Revealed: How social services failed three neglected children
Jul 26 2009 by Jeanette Oldham
1. KHYRA ISHAQ
Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board will publish its serious case review into the death of Khyra following her mother and step-father’s joint murder trial next January. The seven year-old, who allegedly starved to death in May last year, was known to both West Midlands Police and social services when she died.
2. KASEY HAND
FIVE-month-old Kasey was found dead at her parent’s flat in Quinton in March 2008. Drug addict Paul Hand and trainee teacher mum Samantha Westwood were later convicted of cruelty, although cause of death was recorded as unascertained. Police had also been called to deal with alleged incidents of domestic violence involving Hand attacking the mother of a first tragic daughter. Yet Birmingham children’s services did not officially become involved with the couple.
3. BRANDON DAVIES
BIRMINGHAM social services were lambasted in court for failing to protect two year-old Brandon. The toddler died in March last year after swallowing his parents’ methadone at his family’s “squalid” council flat in Kings Norton. Benjamin Davies and Mary Norman knew he had swallowed the drug but did not call an ambulance until the next morning. They were jailed in May for two years and 15 months respectively after admitting causing or allowing the toddler’s death. Brandon had previously been taken into care by social services.
4. AALIYAH JORDAN-FELLOWS
DIED at Birmingham Children’s Hospital on New Year’s Eve, 2008, aged four months. Her mother Bobbieallen, 18 and from West Heath, and two men were arrested on suspicion of assault and remain on police bail. Social services had been monitoring the baby’s welfare even before her birth, but closed the case two months before she died. Birmingham’s Safeguarding Children Board (BSCB) has launched a serious case review.
5. ABDUL HAKKAM FAHAD
THE four year-old died when his tricycle was hit by a reversing van being driven by his father Dhanial Fahad in Tyseley, Birmingham, in April 2008. The dad, 36, and Abdul’s mum Asiya, 22, were later convicted of child neglect, relating to an earlier fire at their home. BSCB has launched a serious case review as the family had been known to social workers.
6. KAMRAN ROSE
BATTERED to death in an ‘‘explosive rage’’ by Nicholas Kirnon, the boyfriend of his mum Sarah Louise Rose. The serial criminal was jailed for life for murdering the 15 month-old in May 2007, an attack carried out while his mother, 22, was at work. A multi-agency serious case review was rated inadequate by Ofsted and is due to be published shortly. It is expected to reveal the missed opportunities to help the toddler, including weeks before his death when he was admitted to hospital with a bump on his head. Doctors failed to do a scan – which would have revealed bleeding on the brain.
7 & 8. RAHEEM AND NAHIM
RAHEEM, two, and his one year-old brother, Nahim were hanged by their mother, Musammat Mumtahana, in March 2006 before she hanged herself. Their bodies were found by dad Shuhel Miah on his return to their flat in Handsworth. Birmingham social services and West Midlands Police have refused to say whether the family was known to them.
9. UN-NAMED
AN unnamed 16 year-old girl died of a cocaine overdose in a Birmingham hotel room in 2006. Both police and social services had been involved with her family in the past.
10. KYESHA FREEMAN
THE eight year-old was found hanged in her bedroom in Selly Oak in November 2005. A serious case review highlighted that a 18-rated DVD called Girl Interrupted might have prompted Kyesha to imitate a disturbing scene from the movie. A number of agencies had been involved with the family, including Birmingham social services. A serious case review concluded if a proper assessment had been carried out, ‘‘different actions may have been taken, this in turn may have had an impact on the outcome.”
11. MIKAEL DELANEY
BABY Mikael died at a Selly Oak care home in July, 2005, where he was living with mum Natalie Delaney and her partner, Mark Donnelly, who were learning parenting skills. An inquest heard that the mum-of-five took Mikael to bed with her after consuming six cans of lager and his body was discovered the next day. A post-mortem found no injuries and cause of death was “unascertained”. Ms Delaney, 27, has since died. Sweeping changes were made at the centre following the tragedy after a probe by the Commission for Social Care Inspection.
12. ANNA-MARIE AVERILL
THE bright student, 15, hanged herself in May 2005, three weeks after revealing she had been raped to a nurse – who failed to alert police. The Birmingham schoolgirl repeated the allegation to a social worker before she died. Her death, and the loss of vital evidence, is thought to have contributed to a decision not to charge the 64 year-old man she identified as her abuser. In 2006 he was jailed for five years for a string of sex attacks on other victims.
13. TERRY KELLY
BOURNVILLE college student Terry died, aged 15, in March 2005 after taking methadone while living at a council-run children’s home in Edgbaston. Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board carried out a serious case review and admitted that the teenager had been known to city social workers.
14. JORDAN MCGANN
EVIL Darren Bennett violently shook 18-month-old Jordan McGann to death in August 2004. A serious case review has been consistently delayed and has not yet been published. Bennett, who lived with Jordan’s mother Sarah Collins, 25, in Bordesley Green, Birmingham, had previously been jailed for attacking a girlfriend’s three-year-old daughter. After his release he abused another girl, also three.
15. UN-NAMED
ANOTHER child has died since 2005, but details are not available.
