The Edlington case has highlighted new failings by social workers at Doncaster Council who have already been condemned as “inadequate” by inspectors.
An independent inquiry is under way into why, despite years of contact with the family, they failed to heed warnings that the two young brothers were dangerously out of control.
The boys were well known to Doncaster children’s services. They lived with their mother, who had a history of drug and alcohol abuse, her partner and five siblings on a housing estate in the town.
They were both on the child protection register, had been expelled from school, were being educated in a special pupil referral unit and were notorious troublemakers in the area.
Neighbours and friends said that it was well known that they were neglected, and regularly spotted them scavenging for food on the estate. That prompted numerous phone calls to social services to have them taken into care.
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Yet social workers agreed to place the brothers in care only weeks before they launched a savage attack on two boys in Edlington. The serious case review, which is not expected to report until Christmas at the earliest, will also examine why, when they were finally taken into care, they were placed with a foster family with little experience of violent and highly dysfunctional children.
The boys’ father moved to Edlington, seven miles from Doncaster, several months before, after his relationship with the mother broke down.
That may have been a factor in social workers’ decision to move the boys to a foster family in the village so that they could maintain contact with their father. The serious case review will examine whether that was the right decision: typically, children with a history of violence would be placed in residential care.
At the time of the attack, the ten-year-old was on bail to appear before the youth court on two charges of actual bodily harm and one of burglary, while his elder brother had received a 12-month supervision order just two months earlier after being convicted of battery.
Doncaster children’s services is still reeling from criticism from the Government and Ofsted after seven children who were known to its staff died in suspicious circumstances in the past five years.
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An Ofsted inspection described the department as “inadequate”, prompting ministers to order an investigation.
A team of outside experts had to be brought into the council to sort out the mess. The Edlington attack took place just a few days after the new management arrived.
The police will also have a case to answer. Just a week before the attack on the two boys, the brothers carried out an almost identical assault on another 11-year-old.
The boy’s mother claimed that she called police immediately but an officer did not visit her and her son for 24 hours and she felt the response lacked urgency.
Last night Doncaster Council refused to answer questions on its handling of the case, saying that the serious case review would examine all the issues.
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In the summer, the interim head of children’s services drafted in by the Government said that the department was making good progress.
Gareth Williams said that things were improving rapidly and most targets had already been met.