By Andrew Topping, Local Democracy Reporter
Two Nottinghamshire councils have outlined significant changes to foster care and safeguards to support children taken since a damning report revealed the extent of historic child sex offences in the city and county.
Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham City Council failed to protect children from sexual abuse by residential staff and foster carers for more than five decades from the 1960s onwards.
This was the verdict of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) – which has been investigating institutional sexual abuse across England and Wales – during a damning report in 2019.
Now IICSA has published its concluding report on Thursday (October 20) in which it reiterated the full extent of the issues at both councils.
The report said: “For more than five decades, Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council failed in their statutory duty to protect children in their care from sexual abuse, perpetrated primarily by predatory residential staff and foster carers.
“In residential care, there were poor recruitment practices, low staffing ratios, few qualified staff and little training.
“In some instances, a sexualised culture prevailed, with staff behaving wholly inappropriately towards children, paving the way for sexual abuse.
“It was as if anyone could carry out the important work of being a substitute parent to damaged children.
“Residential care carried little priority with senior managers, even when they were aware of escalating numbers of allegations of sexual abuse.
“Neither council learned from its mistakes, despite commissioning many reviews which made clear what changes were needed in their care systems to stop the sexual abuse of children.
“Nor did they have a satisfactory approach to addressing the issue of harmful sexual behaviour amongst children in their care.”
Colin Pettigrew is Nottinghamshire County Council’s corporate director for children and young people.
Responding to IICSA’s final findings, he said: “The publication of IICSA’s concluding report is a reminder of the courage of the victims and survivors who came forward during the seven years of the far-reaching national Inquiry.
“I thank the Inquiry team for its commitment to making sure their voices were heard and their experiences told.
“We have apologised unreservedly to the victims and survivors who suffered abuse while in our care.
“We worked with the inquiry over three years and its report into children in the care of Nottinghamshire councils was published in 2019, with one recommendation for Nottinghamshire County Council.
“We acted swiftly to put that recommendation into practice and in publishing our response.
“Throughout our involvement, we were determined to listen to and take on board the broader learning opportunities, seeking to develop and strengthen our practice where possible.
“The safety and protection of children in our care remains our highest priority at all times.
“As such, we are determined to support the Inquiry’s overall findings and to listen and respond to any recommendations for local authorities which may be set out in the concluding report.”
A Nottingham City Council spokesperson added that the authority has carried out “improvements to the way we protect children in our care and support survivors of abuse in the past”.
This includes working with agencies to strengthen arrangements for children, with a focus on “listening to children and adult survivors and equipping people in a whole range of organisations”.
It adds that survivors told the authority services weren’t meeting their needs, with children often “waiting too long for support that didn’t adequately address their traumatic experiences”.
The council says it has worked with the police and other partners, including specialist sexual violence support services, to offer “therapeutic counselling, practical support” and access to mental health services.
It also has arrangements to identify and address sexual behaviour, working with the NSPCC, and has a better ability to identify issues with younger children.
Cllr Cheryl Barnard (Lab), portfolio holder for children and young people, said: “We are sorry that we let survivors down in the past and remain committed to ensuring they get the support and help they need.
“We remain constantly vigilant to the potential harm that children in our care can be exposed to and while we are satisfied we have improved and strengthened our safeguarding arrangements, we can never be complacent.
“The lesson from IICSA is that it’s vital for us to have a transparent and self-challenging approach in order to do all we can to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children and young people in our care.”
The 2018 inquiry received evidence from about 350 people who made allegations of sexual abuse and heard harrowing stories of children let down by “those who were supposed to be caring” for them.
It revealed stories of children having abusive relationships “into adulthood” and people reporting incidents not being listened to by staff inside both authorities.
Providing comments in the Nottinghamshire hearings in 2018, one victim said: “I never stayed in one place long enough to feel like I had anyone adult who I could trust to report what had happened to me at the time.”
Another added: “I would say that at no point in my teenage years or early adulthood was any sexual contact I had non-abusive in some way, shape or form.
“Abusive relationships continued into adulthood as I struggled to even understand what a non-abusive relationship was like.”
Others spoke of their lack of faith in the systems in place across Nottinghamshire to protect them from abuse, nor that any accountability would come from the investigations.
One said: “I have no faith in the system or that justice will be done.
“It would have been much better if the council had said, ‘We are listening’ without judging me, and then conducted a proper investigation without a fight.”
Another added: “I feel badly let down by the social care system. I was sexually abused by those who were supposed to be caring for me.”
A previous report, published following the Inquiry in 2019, told the two councils to assess the risks of all current and former foster carers provided directly by their own departments.
The recommendation, made in July 2019, also said the councils should ensure foster carers provided externally are assessed by agencies and that any concerns should be referred for investigation.
Both councils accepted these recommendations and, on December 20 last year, Labour-led Nottingham City Council confirmed an internal fostering review had been completed.
It found no further referrals were needed relating to former carers and that there was no evidence carers assessed as ‘suitable’ presented a risk of sexual harm to children.
The authority also told the IICSA panel it had written to all independent fostering agencies, alongside Nottinghamshire County Council, that they had placed children with since 2013.
The report reveals all agencies had reviewed information to assess the risks posed by their current and previous foster carers.
In its own response on June 21 last year, the Conservative-led county council said it was reviewing existing and former care staff.
It added a joint approach was taken with the city council to review existing and former foster carers, including engaging with independent fostering agencies which provided their own reviews.
