THE decision by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) to take no action against a social worker who ignored claims a boy was being abused are a worrying omen ahead of the first public sessions of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.
As I reported earlier this month, the SSSC believes it cannot act against the man, who still practises as a social worker. Not only would the watchdog have to prove the worker didn’t do enough to protect Richard Tracey from abuse in the 1980s, it says, it would have to be able to demonstrate his actions were inadequate by the standards expected of social workers then.
Richard, 48, was fostered at five into a family where he was often beaten. There are allegations he was also sexually abused by a family friend. At 15, he was admitted to Redbrae, a residential children’s home in Maybole. Here he also suffered physical abuse.
Many of the facts of Richard’s abuse are confirmed by the contemporaneous notes in his social work file. But while the notes confirm he was being “leathered”, that his foster mother drank heavily and that she feared her husband would “go too far” in his violence – little was done to protect him. Instead, the notes regularly blame Richard for his predicament, express a wish things would “settle down” and on a few occasions suggest social work may withdraw and leave the family to get on with it.
Richard complained to the SSSC, seeking action against his former social worker. It doesn’t appear difficult to prove the man did nothing to stop the abuse. Notes he wrote and signed himself show him accusing Richard of exaggerating and explicitly deciding to do nothing about an incident in which a worker struck Richard with a riding crop. The harm Richard suffered is routinely minimised.
The SSSC’s reason for inaction is, according to lawyer Simon Collins who represents victims of historic child abuse, “an absolute and utter cop-out”. Professor Bill Jordan, a retired social work expert, says it is outrageous to suggest there weren’t standards of practice in the 1970s and 1980s. The death of seven-year-old Maria Colwell had led in1974 to new procedures for dealing with child abuse and neglect, he says, adding: “No social worker could fail to be aware of all these things.”
An astute, articulate and tireless inquirer into his own history, Richard has nevertheless been fobbed off by social services, by the police and now by the SSSC. This isn’t about a witch-hunt against Richard’s former social worker. It is about whether there is any real accountability for the abuse people suffered in state care.
I can well understand that the SSSC may not want to investigate mistakes made by a worker some three decades ago. It is difficult to hold people to account after so much time.
But abuse victims are being told Scotland is ready and willing to shine a light on the dark corners of the past and as ministers have said, to “give people a voice and an opportunity for justice”. If that offer is not sincere, the various agencies involved should be frank about it. Anything else is giving false hope to people like Richard, who are desperate for justice, accountability and honest answers.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here