Some good may yet come out of this case

From Advocate Timothy Hanson, Partner, and Barbara Corbett, Head of Family Law, Hanson Renouf

THE details of the recent Serious Case Review and the abuse suffered by child ‘BA’ and the siblings will rightly have shocked those who have read about it. Even as the lawyers for these children, we could not help but be deeply affected by their plight and the long-term damage that has been caused to them.

In fact, certain details of the case were so distressing that it was even difficult to recount them in court.

Regrettably, the story of this family is not as exceptional as people may think and there are, in fact, other cases where formal investigation has not occurred simply because it has been felt that it would not yield any new learning over and above the Review that has just been published.

The purpose of this letter, however, is not to concentrate upon such aspects – although of course, the Council of Ministers will appreciate that there are further ramifications to come – but to highlight a saying that was once suggested to us that ‘nothing is so bad that no good can come of it’.

The crumbs of comfort that we take from this case and from the recent Serious Case Review are that it must surely effect a radical and urgent change in child protection practices in Jersey and that the Jersey Child Protection Committee dealt with our concerns in a thorough, robust and transparent manner. We wish to congratulate Mike Taylor, the independent chairman of the JCPC; those that chaired the review panel: Professor June Thoburn and Dr Susan Turnbull and of course the overview writer, James Blewett.

We had been concerned that the JCPC would not have been able to act independently, given in particular that it has no legal identity separate to the Minister for Health and Social Services. Having now seen the published Review and the media reports we are gratefully reassured. In the longer term, however, and so that it does not become too reliant upon particular personalities, we hope that the JCPC will gain formal legal status with a set of enforceable rights and duties.

We also welcome the apology given by Health and Social Services Minister Anne Pryke for the suffering of child BA and the siblings while in the care of her predecessors. While we acknowledge that the failings in the system which allowed the abuse of these children to go unchecked occurred well before Deputy Pryke was appointed, we do look to her and the Council of Ministers to ensure that changes are implemented and funding made available so that this situation does not occur again.