Bereaved dad says council still failing children

The father of a four-month-old baby who died after falling ill in the care of her drug-taking mother says a local authority is partly responsible for her death.

Matt Purssell says his daughter Francesca's death in April 2022 was a "tragic accident" but one that could have been avoided, had Solihull Council's intervention been better.

An independent report published the following year was also critical of the council's dealings with Francesca's mother, from whom Mr Purssell had separated.

The council says past events have been "fully explored by the appropriate regulatory authorities". But for Mr Purssell, speaking three years on from the loss of his daughter, that does not go far enough.

"Even to this day Solihull Council won't offer an apology towards me for their own failures even though it's been highlighted in the report," Mr Purssell, 31, said.

"They won't accept any form of accountability and that's really frustrating."

The authority's children's services have been under scrutiny for years, with the high-profile murder in 2020 of six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes among cases to trouble watchdogs, along with the national government of the time.

Multiple Ofsted reports have suggested that children's services are improving from their overall rating of inadequate in November 2022, issued several months after Francesca's death.

At a 2023 inquest into the death of Francesca, a coroner heard how one morning she was found cold, blue and face down on the mattress of her mother's bed. She later died in hospital.

The proceedings heard that her mother - from whom Mr Purssell had separated seven months earlier - admitted taking cocaine and drinking alcohol the night before her baby fell ill.

The coroner was unable to say exactly how the infant had died and heard that prosecutors found there was not enough evidence to charge her mother with neglect.

A pathologist told the inquiry, however, that an unsafe sleeping environment and adults under the influence of drink or drugs were known to be risk factors in children dying suddenly.

Mr Purssell, an electrician, told the BBC he had raised concerns with the council about the welfare of his "happy, beautiful" daughter, adding he felt she could have been "saved".

According to the report into the council's handling of the case - commissioned by Solihull Safeguarding Partnership - the authority's involvement followed Mr Purssell sharing unease about the mother's personal life and perceived drug use.

The report found that in the months before Francesca's death, there were "significant weaknesses" in various council parties' dealings with the household and "distress" therein. The document cited slow responses and a lack of joined-up working at the council amid "oversights" and issues linked to staff leave, with the screening process branded "inadequate".

While a social worker was appointed in February 2022, the case was not picked up until March, the month before Francesca died.

No concerns about substance abuse were highlighted by staff, the report confirmed.

Francesca's mother declined to comment for this article.

Mr Purssell said he feared that children in the borough were still being "failed", and added that if services were improving "it's at a very low bar".

Every local authority has some form of children's services department which is responsible for supporting youngsters and protecting them if vulnerable.

In the wake of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes's murder, changes have followed in Solihull. Part of the journey towards improvement has involved the opening of three new authority-run children's homes, delivered through £1.5m of Government funding.

But in December last year, the BBC revealed the first of these had been temporarily closed to children after inspectors found "serious and widespread failings" less than six months after it opened.

The BBC has since spoken to two former workers who alleged they were "rushed through" training and not given proper support by managers.

One woman, whose arrival at the home followed a career change, said she was among a dozen people who worked there, but none of them had any experience in residential care.

"It was about giving back, I wanted to make a difference," she said. "I was really excited."

But the former worker said the dream later turned sour.

She claimed she was suspended after a row with a manager who asked her to leave a child without proper supervision. The council did not respond to this claim directly.

The home's exact location cannot be revealed, but the ex-employee added there was one "highly violent" child there with complex needs, and whom staff were not equipped to support.

"We were thrown into the deep end with a lot of things," she said.

"I don't know how [the authority] signed off on that house... there were massive failings."

Councillor Max McLoughlin represents the ward where six-year-old Arthur died, and has previously spoken about the impact of the case on his own mental health.

He is the council's Green Party leader of the opposition, and said while children's services were improving, greater action was needed at national level.

He called problems a "local symptom of a national issue" and urged the government to provide more support for families with issues.

"Local authorities are trying to tackle problems that are outside of their control with resources that are insufficient and inadequate," he said.

"Social workers only get involved when something has failed significantly earlier down the line.

"They are the last chance saloon and the reality is we need to be preventing children ending up at that stage."

A spokesperson for Solihull Council said the cases of Francesca and the children's home had already been looked into by regulators.

The authority insisted the home remained open with staff working throughout, despite the fact it was closed to children for a period.

"The regulator is satisfied with the swift actions we took to address the issues raised," a statement said.

"We are expecting a final monitoring visit as per the usual procedures and a full inspection in the future.

"We look forward to demonstrating the improvements we have made to inspectors."

The government told the BBC that ministers were determined to deliver meaningful reform to a children's social care system that had been "left to fester" .

"We will continue to closely monitor that the right action is being taken within Solihull Council and at the care home to ensure standards are met and lessons learnt," a spokesperson said.

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