More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
There is "no evidence" to suggest social workers missed signs of abuse to a boy who ended up having both legs amputated after being neglected by his birth parents, a review has found.
A serious case review report, published by the Kent Safeguarding Children Board, concluded that professionals would not have been able to predict that Tony, referred to as Child J, would result in sustaining serious, deliberate injuries.
However, bosses did find there was an "unexplained three month delay" in referring the family to social workers and that no pre-birth assessment was carried out.
Smith, who had a history of drug use dating back to when he was a teenager, was on a heroin replacement therapy programme but a risk assessment into his addiction was never undertaken.
Housing staff described the property in Square Hill Road as cluttered and that there was drug use on the same floor, with possible injection sites on the father's arms.
The review said such a report could have helped "identify the possible impact on Child J, and ultimately whether father was able to function as a parent in the medium to long term".
While Smith talked openly about his troubled past, Simpson was less keen to provide information into her background, but was not "adequately pursued" for details by professionals.
There was also no chronological timeline of events built up, which prevented collective information being fully analysed, the report added.
It concluded: "There is currently no evidence that professionals in direct contact with the family missed signs of abuse to Child J.
"It was only following the criminal trial that the full extent of the injuries and their impact on Child J was realised."
The report also said that lessons to be learned from the review included a policy that social workers now map out timelines for every case.
