care proceedings – Liam’s mother didn’t fully engage in process • No parenting assessment was completed but all children were placed at home when it was accepted that Liam’s mother had accidentally dropped him • Care proceedings saw this as a ‘single issue’ case – the focus was on the injuries to Liam and the cause of those, rather than consideration of Liam’s mother’s substance misuse Liam Serious Case Review

Findings from the SCR (ii) • Placement with Parents procedure not followed • Mother’s struggles with substance misuse underestimated. There was a lack of understanding about drugs testing which falsely reassured professionals (as did involvement of substance misuse service) • Liam’s father was not considered in any assessment. Professionals saw his relationship with Liam’s mother as having ended and did not consider the contact he would be having with her and the children Liam Serious Case Review

Outcome of the SCR The SCR identified significant learning for the partnership and 8 recommendations were made, focusing on the following practice issues: • understanding of the impact of substance misuse (including methadone) needs to be improved amongst professionals • Placement with Parent’s Procedure needs to be reviewed and agreed across the Partnership • professionals must balance optimism with objective evidence • father’s must be included in relevant assessments Liam Serious Case Review

Further Information • Learning from the case will be embedded in WSCP multiagency training • WSCP has published reports and resources about this case on its website including: o the full SCR report o an executive summary report o a seven-minute briefing o learning posters https: //www. wirralsafeguarding. co. uk/prof essionals/serious-case-reviews/ Liam Serious Case