Overhaul of fostering service after death of carer

Marcia Grant died when a 12-year-old boy she was looking after reversed a car over her

Rotherham Council has drawn up a major overhaul of its fostering service after a coroner found failings in how it placed and risk-assessed children contributed to the death of foster carer Marcia Grant.

Mrs Grant, 60, was killed outside her home in Greenhill, Sheffield, when a car driven by a 12-year-old boy she was looking after reversed into her in April 2023.

A report presented to the council's Improving Lives Select Commission on Tuesday set out changes to how children are matched with foster carers and how risks are recorded and shared.

It said a fostering transformation board had been set up to oversee the changes and make sure the authority fully responds to the coroner's recommendations.

The boy, known as Child X, was sentenced to two years in prison in November 2023 after admitting causing Mrs Grant's death by dangerous driving after a murder charge was dropped.

At an inquest held earlier this year assistant coroner Marilyn Whittle heard the boy- had a history of going missing and had previously received a youth caution for carrying a knife.

However, this information was not included on the initial placement referral form, which made it "deficient" meaning Mrs Grant did not have "full knowledge of Child X's risks".

In her conclusion she said the circumstances which led to Mrs Grant's death "were contributed to by the failings of the Rotherham Council to have appropriate systems and processes in place when placing foster children".

She said the failings were "including but not limited to the lack of accurate and complete documentation, failure to communicate risks and concerns appropriately, failure to conduct appropriate risk assessments and failing to safeguard those in their care".

At Tuesday's meeting Nicola Curley, strategic director of children and young people's services, said "very careful mechanisms" were now in place to strengthen decision-making and ensure full information is available before a child is placed, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

These include creating a dedicated fostering duty worker to co-ordinate information about children who need placements and match them more carefully with carers and a new scheme of delegation so that senior managers, rather than more junior staff, now sign off placement decisions.

Placement referral forms have also been changed so they are completed more consistently and stored differently on children's files, with clearer sections for risk analysis.

New risk sections are being built into key documents so that potential risks to carers and any other children in the home are considered routinely before placements go ahead.

The council said the board was expected to complete its work by May 2026, with any major proposals to be set out by the end of the 2026-27 financial year.

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