Children and young adults lack health and safety
According to a recent safety investigation of UK social services, there are at least 24 children and young adults who have died in the last year and a half. These children were part of the social services in the UK according to health authorities. Deaths were mostly due to natural causes, but suicide, traffic incidents, and other issues such as drug overdose were also part of the deaths. The health and safety audits are citing a lack of response from social services. There are suspected issues with delays to responding in cases of neglect or heavy caseload issues.
The reports were established by a separate group that was created by the Health Service Executive. The review panel looked for weaknesses in policy and practise that could be termed health and safety breaches and issues with child protection. The study is looking for ways to strengthen social services to prevent child and young adult deaths. The cases of death were not considered directly related to social service inaction, but social services were considered lax in certain situations. This certainly did not help in the prevention of the deaths. No one can be omniscient, but providing a better level of care is being called for. Negligence and a reasonable duty of care are things that the HSE looks for whenever there is a case of safety and health. The social services study shows that negligence was not an issue, but perhaps a more reasonable amount of care could be offered.
