... to be a Care Leaver. This report notes that child protection concerns were reported about the siblings on two separate occasions in 2005 and 2006, and enquiries took place which led to the children becoming subject of Child Protection Plans. Although Keanu was said to be having breathing difficulties, the cause of death was multiple injuries, the result of separate incidents and several major injuries
(Original abstract)
This Serious Case Review concerns Keanu Williams, his two older, school age half siblings and their young mother Rebecca Shuttleworth from Birmingham. Keanu was born in Torbay, where his mother had moved in 2007 to stay with members of her extended family. They returned to live in Birmingham in July 2009. Keanu was just over two years old at the time of his death; his mother was still deemed to be a Care Leaver. This report notes that child protection concerns were reported about the siblings on two separate occasions in 2005 and 2006, and enquiries took place which led to the children becoming subject of Child Protection Plans. Although Keanu was said to be having breathing difficulties, the cause of death was multiple injuries, the result of separate incidents and several major injuries sustained over a period of days. Rebecca Shuttleworth was convicted of ‘murder’ in respect of Keanu and ‘cruelty to a child’ in respect of one of the siblings; her partner Luke Southerton was convicted on the charges of ‘cruelty to a child’. The Review’s main finding was that professionals in the various agencies involved had collectively failed to prevent Keanu’s death as they missed a significant number of opportunities to intervene and take action. The Overview Author and the Serious Case Review (SCR) Panel concluded that there were a number of significant missed opportunities to provide services to the three children, and to assess their needs within a collaborative multi-agency framework. Services should have been provided to promote the welfare of the children on a number of occasions: they were clearly children in need, and on several occasions services should have been provided to safeguard them from significant harm. This report itemises the lessons to be learnt, and how learning was to be implemented with regard to: standards of practice in undertaking child protection tasks; accurate records readily accessible to front line staff; demonstrable improvement in the accurate and up to date recording of information about service users; the quality of child protection medical assessments, which should be subject to regular BSCB audit; the safeguarding agenda must be prominent to ensure timely action to protect children; all agencies must review and update internal procedures; training programmes; and an individual management review (IMR) by all organisations involved.
(Original abstract)
Subject terms:
serious case reviews, vulnerable children, homicide, child abuse, child neglect, injuries, pre-school children, professional conduct, interagency cooperation, professional role, case management, death;