CHILDREN are exposed to unnecessary risk and harm because of failings in Devon's child protection services, inspectors say.
An Ofsted report into the performance of the services found them to have failed on every measure and demanded immediate action to protect some of the county's most vulnerable residents.
The report is now available to the public after it was approved by Devon County Council.
But child protection managers have also come under fire for failing to attend crunch meetings to discuss Ofsted's findings.
It says that the four criteria assessed after an unannounced inspection – overall effectiveness of the services, the level of help offered to young people and their families, the quality of practice and leadership and governance – were all deemed inadequate.
As a result vulnerable children were put at risk.
Among those let down were the victims of Tiverton paedophile Karl Hole, their father has said. The two children were in regular contact with the convicted sex offender for a number of years and were subjected to a horrific catalogue of abuse at his hands. Hole, 43, of Lowman Green, Tiverton, was jailed for a minimum of 16 years recently after admitting five charges of raping a child and two of sexual activity with another.
One of his victims – who cannot be named for legal reasons – told the Gazette that social workers missed opportunities to prevent the abuse. Members of Hole's own family say they called social services to raise concerns about his contact with the children over the four-year period his crimes were committed, but nothing was done.
"They (social workers) didn't really ask what was going on or try to get to the bottom of it," one of Hole's victim's told the newspaper.
"The places they chose to meet me were not really that suitable, I didn't feel comfortable talking to them there."
Her father said that had he been made aware of Hole's previous offending he would have taken immediate steps to stop his contact with the children, but he didn't even know Hole, who was on the sex offenders' register from 1999 to 2004, had a criminal conviction.
Hole's latest round of abuse was only uncovered when police raided a Tiverton home on another matter and caught him trying to leave the property with indecent photographs.
Since the damning report was accepted by Devon County Council social services bosses have been further criticised for failing to attend meetings to discuss the failings.
Jennie Stephens, Devon's £130,000-a-year strategic director (people) apologised after missing a county scrutiny meeting where the report was discussed, and no one represented the department at a Mid Devon District Council meeting last Monday where protection of children in the district was on the agenda, despite a request to do so.
Mid Devon Scrutiny committee chairman and Silverton councillor Jenny Roach, herself a former social worker, said: "I am very concerned that DCC felt unable because of time constraints to accept our invitation to attend this meeting today.
"Whilst I am aware that there is no statutory responsibility for officers to attend this meeting they do have responsibility to answer any questions that we ask.
"District councils do have responsibilities under the Children's Act and we also have a duty to work with DCC to protect and safeguard children. This Ofsted report is extremely serious and raises very significant issues about the operation of the Safeguarding board with all four areas being rated as inadequate.
"The board costs £395,000 a year to run and that doesn't include the costs of salaried staff listed as members.
"I am of the opinion that the county council should engage with this scrutiny committee and that face-to-face dialogue could improve the interagency work that is already being undertaken."
"It is clear that the checks and balances...were not significantly robust enough to identify the extent of the problems and the last Devon Safeguarding Children's Board annual report gave the impression that problems were under control. This amounts to a major failure and I sincerely hope that members of this committee will continue to ask questions of the county council until they are satisfied that children are being given protection."
It was agreed to suspend procedure rules so Tiverton County Councillor Des Hannon could contribute.
He said he had been "appalled" that the county council had not sent a representative to the meeting.
As a previous cabinet member with responsibility in this area these issues had been identified as long as five years ago, he said.
Social worker caseloads had been a concern, as well as handovers and record keeping. The length of time it was taking to effect necessary changes was, in his opinion, extremely alarming. However, he said that the cabinet member for children, schools and skills was providing county members with regular briefings.
A "profound" scrutiny exercise was under way to analyse the issues and recommend change for the future, Cllr Hannon said.
A small working board had also been established to run a programme of changes with immediate effect. A full report from the cabinet member would also be requested for the next Cabinet meeting.
Devon's new cabinet member for children's services, Will Mumford, and the Ms Stephens, have issued a joint statement accepting the report.
They said: "We do not intend to challenge the report. The inspectors have reached a judgement and we will abide by their findings.
"We would, however, point out that their report acknowledges we were already making improvements to our services – in line with Government guidance – before their unannounced visit, but that these changes have not yet had time to bear fruit.
"The inspectors were also clear that our social workers were doing a good job in the communities they serve."
They said our staff were enthusiastic and hard-working and regularly spent time talking to children and young people and listening to their views.
The Gazette is calling for a serious case review to be carried out by the Devon Safeguarding Children Board into the protection offered to Karl Hole's victims.
Concerns were raised about his contact with the children several years ago. But despite this Hole was able to see them regularly for years.
A review's recommendations may prevent another child from becoming a paedophile's victim.
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