Kids could have been removed from family after council errors

AUTHORITY RELIED ON 'APPALLING' EVIDENCE AGAINST 'DEVOTED' MOTHER AND FATHER

- By HARRISON GALLIVEN Local democracy reporter

CROYDON Council has come under fire for relying on “flawed, factually inaccurate” evidence in a case that lawyers have called a child safeguarding “disaster”.

The council's expert even confused the names of the young children involved while giving evidence in a case where the authority was seeking a care order to remove the siblings from the family.

A family court judge criticised the council’s reliance on the “close-minded” and inconsistent paediatric evidence against the parents, whom they believed caused non-accidental injuries to two of their young children.

The court found the mum was “clearly devoted to her children” and accepted their account, finding no evidence of abuse or neglect.

The judge found the council's dependence on poor evidence to be a “serious concern” for child safeguarding.

The judge noted that this could have seen children “removed from perfectly safe home environments”.

The case centred on three siblings who live with their parents in Croydon. They are referred to as A, H and Y, who were all under three at the time.

After H was taken to hospital in March 2023 with breathing issues, doctors found multiple injuries, including 11 rib fractures and a shin fracture.

Y had a fractured collarbone and some marks on her body, while A had no injuries.

Croydon Council alleged that the injuries were “non-accidental” and sought care orders for all three children. That would have removed the children from their parents.