MSPs in child-access cases red tape admission

Paul Godzik: 'Potentially very significant implications for child protection in Scotland'. Picture: Kate Chandler

Ministers said that they would “agree on the need for faster decision making for children at risk” following complaints from local authority chiefs that its  social workers were being held up by children’s hearings and the courts.

Edinburgh City Council yesterday wrote to senior politicians over concerns that staff were not able to take effective action swiftly enough to protect young people.

It is understood to have said it was worried that the need to await approval from courts and children’s panels before acting was leading to potential delays in stepping in to prevent children from harm.

Senior council leaders have asked justice secretary Kenny MacAskill and children and young people’s minister Aileen Campbell for a meeting to urgently look at the issue.

The move came as Edinburgh Sheriff Court prepares to hear the case of two child-protection managers facing contempt of court allegations.

Paul Godzik, a Labour councillor and chair of the city’s children and families committee, did not specifically cite the social workers’ court case, but said that serious concerns had recently been raised by staff.

He said: “There are potentially very significant implications for child protection in Scotland, therefore we have written to the Scottish Government with our concerns and hope they will look very carefully at this situation.”

As The Scotsman revealed yesterday, the two social workers will appear later this month over claims that they allegedly defied a court when they restricted a parent’s access to her two young children.

Full details of the case have not yet been detailed but the mother had mounted an appeal this year over the earlier decision by a children’s panel to restrict access to her children, who had been taken from her and placed in care.

Sheriff Kathrine Mackie later ruled that the woman was entitled to greater access than the panel had determined.

Staff at the local authority then took the decision to suspend a scheduled meeting between the mother and children while an urgent review over access was undertaken by a children’s panel.

But now Sheriff Mackie has ordered the pair to attend the city court later this month. If found guilty, they could face fines, up to three months in jail and may later be struck off by the Scottish Social Services Council.

Unison, which represents the majority of social workers in Scotland, has also described the case as “unprecedented” and said it has wider implications for social work, if upheld.

Viviene Cree, professor of social work studies at the University of Edinburgh, said: “Sometimes the public imagine social workers to have magical powers, but they really are working in a legal system where they most often make recommendations to courts and hearings, and they will always seek legal advice. ”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The safety and wellbeing of children is paramount and the Scottish Government is working hard to ensure fast and effective protection is in place for children at risk.

“We agree on the need for faster decision making for children at risk and have been working with Edinburgh City Council and others on this matter. We will continue to work with all partners on these important issues and will give full consideration to the views we receive.”