Social worker struck off for failures

John Maude will no longer be able to work as a social worker after being found to have failed in his duty to protect the youngsters in the face of repeated concerns from police, colleagues and other agencies.

A General Social Care Council hearing was told this week that his conduct while working for Rotherham Borough Council was “completely unacceptable.”

He was found guilty of misconduct following the two-day hearing and removed immediately from the social workers’ register.

The full extent of Maude’s negligence came to light when the youngest of the children died in an unconnected incident and a review was automatically triggered, the tribunal heard.

Maude let the father stay in the family home and have unsupervised contact with the children when he was subject to a court order banning him from going within 100 yards of the property.

He continued to take no action even after police reported that the father had attacked his wife with a crowbar, the hearing was told.

When they went through his notes, they realised he had failed to make any records about the family’s plight, as well as in many other cases.

Maude, employed by Rotherham Borough Council between April 2005 and January last year, was in charge of dealing with the family in question between November 2005 and December 2007.

Giving evidence Mr Brian Wood, who led the investigation into Maude’s handling of the case involving “Family X,” branded the social worker’s conduct “completely unacceptable.”

Mr Wood, a senior social care manager in Rotherham, said that following complaints about “extreme domestic violence” from Mr X to Mrs X, the two eldest children had been removed from their care.

They were allowed to return to Mrs X’s custody after a court order was put in place banning the father from approaching the family home.

But Mr Wood said that the relationship had not ended and Mrs X was living with Mr X with  Maude’s full knowledge and support, despite the fact that there was an injunction with powers of arrest and a psychologist’s assessment that Mr X was not in a position to care for children safely.

Mr Wood added: “During the time that Mr X was living with the family, there were a number of domestic violence incidents, including one where he attacked her with a crowbar.”

Mr Maude admitted that he failed to keep notes in many cases, including that of family X.

He denied leaving the youngest child with no protective plan, knowingly leaving the children in a “highly dangerous” situation and failing to respond to domestic violence referrals. 

Maude also denied failing to make necessary safe conduct arrangements for the children to see their father.

He said that one of the reasons he failed to keep notes on Family X and other cases was because he had problems typing and had a long-standing hand injury.

Mr Maude, who suffers from health problems which he claimed adversely affected his work, did not give evidence but admitted in a statement that he should have sought advice from his line manager and the legal department.

Announcing the council’s decision, panel chairman Ian Daines said that “public confidence in the social worker profession” would decline if Mr Maude was allowed to continue working.

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