A social worker has been struck off after lying that a mother had threatened to kill herself and her three children, and burn their house down.

The lies were directly responsible for the children being removed from the mother and placed into care. Whilst the HCPC doesn’t express this sentiment as directly as we do, saying that the lies ‘almost certainly’ led to the children’s removal, we are under no illusion that this conduct was directly responsible for the emergency protection orders issued.

Bizarrely, the social worker appeared to have no insight into her conduct. It also appears that she would have been allowed to continue to practice had she shown remorse or expressed some understanding of the consequences of her actions. No mention is made of how this affected the children or the extent of the harm done to their development and their mental health, although the complaints panel have confirmed that it caused ‘very real damage’ to the mother and the children.

Should we really allow child protection professionals who breach fundamental human rights in this way to practice, even if they take responsibility for their actions?