Apology after new Herefordshire Council children's services report

Director of Children's Services, Darryl Freeman apologised to all the families involved

Families who asked for help from Herefordshire's children's services were ignored and then met with hostile responses, a panel found.

Herefordshire Council was earlier ordered by the government to improve as its children's services were rated inadequate.

A new report heard complaints families had not been listened to.

The council apologised for the failings the report detailed and said it was a "hard read".

The fresh report was put together by a panel of safeguarding experts and was ordered by children's commissioner Eleanor Brazil.

Ten day long sessions were held with the families involved.

Among the findings were

• Core failings in the system which the panel found worrying

• Families feeling responses exacerbated and escalated initial problems.

• When the families complained the promised actions rarely materialised

• The panel itself experienced delays and poor-quality communication with the children's services.

The panel put seven questions to the authority including asking how it would make children's services more accessible to families and how it would help its social workers to improve.

It said major cultural change was needed requiring "all the workforce to understand and work to the basic principles of good practice".

One parent said lessons needed to be learned and acted upon quickly and the council's director of children's services, Darryl Freeman, should resign.

Mr Freeman said: "This report is a hard read. I am truly sorry for the failings it details and apologise to all the families for what they have been through."

He said the authority was now trying to make improvements and learn from the mistakes of the past and he was still the person to lead the council's team.

The independent report heard from families who used Herefordshire's children's services

"We will now look at the questions it raises, and explore with families how we can better work with them and meet their needs."