Parents confront council over Sefton's children's services
They want three people with 'lived experiences' to join the scrutiny children's committee
A group of parents have confronted Sefton Council over its failing children's service.
After giving an inadequate rating in 2016, OFSTED said earlier this year that 'insufficient progress' is being made to turn the service around.
The watchdog concluded that children in Sefton are experiencing 'ongoing harm' because of ongoing failings in the children's service and described the pace of improvements being made as 'too slow'.
Voice for the Families held a protest outside Southport Town Hall ahead of a scrutiny committee meeting.
Shoes were left in front of the building - with the protest group saying that Sefton 'couldn't walk a mile in the shoes' of struggling families.
Parents spoke of children not being in school for years, having to leave work to plug gaps left by the local authority, children being removed from courses without parents being consulted, court orders being ignored, school transport problems and serious safeguarding issues.
Chairman David Moorhead addressed the meeting and called for three people with 'lived experiences' to be added to the committee.
David said:
"Sefton (Council) will say 'we listen, we work with people', but they come to meetings and they nod and then they don't do anything. If you have a meeting with Sefton (Council), there is not follow up. So many parents feel that things are getting sorted out and then nothing happens.
"It's leaving parents feeling isolated and vulnerable.
"Childhoods are at risk"
"We feel that (having people on the committee with) lived experience, they know things. For instance, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, sadly if mothers drink during pregnancy, this will affect the development of the child. This is very common throughout the world, Sefton don't even have a policy on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, but we have parents who have children who have Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, often because they've been adopted, and they could put a policy together. We realise the urgency because childhoods are at risk.
"Sefton (Council) are just far too slow and this is what we're asking - to sit on that committee so we can actually analyse.
"If Sefton (Council) started working with the parents and respecting the parents and it came from the top, it would change the whole culture of Sefton (Council). That's what we need, we need the parents respected and involved and then Sefton (Council) could move forward.
"We don't just want to criticise. We want improvement and we want to be part of the solution."
In a statement, a spokesperson for Sefton Council said:
"We are always willing to listen to our children, young people and families and hear their comments or concerns.
"Our chair of the Overview and Scrutiny committee and our Director of Children’s Services have spoken directly with members of this group previously and will continue this dialogue to discuss and address any feedback or concerns they have. We now feel we have an appropriate and agreed plan in place to address their collective concerns.
"Our Overview and Scrutiny meetings give the public an opportunity to scrutinise the work we do with our children, young people and families and it is a positive way that the public can engage with the work we do. We continue to welcome people to these meetings in order to constructively engage with our continuing improvement journey in Children’s Services."