Miriam

Miriam

Miriam, aged 4 years, was one of seven children ranging from 6 months to 16 years; six of whom were born in England, and the oldest in Slovakia. Their parents, Kristina and Thomas lived in a semi-detached house managed by the social housing provider; about a third of pupils at the local school were from a similar heritage.  During the first encounter with the health visitor, the mother’s brother-in-law acted as the interpreter. The father was at work but spoke some English when at home.  

A range of concerns had been reported to local agencies that were about children being left at home alone, being found alone in the street, living in poor housing with no smoke alarms, not being registered with a GP, emotional and behaviour issues at school, and criminality. 

The fire brigade’s community team and neighbourhood safety team were in regular contact with the family because of the older boys’ involvement in fire setting incidents.  

A joint home visit was recently arranged by the health visitor who is a ‘trusted professional’ for the fire service to undertake a fire risk assessment. The health visitor was let  in but not the fire officer. The fire brigade then tried to visit again when undertaking a visit to  a neighbouring property but again they were not let in. 

Subsequent to the health visitor’s visit a child protection strategy meeting was held to discuss the circumstances of the significant burns that Miriam’s older brother had suffered when he ‘fell into a bonfire’. In the meeting, the school shared information about the children’s behaviour which was significantly different to other children from a similar cultural background. It was reported that the older children would leave school without telling teaching staff, and they had been found smoking in the school premises. 

There were differences of professional opinion as to whether the communication difficulties with the mother were due to cultural and language barriers, or learning difficulties. Concerns were also raised by professionals about her being dominated by her husband and the police shared information about reported domestic violence incidents.  

The family were also reluctant to give professionals details about their social or health histories, often inconsistent information was provided, particularly in relation to the care of their sons and their whereabouts. 

There was consensus among professionals that all the children would be made subject to child protection plans.  This was working well initially and  school attendance and home conditions were improving. There was no indication of children being left unsupervised. The family had registered with a GP and mother was receiving ante-natal care.

During the school summer holiday, the situation quickly deteriorated with new referrals to children social care a week after the review child protection conference decided to step down to early help support. 

Miriam was seen alone in the street, asking neighbours for food and looking unkempt and dirty, the older children were reported to be engaged in criminal activities. At the same time the mother was admitted to hospital when the youngest child was born, at this stage maternity services became aware of the social care involvement. Mother and baby were discharged home in discussion with children’s social care who had reopened the case for a re-assessment.  

Two nights later, emergency services called to the home due to a fire starting on the second floor. The parents and five of the children were able to escape but Miriam had been asleep in bed, and was evacuated last as no one had alerted the fire brigade that she was still in the house. Miriam later died from smoke inhalation after a period in hospital. Fire investigators confirmed that the cause of the fire was smoking in the children’s bedroom, probably by the older brothers.