A social worker who worked for Waltham Forest Borough Council has been removed from the Social Care Register at a hearing held by the General Social Care Council (GSCC), after being found guilty of professional misconduct.
At the four day hearing in London, Tricia Forbes admitted failing to initiate a child protection inquiry after a 13 year old girl said she had been physically abused by her father. Forbes, who at the time was a deputy team manager, failed to arrange for the child and her siblings to be accommodated overnight in a place of safety and did not inform the police, child protection response unit and partner agencies of the disclosure.
The hearing was also told that the social worker dropped the child off at the side of the road without conducting a risk assessment and failed to accompany another member of staff to meet the girl’s parents, despite being directed to do so by her manager. At a meeting convened after the child was admitted to hospital, which Forbes chaired, she did not inform colleagues of her involvement in the case. The Committee felt in doing so, the registrant had put her own interests above that of the child and this was ‘inexcusable’.
The Committee concluded that the actions taken by Forbes had put the child at serious risk. In coming to their decision, the Committee noted that the social worker had provided contradictory accounts of her involvement in the case and was not satisfied that she had demonstrated a consistent insight into her failings. At times, they said, she had demonstrated a defensive attitude and was seeking to shift responsibility onto others when giving evidence at the hearing. Forbes was also found to have not recorded her actions in the child’s file, breaching a fundamental principle of social work practice.
Sir Rodney Brooke, Chair of the GSCC, said: “Fortunately, professional negligence in social work is very rare and the tens of thousands of social workers registered with us provide only the highest standards of care to vulnerable members of our society.
In order to protect the reputation of the very many social workers who do an outstanding job day in day out, it’s vital that we take action where misconduct has been found. By addressing poor practice where we find it, we hope to be able to preserve trust in the profession and ensure public confidence.”
Removal from the register means that the registrant will not be able to practice as a social worker. Registrants have a right of appeal to the independent Care Standards Tribunal.