By Tom Barton

7 Aug, 2002

Page 7

VULNERABLE children in North Wales care homes are being deprived of a key part of the Waterhouse report, we can reveal.

Vital security checks on the homes are being missed and councillors are not being given important training sessions.

A Conwy council committee will hear today that fewer than a third of planned visits to children's homes during 2000 and 2001were carried out by councillors.

The Waterhouse report into abuse at North Wales children's homes said two years ago that a failure by councillors to make monthly visits could have contributed to the harm suffered by the children in their care.

But the Hafan children's home in Abergele has not been visited by councillors for over nine months, while no independent checks were made at either of the county's homes during January or February this year, according to a report by Bethan Jones, Conwy's director of social services.

Wales' Children's Commissioner Peter Clarke last night stressed the need for independent checks on children's homes.

'It is vital that children's homes are regularly checked by independent persons, and this was a cornerstone of the Waterhouse inquiry,' he said.

Care home charity Voices from Care last night reacted angrily to the report, saying that councillors were 'abdicating their responsibility to see that children in care were safe'.

Carol Floris, the group's support and advice manager, said: 'We would be concerned that councillors still don't see the value of visiting young people in care or residential homes.

'There have been lots of initiatives to make sure that councillors take on board their responsibilities.'

Responsibility for carrying out checks on the homes lies with a rota of members of the council's Children's Services committee, but many members of the committee are not trained or are too busy to make the visits.

Coun David Roberts said he was not allowed to make the visits because he had not been trained.

He said: 'I would love to go, but because I haven't had the training - how to be a corporate parent, how to inspect the homes - I can't do it.'

He added that councillors had a responsibility to children in local authority care and said that if they were to blame for failing to make the visits then that blame 'should damn well be laid at their feet.'

Coun John Maclennan, who is a member of the committee, said: 'I find it disappointing that these visits haven't been made, particularly in the light of the Waterhouse report, and we should look to ourselves to do things the proper way and get it right.'

A council spokeswoman said new procedures were being put in place that would relieve councillors of the responsibility of visiting children's homes. She added that new national standards placed the responsibility for checks on council employees, and that Conwy was looking at setting up arrangements with neighbouring councils to ensure that the monthly checks would be independent.

The spokeswoman added that when councillors were unable to carry out scheduled checks, council managers had visited in their place.

Greta Thomas, the NSPCC's Divisional Director for Wales, said: 'It is important that they carry out this duty and that they do make these regular monthly visits.'

Coun Linda Groom, vicechairwoman of the Children's Services Committee, expressed surprise that the Hafan home had not been visited since October.

'It is a matter of concern, but with all the litigation that you can get yourself into people don't want to put themselves into a position where they are at risk,' she said.