02/05/2012 Newsnight Scotland

Good evening. The case of Neeve Laftery and

Georgia Rowe is undoubtedly tragic. The two girls left the Good

Shepherd care centre in Renfrewshire one night in October

2009, and jumped from the Erskine Bridge in an apparent suicide pact.

Yesterday, a Fatal Accident Inquiry found failings in the way both

girls had been treated in care. And those failings were not unique to

this case - lack of communication, poorly completed paperwork, and

understaffing. In a moment, we'll be discussing whether the system

works, but first Aileen Clarke has spoken to the families of both

The Georgia Rowe and Neeve Laftery were two troubled, complex

teenagers who, by a strange quirk of fate, were taken into care the

same day. The following year, they died on the same day as they fell

together from the Erskine Bridge. Why they decided to leave their

care home that night and go to the bridge to take their lives, that it

will never be known. But the lengthy fatal accident inquiry into

this case heard a host of issues raised about the workings of a care

assistant. I feel that Neeve Laftery was

systematically fields by the care system from the start to the finish.

-- she was systematically let down. They were just a roof over her head.

There was nothing else. Nothing. I was seeking some into a venture in

to look at Georgia -- I was seeking some intervention.

I wanted to know why she was behaving in the way she was

behaving. We needed to learn from this. I did not know what was wrong

with her. She was very much loved and very

much wanted. We all had great hopes for her. We could all see the real

girl behind the difficult behaviour. We loved her unconditionally. We

all had hoped that she would come through. We wanted her to get the

help she needed so she could move on to be a happy girl. She never

got the chance. The share of notes in her findings

that the two girls refused to co- operate with counselling and says

that it is not possible to conclude that a lack of psychological input

was relevant to their deaths. It is nevertheless of concern, she says.

Despite all the potential in good from our variety of psychologists,

the inquiry heard of no structured and sustain therapy being

undertaken by either girl. Meanwhile, the girls's families

believes the system was taking little notice of concerns raised by

those who knew the girl's best. I should have been listened to. She

was my daughter. I knew her. I knew what she needed. I am a responsible

parent who loved my daughter. I felt that I was not listen to. I

was undermined. I was fobbed off. She is not ready, you haven't

addressed any problems and you have swept everything under the carpet.

That is what I said in front of the social workers, the people making

the decisions... It was like banks, but no thanks. I never expected

Jorja to ever be in that kind of environment. I expected some help

and interventions to be good move forward. I never expected that we

would be into the system that we Despite their concerns about the

two girls being placed in the open unit of the Good Shepherd Centre in

the books before they died, just how open it was on the night the

girls left for the bridge came as a dreadful shock.

They both leave. Nobody questions them. Nobody knows they're missing.

Nobody knows they have gone. How do you think I feel when I have

dropped my daughter off at 10 minutes past seven -- 7:10pm. We

had a beautiful day. Less than 30 minutes later, she has left that

unit. And nobody knows why. Nobody knows. They did but know until

after they were dead. There was no security. -- they did not know.

One of the sheriffs main findings was that the deaths of the two

girls may have been avoided if there had been four staff on duty

in the unit that night. There were only two, with only one on the

premises at all times. She also noted a number of other relevant

facts, including the failure of police and authorities to hold

detailed and really accessible information relating to a child.

The need to ensure that that is copied to the residential placement.

The need for better communication and up-to-date information. And the

need for a stand-alone risk assessment for every child in

residential care with consideration of self-harm and suicide. This

fatal accident determination is lengthy and detailed. The Share

Focus there is something of value here for those working in this area

right across Scotland. One of the stand-out pieces for me is where

the sheriff talks about the veritable mountain of paperwork

generated by the girl's social work departments and the Good Shepherd

Centre. It became apparent during the course of the inquiry that

there were many instances where there were failures among

professionals to communicate information in a cogent,

straightforward and commonsense way. She says, taken as a whole, some of

these failures suggest a lack of professionalism and a tendency to

view form-filling as an end in itself without considering such

matters as the value or the relevancy or the accuracy of the

information contained in all that paperwork. There are examples in

here of decisions being made with no paper work at all, of vulnerable

children being placed in units with no updated paper work with them,

and then there was Neeve Laftery's suicide note, which was not read by

some of those involved in her care. It was left in the file in a draw.

How often in the past have we heard when a child has died, a child

known to social services, that there was vital information known

but it was not passed on to the people who needed to know that at

the time they needed to know what. I'm joined now in the studio by

Duncan Dunlop, Chief Executive of Who Cares? Scotland, the advocacy

group for children in care, and Jennifer Davidson, Director of the

Centre for Excellence for looked after children in Scotland, which

provides training and research, and from Inverness by Sandy Riddell who

represents the Association of Directors of Social Work.

Jennifer, I just want to get some sense of how typical of this

situation these two young women find themselves in... One of the

things that struck me about both of them is that their own families

were involved in having them could into care for temporary periods.

