like i ve been punished for something that i didn t even do. as the government prepares to publish a report into the deaths of two toddlers, we ask, are social workers properly supported to decide who s at risk and who isn t? it s absolutely critical that social workers do their work. it s delicate, it s complex but it s absolutely essential. because, if we don t do it, the stakes for children are incredibly high. my name s louise tickle. i ve spent years investigating how and why some children are removed from their parents care. the family i m about to meet suffered the tragic loss of a very young baby a year ago. children s services became immediately involved and removed two other children from the household, which has taken an enormous toll on the whole family. we ve got that one. oh, gosh, that s in the hospital. yeah. literally, you had just given birth there. yeah, just after the c section. tiffany lives in herefordshire. in march last year, mid lockdown, she took he
..and children who feel they ve been let down. this whole process has felt like i ve been punished for something that i didn t even do. as the government prepares to publish a report into the deaths of two toddlers, we ask, are social workers properly supported to decide who s at risk and who isn t? it s absolutely critical that social workers do their work. it s delicate, it s complex but it s absolutely essential. because, if we don t do it, the stakes for children are incredibly high. my name s louise tickle. i ve spent years investigating how and why some children are removed from their parents care. the family i m about to meet suffered the tragic loss of a very young baby a year ago. children s services became immediately involved and removed two other children from the household, which has taken an enormous toll on the whole family. we ve got that one. oh, gosh, that s in the hospital. yeah. literally, you had just given birth there. yeah, just after the c section. ti
brady and grace are back in touch with each other and doing well. with their backgrounds, they were never going to have a great start in life, but any chance they had of becoming happy, successful adults was taken away from them by herefordshire. the whole of the local authority social care department, they haven t looked out for anyone in this case. except themselves. almost half of all local authority children s services departments in england are rated inadequate or requires improvement by the regulator 0fsted. we ve been looking into the careers of the people in charge and have found evidence of a pattern. we ve identified ten senior leaders who moved from one struggling local authority to another in the past eight yea rs. many have worked as interim temporary managers. we sent freedom of information requests to every children s
terms in the decade to 2020. it was during this time that three year old twins brady and grace were removed from an abusive home in herefordshire. to protect the children, we re using actors and all names have been changed. so, what are you making, then? a court ordered that they be adopted. whoa! catherine was chosen for grace. i m not sure we re ever going to be builders. when i first met grace, she was sitting at the dining table playing with pop up pirate and, clearly, absolutely loving it. and she turned to me and said, are you going to be my mummy? and i said, do you think that would be a good idea? and she said, yes. brady was matched with peter and laura. 0h! hello! ijust remember seeing these eyes peeking through
and they ignored my questions they being the social workers. herefordshire also stopped the twins from seeing each otherfor more than seven months. where are you? 0h! grace s early life was so broken up and inconsistent, the only thing she knows is always there is brady. so, to have that snatched away, grace must have thought she s never going to see brady again. but the biggest shock came when herefordshire council suddenly announced it was taking brady back into care. peter and laura got a lawyer and the case ended up in the high court before mrjustice keehan. there, it was revealed that brady and grace should never have been separated in the first place. herefordshire had made that life changing decision