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Troubleshooter says children's services could be outstanding
DONCASTER Council's children's services can be "outstanding" according to the trouble-shooter drafted into turn around the crisis hit department.
Gareth Williams, the new director of children's services, said the department was on course to climb off the bottom of national league tables and could be among the best in the country in four years.
Mr Williams was speaking exclusively to the Free Press on Tuesday just hours after the eighth death of a child in the borough where suspected abuse or neglect was a factor.
But Mr Williams remained upbeat about the progress made since the failings in the department were exposed by the Free Press in December when it was revealed that seven children had died.
Those deaths included Amy Howson, aged 16 months, from Edlington and thtree-motn-old Alfie Goddard, of Toll Bar.
Their fathers James Howson and Craig Goddard were jailed for life after they were convicted of murder.
Serious case reviews looking at the role of agencies, including the council and health bosses, have been ordered into the deaths.
As the Free press reported in April a similar probe is underway into the attempted murder, robbery and sexual assault of two friends aged nine and 11.
The deaths prompted the Government to take over the running of children's services. Mr Williams was appointed as part of a series of Government-backed measures.
Mr Williams was speaking as he prepared to submit a three-year draft
action plan to the Government detailing how the department will be
turned around.
"Our view is that Doncaster could be good or outstanding in four to five years but there is the potential to bring the time scales down further," he said.
"We are on track for a social worker to be allocated to every child who needs one by September."
The department was heavily criticised in a string of reports for having inexperienced, overworked staff in front-line and managerial positions and a six-month backlog of cases.
Said Mr Williams: "We already have the full turnaround team in place in Doncaster, a dedicated assistant director and we have begun a
recruitment campaign to make sure we get the very best full time and
experienced staff we can trust in the jobs.
"We know there are people out there who are keen to come to Doncaster."
Six new management posts are currently being advertised but Mr Williams says they are just the start of a radical overhaul of the service.
Mr Williams said it was important to reduce the number of temporary staff and there would be further recruitment drives.
Mr Williams will this week present his draft improvement plan to Dawn Primarolo, the new Government Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families, which he expects to be approved.
He added bosses had consulted with senior managers and other relevant bodies whose feedback had been positive.
"Implementing everything on the draft will take some time but the short term measures, which include putting the right team in place on the ground, are going well." he said.
Plans listed in the draft include special training for councillors.
Said Mr Williams: "Part of the role of councillor is to be a champion of local children. We will help provide training to help them better understand their role as corporate parent."
Another proposal is to fund a bursary for children looked after by the council to attend higher education.
"This is a ground-breaking idea and one that I have never heard of in any other authority," Mr Williams said.
But according to the draft, the council is not planning to achieve its target reduction in infant mortality rates until 2012.
"You would hope it would be something we could bring in tomorrow but we need to talk to our health partners first. We don't want to set ourselves unobtainable, silly targets."
"We don't want people just ticking boxes to meet targets. It's the
quality of what the kids get that matters."
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Weather for Doncaster
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
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Wind direction: East
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Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
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