This was not a situation where social workers were taking children

away from their families. Part of the families were co-operating. Is

that typical? First of all, or what is important

to say is that we will all be moved by this story and that it is a

really powerful story of the pain and the real tragedy of the loss of

these families. In relation to the question about how relevant or her,

and this may be, I think there is an important message here about

understanding where there needs to be blame situated.

Is this a common situation? Services are quite patchy. I don't

think we can say confidently that this is, not uncommon. But it is

quite apparent that there are aspects of this that are

extraordinarily poor practice. I don't mean the details of the

case. I am trying to get the sense of an image. Children are mainly

taken into care because social workers decided is not safe to

leave them with their parents or ever has taken care of them. That

was not the situation with either of these teenagers. Is there

situation, whether families a core It is less common than the

situation you have described. other thing that struck me,

listening to Niamh's mother and Georgia's aunt, they Apethorpe that

the girls were going into a therapeutic process. Whether it be

wrong to think that? I don't think they were wrong to expect that from

a care assistant, and I think what we are seeing here is a complete

failure of all of those systems who were responsible for the care of

the two girls when their families give them over to the system to

care for. This is an example of a catastrophic failure of the

system's not working together and certainly not working in a way that

we expect the care system to be working for children who are

clearly emotionally distressed. you think the aunt and the mother

have realistic expectations? Again, they seem to believe that what was

happening was these children were going to be looked after in a way

that would actually contribute to their development and they end up

basically, not been left to their own devices, but in open units with

other children, all of whom are severely troubled in one way or

another. There are several things to come out of this and firstly, I

hope this inquiry has brought some peas to everyone. But lessons need

to be learned from this. If we go back to the issue why were they in

care in the first place? You can look at the complex nature of that

family situations where they come from. There was a breakdown in

close relationships, maybe not with the two women betrayed in that film,

but close relationships were not good for them. The impact of that

can be very severe and have severe consequences. I understand that,

but what I am tried to get that is there was clearly an expectation on

the part of the parents that this would help them, but it looks from,

and I'm not just referring to this particular case, I am asking on

behalf of anyone who is in this situation, whether they perhaps

have misunderstood? Perhaps residential care homes are not

there to be therapeutic centres, but are more their in a way to keep

young people say if. We consult and that is a pair with a lot of people

who have lived in residential care, and we looked as a case last week,

as PSCs are different. Homes have got better and there are less

incidents of abuse, but relationships are the guiding tours

that are needed. We take them into a care setting and it has to give

them the talks to build relationships. They will only get

there through having a continuity of care relationship with quality

staff in those units. That is what is important. In terms of therapy,

what they really want is an adult who is going to be there throughout

their care journey. You heard there, particularly from Jennifer Davies

and that this build a systemic failure. When you read this report,

particular details like how many staff there were in the home on

that particular night seemed about the least of their problems. The

sheriff concludes that neither of these young women should have been

in open units and the first place and the reason they were his beat

usual, you know, people not communicated with each other.

Social workers not knowing what was going on, etc. The problem is this

happens every single time we have one of these cases are. The lesson

is that everyone needs to work together, but nothing seems to

change. One of the panel for messages from the mother and the

art was very much along the lines of not just communicating with them

or working in partnership, it is actually listening to them and

listening to the young girls as well. This is an absolute tragedy

and I would like to convey my condolences to the families.

understand that, but one of the points the sheriff made his many of

these homes, there is too much listening to the girls. There would

be Aurelien -- there would be a rebellion, not necessarily these

two girls, and then the staff say they cannot be bothered. This

certainly highlights the challenges and the difficulties that staff

based in dealing with a vulnerable, volatile adolescents, particularly

in situations where they self-harm. But we have got two young women

here, again, just going by what the show this has concluded, they both

had self-harm, various degrees are trying to commit suicide and

expressed their wish to die, yet they ended up in an open facility

where they could lead at will where the sheriff concludes they should

not have been. It was not just the care home, it was the network of

social work departments and other agencies. Everyone says that needs

to change, we are not working together, but every case that comes

up, that is always the problem. think what this particular tragedy

highlights is that risk-management criteria should be in place. There

are issues about how social work and providers of care communicate

with each other. One of the things that surprised me as an outsider,

it seems to be extraordinary that someone who has attempted to commit

suicide has no risk assessment done. These girls were not in the

appropriate placement. We have to look at the resources that exist of

these children who are so distressed. There are some emerging

services that will be able to meet needs. My apologies, we have run

out of time. Thank you for taking part. A quick look at tomorrow's's

front pages. -- at tomorrow's front pages. That is all we have time for

tonight. I will be back tomorrow. The rain returns tomorrow. Some

torrential, thundery downpours expected. North of the brain band

should be quite nice, particularly north-west England. Feeling cool

under the band of rain. The southernmost counties, after a bit

of rain in the morning, a dry day in store. A few sunny spells

possible. Not especially warm. Brightening up to the south of

Wales, but through mid-Wales, further rain in the afternoon. In

Northern Ireland there will be some sunny spells about the day and the

western areas of Scotland will have a fine day. Cloud gathering to the

far north later run. -- later on. Northerly winds digging in. Friday