Council backs down in child care crisis case
A council
has backed down in a legal battle with the 91热爆 over a controversial
current affairs programme which exposed a crisis in Cardiff's child
protection system.
91热爆
Wales' hard hitting programme Week In Week Out: Running Into
Crisis highlighted the dangers facing children in the care of
Cardiff County Council - children who were supposed to be better
protected but had ended up on the streets, falling prey to drugs,
drink and paedophiles.
It
also featured whistle blower Charles Faber, one of the council's
senior social workers, who warned that a child could die unless
more resources and staff were brought in to help ease the crisis.
Within
hours of appearing in the programme Mr Faber - who headed the city's
Emergency Duty Team - was suspended from duty.
The
day after transmission the council threatened an injunction, forcing
the 91热爆 to provide it with interim undertakings not to re-broadcast
the programme. It stopped the 91热爆 from repeating embarrassing facts
uncovered in the course of the investigation.
The
programme discovered that some of the city's most vulnerable youngsters
- those on the Child Protection Register - had been left without
a named social worker to handle their cases while others had been
allocated to Team Managers and to Social Work Assistants.
Publicly
the Council had denied this was happening but Week In Week Out obtained
an anonymised copy of that register which showed otherwise.
The
council's lawyers tried forcing the journalists who had seen it
to name their source but they refused.
The
91热爆 was set to go to trial on the matter and, had it lost, the programme's
Editor Karen Voisey, Reporter Betsan Powys and Producer Jayne Morgan
could have been fined or jailed if they refused to name their source.
Finally
the council has admitted that there were unallocated cases and that
children were being allocated to unqualified social workers and
team managers.
The
restrictions on re-broadcasting the programme have now been lifted.
Cardiff County Council has been left without the name of the source,
and paying its own legal costs.
The
91热爆 has agreed not to reveal confidential information that might
compromise the children - something it never intended to do anyway.
Week In Week Out journalists spent months on the city's streets,
often working undercover to find out how those youngsters on the
run from care were spending their time.
They
discovered an 11-year-old boy who was on the Child Protection Register
but was on the run from a care home. He was filmed playing cat and
mouse with the city's police at midnight making his way to the home
of a convicted sex offender. He was taking a 10-year-old boy with
him. After spending hours at the police station the 11-year-old
ran away again as social workers were taking him back to the care
home.
They
found a 14-year-old boy with learning difficulties who was spending
time with the same paedophile. That boy was waiting for a foster
placement but was going on the run and getting into trouble with
the police while he waited.
They
tracked down the sex offender and covertly filmed as he admitted
harbouring runaways from care.
Charles
Faber, who had fought hard to improve children's services, is now
fighting for re-instatement having been sacked by the council. They
found him guilty of financial mismanagement and sacked him.
Mr
Faber - a UNISON official - strenuously denies the charge and is
taking the council to Employment Tribunal later this year. His sacking
led to a strike involving hundreds of his colleagues who believe
he was sacked for whistle blowing.
Programme
Editor Karen Voisey says: "This case could have potentially
resulted in three journalists going to prison for their part in
exposing serious failings in the care system.
"We
took this stand because we believe the public has a right to know
when child protection is at risk and because we believe journalists
should protect their sources.
"All
they (Cardiff Council) have succeeded in doing is preventing the
programme from being re-broadcast or any reference made to its content
until now. Whether children in the authority's care are any safer
than they were remains to be seen."
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