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Daily defends children’s services probe after council’s public criticism

A regional daily has defended its investigation into children’s services on its patch after a county council publicly accused the newspaper of being “unfair and misleading.”

The Eastern Daily Press found serious concerns remain over Norfolk Council’s childrens’ services department four years since it was rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted.

Reporters Tom Bristow and Dan Grimmer also revealed that a scheme to improve the department had been refused cash, while two councillors also spoke out for the first time about how they felt driven out of the authority for asking questions about the issue.

In response, Norfolk County Council issued a press release criticising the EDP investigation and claiming anonymous case studies published by the paper had caused “distress” to children in its care.

EDP children

The EDP’s investigation, published on its front page on Saturday, marked the launch of its ‘Fighting for their futures’ campaign and a number of follow-ups have since been published.

However the council branded the coverage “unfair” and, in its press statement issued on Wednesday,  said it would “continue to challenge the EDP’s narrative”.

The statement reads: “Recent media reporting has painted an unfair and misleading picture of children’s services in Norfolk. The Eastern Daily Press has based a campaign which claims to have concern for the future of our children on the results of a trawl through historic issues, most of which date back to before 2013.

“These are matters that have been widely reported previously – not least by the EDP – and belong to a time when we know there were failures in our services.

“The true picture of children’s services today is very different. Our social work teams have changed what they do; they have embraced new ways of working and our practice has improved.

“Our first duty is to children in our care. We are very concerned that the reporting of individual children’s cases presents the issues almost exclusively from the point of view of the adults in their lives. It is also, in some instances, adding to the distress of children and those caring for them, as they recognise their cases from the descriptions of them.

“There is much we might want to say to address issues raised in the individual historic cases covered in recent days. However, we are not in a position to go into details about vulnerable children because this may identify them when they have a right to their privacy.

“Young people themselves are telling us that they do not recognise the picture portrayed by the coverage. We are also aware of the effect such a relentless focus on the past can have on the morale of our dedicated staff, who work so hard to deliver services to the children and families in their care.

“We will continue to challenge the EDP’s narrative, both in the reporting of individual issues and the wider picture of provision for children. Where that coverage relates directly to the work of our partners, we would invite them to join us in actively making the case for the positive work we are doing together.

“The EDP asserts that its coverage will move on to more positive reporting of children’s services. We hope that will happen. In any event, we will fight to make our voice heard on behalf of the children we support and protect.”

In response, the EDP published an editorial on the matter in which it made clear it had given the council right of reply, and that it was also happy to publish a further response from Councillor Roger Smith, who chairs the authority’s children’s services committee.

It adds: “Mr Smith claims our reporting has distressed children and those who care for them. We’re not privy to the information which Mr Smith bases this claim on, but all case studies used in our campaign have deliberately been kept anonymous to avoid identification of children.

“Mr Smith is right to say some of the cases we looked at occurred some years ago, but unfortunately those involved still feel aggrieved by the council’s behaviour and some of the issues remain unaddressed. Furthermore, concerns about the current situation have been raised by Norfolk MPs.

“Mr Smith is also correct to say the Parker Review into fostering has been covered in this newspaper before. However, yesterday’s story brought to light new information about the taxpayer-funded review which we believed was in the public interest. As stated on Saturday, our campaign will scrutinise the services for children in Norfolk, but also report success stories, of which we know there will be many.”

2 comments

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  • March 10, 2017 at 8:50 am
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    Feel a bit split on this. It is good to see the EDP finally confronting the issue after years of ignoring it – in truth this campaign has come a couple of years too late because of a previous reluctance to confront the establishment. A new, braver approach is something the EDP much needs and they’ve had some good reporters working on this. But bravery needs to be balanced with normal journalistic values of fairness, integrity and a solid understanding of the issues from the top.

    The reality is that other media outlets, both local and national, did cover the problem when it was at its worst. While many of the issues may be new to the EDP, they are not new to readers.

    I have little sympathy for Norfolk County Council managers and issuing a press release attacking the local paper is petty and pointless – who’s actually going to print it? But the coverage has indeed been unrelentingly negative and has offered little new in terms of insight. More a case of style over substance.

    A final aside: today the paper printed a long defence of supposed quality, public interest journalism, alongside a report of a woman mourning the loss of her four cats complete with the obligatory reporter iPhone pic.

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  • March 10, 2017 at 11:09 am
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    Agree with NFAG , the piece is old recycled news better covered on other local media previously and in greater depth.
    I can also see why NCC have responded as they have as it comes across as raking over the ashes and in a completely negative way in a witch hunt style as opposed to any new investigation or new facts and findings.

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