Social workers have warned they are unable to keep vulnerable children safe, as the case of a murdered 10-month-old baby highlights the failings of a struggling care system.
A damning review into the murder of Finley Boden on Wednesday concluded that safeguarding practice was “inadequate” and “professional interventions should have protected him”. The child’s parents, Shannon Marsden and Stephen Boden, inflicted 130 injuries on their son before he fatally collapsed at his family home in Derbyshire on Christmas Day 2020, just weeks after being placed back into their care.
The criticism comes as exclusive research conducted by The Independent and the Social Workers Union (SWU) lays bare a social services sector “on the brink of a breakdown”. Figures show 92 per cent of social workers surveyed believe children would be better protected if caseloads were lighter, with 58 per cent reporting their caseloads are unmanageable. There has been no improvement in this perception since a previous survey in 2022, carried out not long after the country had emerged from the pandemic.
The SWU said more funding was urgently required to tackle the problem and that pressures faced by social workers had not been addressed. John McGowan, the SWU’s general secretary, said: “There has been an ongoing systematic failure to address the pressures on social workers. Yes, look at what happened in this tragic individual case, but don’t judge the entire profession from any potential review findings. What is urgently required is more funding. Most social workers just don’t have enough time to spend on individual assessments due to work demand.”
This story is from the March 31, 2024 edition of The Independent.
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This story is from the March 31, 2024 edition of The Independent.
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