Keighley MP says Bradford’s children's services are "not fit for purpose" following Star Hobson death
Robbie Moore said he has ‘absolutely no confidence’ in the local children's services
The Conservative MP for Keighley and Ilkley has criticised Bradford’s Council Children services, due to their lack of action months before the death of toddler Star Hobson.
16-month-old Star Hobson died from a cardiac arrest in her home in Keighley in September last year.
Evidence shown in Bradford Crown Court yesterday (14 December), showed Star had been physically assaulted over weeks and months before her death. Her mother, Frankie Smith, 20, and partner, Savannah Brockhill, 28, were found guilty of causing or allowing the death of Star.
Although, issues have been raised over how Bradford’s social services dealt with this case. It was found five referrals were made by concerned friends and family months before Star's death.
In the wake of this information, MP, Robbie Moore, said:
“The referral was made by Star’s own great grandmother and was closed by children’s services without her even being told about it.
“Whilst the ultimate responsibility absolutely lies with Star’s evil killer and the serious and vile neglect by her mother. Questions have got to be asked as to why no action was taken despite concerns being raised by Star’s other family members to Bradford’s Council Children’s social services.”
MP Moore, is adamant that the Leader and Chief Executive of Bradford Council should resign as the body remain responsible for the children services.
He states he has ‘absolutely no confidence’ in the council after a damning report was recently released by Ofsted about the handling of their department.
Mr Moore, continued:
“We have to restore the faith in children’s services for the good of the most vulnerable in society. You must make sure that those most at risk and need protecting, are getting the reassurance and the protection measures that are needed at a local level.
“There was clear neglect in my view by Bradford Council’s social services.”
The Department for Education have appointed their commissioner to assess Bradford Council's ability in protecting children and capacity to improve. The inquiry will investigate whether the 'council should retain control of its children's services.'
A statement from the Bradford Partnership - Working Together to Safeguard Children, said:
"We want to say first and foremost that we’re sorry for the death of Star. This was a child’s life cut cruelly short. Two people have been brought to answer for their crimes - one has been convicted of murder and one of causing or allowing the death of a child.
“Anyone who has followed the trial will want to know what more could have been done to help protect Star. As agencies who have a joint responsibility to protect children, this has been at the forefront of our minds. Any death of a child, wherever it happens, is one death too many, but this happened in our district, in our community and has had a devastating impact.
“We are very aware as partners that there is much that we need to learn from this case. We have already put in place actions that will improve our practice so that we learn those lessons. But we need to fully understand why opportunities to better protect Star were missed.
“We must also learn everything we can from the awful murder of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes. A national review has been established to enable this to happen. If we can contribute our learning to this review, we will do.
“We offered support and assistance to Star’s family for what we believed their needs to be, at that given time, but we all deeply regret that not all the warning signs were seen that could have led to firmer statutory enforcement action.
“A Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review is being written by an independent author. This is almost complete and, now the trial is concluded, the review will be finalised and published in January 2022. It will provide partners and colleagues in our district and across the country with clear recommendations so we can better protect children in our care."