Council chiefs admit fifteen children have died in last four years

Jan 24 2009 By Jeannette Oldham

UNDER-FIRE council chiefs have admitted FIFTEEN children have died of abuse or neglect in Birmingham in the last four years.

Last week we revealed a Government intervention team had been sent to work with the children’s services department of Birmingham City Council.

The move came after the tragic deaths of 10 children in the last three years – eight of whom were known to social workers.

We had also told how Government watchdogs Ofsted had branded the council’s ability to keep children safe as ‘inadequate’.

Now the authority has bowed to pressure to release further child death figures, as well as the reports of Serious Case Reviews (SCRs).

And the figures show there were five other child deaths from abuse or neglect in 2005/6 – taking the total number to 15 in just four years.

Government ministers have already ordered an independent inquiry into Doncaster children’s services following the deaths of seven youngsters in five years, yet Birmingham’s death toll is much higher.

A total of 17 SCRs have also been launched by the authority since 2005 but the council is only publishing parts of three of them on the Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board section of its website.

One is the case of a 16-year-old girl found dead of a suspected drugs overdose in a city hotel room.

Another is that of an eight year-old girl who was found hanging by her mother.

And the third is that of a 15 year-old girl who hanged