A COUNCIL which failed to visit vulnerable children as often as it should has changed the way it reviews cases.
Lancashire County Council officials have revealed children on the Child Protection Register will be visited monthly instead of the national guidelines of once every six weeks to make sure all children are seen on time.
A damning report compiled for a council watchdog committee reveals one family of three children on Lancashire County Council's Child Protection Register were not visited for five months, when the Government standard is supposed to at least once every six weeks.
Performance indicators published earlier this year revealed that just 11 per cent of the 218 children on the register were being visited on time.
A representative sample was used for the study of the youngsters, who are placed on the register because it is feared they are at risk of sexually, physical or emotional abuse or neglect.
A report to the social services overview and scrutiny committee reveals that staffing changes led to one family, with three children on the register not being visited for five months, although they did come into contact with county council nursery staff.
In two other cases, staff sickness meant six children weren't visit at least once every six weeks, although one family was visited on 19 occasions over the year to March 2001. Some of the visits, however, were more than six weeks apart.
The report adds that two other families created situations where social services could not access the children on the register. One family, with one child on the register, went missing for two months, so a visit was missed.
And it was only when legal action was threatened against a family of three that social workers regained access to youngsters after a seven month break.
The report states:" In one case, the actions of the parents meant visits had to be aborted.
It has to be remembered that often these youngsters are coming into contact with nursery staff who can check to make sure they are OK."
Details of how the situation is being improved will be detailed to the committee on Thursday.
The report adds: " Social Services has now begun individual file checks on every child on the register. This should make sure visits do occur in the six week time-scale. Some of the visits were occurring just outside of the six weeks.
"A data validation system has been developed to ensure data accuracy. In the future, staff will provide predictive data to ensure we are meeting 100 per cent targets.
"Where the predication is for less than 100 per cent we will develop an action plan for improvements.
"Currently we ensure every child is visited once every six weeks, but this basic requirement will be raised to one a month."
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