Apology after girl sexually abused in care in Warwickshire

A safeguarding team has apologised for failures in the care and later support for a girl who was sexually abused by her foster parent.

The girl, referred to as Marie, was abused from the age of nine to 15, with the male carer later being jailed for offences involving her and other children.

The report found chances were missed to identify grooming, while there were also failures in supporting Marie before her death shortly after her 19th birthday in 2023 from a drug-related incident.

Warwickshire Safeguarding Children Partnership said it was deeply sorry she was harmed while in the care of services meant to protect and support her, adding that her needs after the abuse were “only partially met”.

“While the criminal proceedings led to the conviction of the perpetrator and justice in a legal sense,” stated the safeguarding panel, “we recognise that this does not lessen the pain and loss experienced by those who knew and loved her.”

Marie and her younger sibling had been in care since 2010, after neglect was found in their family home, and were placed with the foster carers in question in 2013 after an adoption breakdown.

The safeguarding review, released in two parts, highlighted that the foster carers were often “intimidating” towards professionals and were described as “strict, rigid in their thinking and it was known that they were not ‘warm’ with the children”.

The report said concerns about the carers were accepted because of a wish to “ensure on-going stability for the children”, and there were no concerns at the time that Marie could be being sexually abused.

However, “with hindsight”, the report said the use of anger and aggression by the carers and a fear by professionals of how the carers would react “was both a powerful grooming technique and a way of ensuring that professionals did not challenge too forcefully”.

Marie’s mental health was a concern for those involved at the time, the review said. This included self-harm and overdoses.

Giving evidence to the safeguarding team in 2020, following the criminal trial, Marie questioned why she was not spoken to by professionals away from the male carer, whose controlling nature had been challenged at times by social workers.

She said: “He was always controlling the conversation just in case I disclosed anything to anyone about what he was doing to me.

“He was always there, even in hospital beside my bed when I came round from my overdose. Why didn’t anyone tell him to leave the room? I can’t understand why nobody did that for me.”

Marie also told the safeguarding panel that other warning signs were missed by teachers.

It emerged following the allegations that both Marie and her sibling often spent time separately sleeping at the workplace of their male carer during his nightshifts.

Marie told the review that she “was being taken out to work every night by him and that I would sleep on the floor. It wasn’t followed up, so what was the point of me telling”.

She added that she was “always falling asleep in class” as a result.

Teachers, however, said they were unaware that visits to the man’s workplace were happening at night, which might have concerned them.

In other evidence to the panel, Marie said the male carer had removed her mobile phone, leading to her feel isolated, particularly coming at the time of the pandemic.

She told the review she hoped that professionals would have recognised how controlling her foster carer was.

Although restrictions on the use of her phone were challenged by social workers at the time, the review said it was not thought to reflect anything beyond the carer’s style of parenting. Indeed, it was seen by the school at the time as positive and “firm parenting”.

There were other signs. Marie was taken to see a GP five times between 2018 and 2019 with abdominal pain, urinary tract infections and vaginitis, a condition the review said could be caused a number of issues, but also could be “exacerbated by sexual abuse”.

The report said she was prescribed the contraceptive pill, “seemingly at the request of the carer” and there was “no rationale recorded for this prescription”.

The abuse eventually came to light in 2020, when an adult who used to be fostered by the same family reported they had seen her being sexually abused by the male carer, with Marie herself later disclosing long-term abuse.

The review found that Marie had had numerous changes of professionals in the two years before the abuse was disclosed.

She shared her frustration, the report said, adding that she had told the review: “How can I express myself when I don’t know my social worker and there’s no relationship or trust?

“I have had so many different social workers, and they don’t seem to know anything about my life.”

Following the court case, however, Marie continued to be failed.

The report said as “a child who felt, rightly, that she had been let down by the local authority”, she was also upset, as was her new foster mother, that she did not have a consistent social worker following the abuse “and that there was often little response to communication and requests for advice or support”.

As she turned 18, Marie seemed to be in a more stable position. She had a job, a boyfriend of a similar age who had a supportive family and had positive support from her foster mother.

According to the report, that foster mother was “known to have a genuine affection for Marie and was committed to providing her with a home and supporting her in adulthood”.

However Marie’s drug use that was believed to have started in school worsened.

When she turned 18, Marie received a large compensation payout and in the seven months before her death she spent over £100,000.

Two weeks before she died, Marie took an intentional overdose of paracetamol, ibuprofen and cocaine, the report said.

She admitted to alcohol and using “weed” but did not disclose her use of cocaine or her recent seizures.

She was assessed by a mental health team, but no evidence of acute mental illness was identified and Marie said she did not require intervention.

However, the safeguarding review said the assessment did not take into account her experience as a care leaver.

Marie’s foster mother had contacted a care team following a seizure in September 2023 and shared her concern about her daughter’s drug use.

She said that Marie had told a family member that she was spending £500 a time on cocaine, and that she had used cocaine again immediately following her discharge from hospital. Marie was spoken to but refused a referral to drug services and downplayed the issue, the report said.

Marie’s foster mother described the compensation payment as a “curse” and said despite the payout, the 19-year-old had “not felt compensated”, reflecting a lack of support since the criminal case.

The review concluded that services must better support young people who have experienced trauma, and there needs to be timely and effective communication.