“We need social workers to see the whole picture to spot these inconsistencies.”
That's the stark statement from Jane Parfrement, strategic director of children’s services at Derbyshire County Council, who was interviewed by the Burton Mail on the role social workers played in AJ’s life and what lessons must now be learnt.
She admitted: "A lot of attention was given to Kathryn Smith’s needs. Sometimes they (social workers) are distracted from understanding what is life really like for AJ, how it impacted on her.
"People can spend a lot of time dealing with adult issues. Some of the key finding are ensuring that when we do an assessment we understand the issues of the adult but the most important thing is what does this mean for this child.
"We have put additional training in place; how you see child as part of a system, how everyone works together and what this means for the child.
"We are training our staff to allow them to sit back and reflect on what they observed, heard, and what the child tells them and use that to formulate their assessment. It is about understanding what does it mean for this child."
The report from the serious case review also reveals there were missed signs of disguise compliance.
"In the trial the judge was really clear about how the mother was misleading people and able to stop people getting underneath the issues.
"We need to have those systems and processes in place to allow social workers to compare the information, getting to see the situation. We need them to see the whole picture to spot this inconsistencies."
The relationship with AJ’s father Ricky Booth had also been highlighted as his relationship with the social worker broke down.
"Her death is an absolute tragedy and our hearts go out to the family. We have to look at how we work with dads as well. He didn’t live in the same house but she spent a lot of time with him.
"Social workers are working with families who are at their most challenging and we need to give staff the support, training and supervision to do their jobs as well as possible.
"We have spoken to Ricky. He had a lot to say, and it is clear he adores her and he talks about this beautiful girl, happy, smiling but also talks about how Kathryn Smith was with him and how she tried to manipulate him.
"We got things we could have found and learnt from him. We have to make sure we understand the perspective of both parents.
"Ricky would admit he could be quite challenging but he had a lot of useful information to share. I have apologised and am truly sorry we didn’t work closely with him.
"One big thing is working on persevering with those relationships even when parents are upset, angry. People don’t often want social workers involved and that can be challenging. People do need those high level skills to deal with their challenging relationship.
"We should have worked harder at that relationship.
"The social worker involved was experienced and they are very skilled individuals but we cannot be complacent, we have to continue with the training and management and learn more all the time about family dynamics.
"We have implanted findings as they emerged. Some findings emerged quickly, some took time.
"There have been substantial changes in the three years since AJ’s death and will continue to make more changes because you have to do that if you want to continue to improve."
