Climbie carer can work with children
A junior social worker sacked after the murder of Victoria Climbie has been cleared to work with children again - because her bosses were to blame.
Lisa Arthurworrey was dismissed by Haringey Council in 2002 for gross misconduct. But in an devastating judgment for more senior figures at Haringey social services, a tribunal is set to announce that Ms Arthurworrey should not have carried the can for their mistakes.
The ruling is expected to say she was herself a victim of the appalling failures at Haringey, having been pitched into a chaotic environment without adequate training to tackle such serious cases as Victoria's who was eight years old when she was tortured to death in 2000.
Ms Arthurworrey was barred from working with children again by former education secretary Charles Clarke. Last October she lost her appeal against dismissal.
But a care standards tribunal has now upheld her appeal against his decision and concluded that her role in the case did not warrant permanent exclusion from the childcare profession.
The ruling is expected to say that Ms Arthurworrey was too inexperienced to deal with sucha case. In effect, it was impossiasble to do her ?35,000-a-year job as a social worker effectively because of the lack of either leadership or supervision.
The verdict poses questions over whether those genuinely responsible for the failure to save Victoria are still in charge of children's lives.
Last year, an Evening Standard investigation found that some senior figures criticised in Lord Laming's official report into the tragedy have kept their jobs or moved on to better positions. They include high-ranking council officers, police officers and social workers.
Victoria died after months of abuse at the hands of her great aunt Marie-Therese Kouao and Kouao's boyfriend Carl Manning at their flat in Tottenham. Her body bore 128 marks and she had been kept in a bathtub.
Ms Arthurworrey was sacked for failing to spot the signs that the child was being abused and for breaching guidelines.
An employment tribunal was given an internal report commissioned by Haringey that showed she missed eight crucial opportunities that might have saved Victoria's life. The Government reacted by banning her from working with children again.
The care standards tribunal judgment is seen as backing for Ms Arthurworrey's claims that she was a scapegoat.
According to a BBC Radio 4 report, it will say that the Secretary of State failed to satisfy the panel that Ms Arthurworreywas unsuitable to work with children when, in fact, she came across as a caring individual who acknowledged her mistakes.
Speaking on the Today programme, Ms Arthurworrey said she felt relief from the ruling that she should not be banned from working with children again.
"I have never considered myself as a danger to children, so in that respect I feel vindicated," she said. "I can now pursue careers working with children if I want to."
The judgment is said to also question the use of the Protection of Children Act to ban social workers who make professional mistakes, saying this puts them in the same category
