Social Services 'paralysed' with fear in case of tortured child

Social services agencies which should have protected a young girl who died after she was tortured and starved to death by her parents were "paralysed" with fear by the couple, a report said today.

Ainlee Labonte, aged two, also known as Ainlee Walker, was found covered in 64 scars, scabs and bruises when she died in January, having suffered cigarette burns and scalding.

Launching the report today at Newham Town Hall, east London, Helen Kenward, an independent consultant and expert on child protection issues, said the case highlighted the need for better communication between agencies.

Ms Kenward said: "I have assembled the information so that you can see at different points in her life there were critical points where people needed to speak to one another, think about what they knew, stand back and look at it from the child's point of view.

"And I think one of the messages is that in a dangerous family it is often difficult to keep the focus on the child.

"The actions of the adults create a smokescreen, diversions, a whole range of issues which people are forced to address and are left to hold on to.

"Child protection is about the child and the child can get lost and Ainlee has got lost in that process."

The report into the tragedy was launched by the Newham area child protection committee.

Ainlee's parents, Leanne Labonte, 20, and Dennis Henry, 39, of Plaistow, east London, were jailed for manslaughter and child cruelty in September.

Labonte was jailed for 10 years while Henry was given 12 years.

Ainlee had not eaten for two days before her death and weighed just 21lbs – half the normal average for a child of that age.

Staff at Newham social services failed to make a scheduled visit to Ainlee's home in the week before her death.

They had not seen Ainlee in the five months before her death.

Ms Kenward said social workers could not deal effectively with violent families

unless they had "good supervision and good management".

Among her key recommendations was better training for staff who deal with dangerous families and more detailed record–keeping.

Child protection agencies not only needed to accept responsibility of their own actions but also had to "keep an eye on" others, she said.

"My personal belief is that each one of us that works in child protection has to have this sense of responsibility for each and every child that the agencies have contact with.

"And unless we do that, unless we think about what we are leaving behind when we go home and shut the door, then children can get lost.

"We have to remember that the professionals – some of them – were working really hard on Ainlee's part but that not all of it came together."

In the report, Ms Kenward said that Ainlee was living in an environment that "adults were not prepared to visit".

Her report added: "The fear with which the family are regarded leads to almost paralysis in terms of action. Social service documents do not reflect the anxiety of those from health. The police do not refer the level of attendance at the house nor the domestic violence that is being expressed."

"The agencies were compartmentalised in their knowledge and responses. There was no clear risk assessment at any stage with all the agency information available."

Area child protection committee chairman and director of social services, Kathryn Hudson, admitted there had been "shortcomings" in the child protection work in Newham.

"I said in September following the trial that it was not a secret that there had been shortcomings."

Ms Hudson said that no member of staff in the social services department had been disciplined as a result of Ainlee's death.

"My view is ... that there were significant problems within the child protection services within this borough but that the responsibility for many of them is a management issue.

"If we do not have effective ways of recruiting and retaining our staff, of training them adequately, of supervising them and of then ensuring that proper procedures and practices are followed, then we would not be fair to blame them when situations such as this arise."

Ms Hudson said an action plan had been drawn up in response to 47 major recommendations in the report, addressing issues of communication, procedures, supervision and training.

She added: "The agencies concerned have not waited for the outcome of this review before beginning to implement the actions which were identified as necessary quite shortly after Ainlee's death.

"The only possible positive outcome from Ainlee's death must be the renewed commitment of all the agencies involved to work together to improve the protection of children in Newham for the future."

In the report, Ms Hudson said: "Ainlee's death was a tragic event and I would like to convey the deep distress and sorrow of all the agencies involved."

Shadow Health Secretary Dr Liam Fox said Ainlee's death "highlights a number of shortfalls in the system".

He said: "In particular, the report highlights a drastic lack of co–ordination between a number of agencies, the police, medical professionals and social services, all of whom took no action despite numerous early warning signs.

"It is too easy to point the finger at social services in this instance.

"What we should be addressing is the chronic shortage of social workers, and child protection officers especially. Without more effort by the Government to recruit and retain such staff there is a real danger that such tragic cases will happen again."