Information about drinking, debt and mental health that could have prevented a baby from being placed with an adoptive mother who killed him was not shared between agencies, an investigation has concluded.
It also found that when the mother told social workers she was struggling to bond with the child, insufficient family support was provided.
Leyland-James Corkill was taken into care at birth and at the age of seven months was placed with Laura and Scott Castle, a couple from Barrow-in-Furness.
Five months later, shortly after his first birthday, the baby died as a result of catastrophic head injuries.
Laura Castle was found guilty of murder in May and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 18 years.
Lora Castle. Photo: Cambria/PA Police
The exact details of what happened may never be known. But the trial at Preston crown court heard that Castle lost her temper with the baby when he would not stop crying after breakfast and violently shook him to death.
In a letter to the judge in the case, the baby’s birth mother, Laura Corkill, said: “He was placed in the home of a monster.”
Corkill, from Whitehaven, said her son would be alive today if she had been allowed to keep him and criticized Cumbria County Council’s actions.
Speaking to the BBC, she said: “Why did they put it there? Why did it take them so long to figure it out? They should have canceled the adoption order.”
The independent report into the boy’s death, released Thursday, concluded there was relevant information that could have been shared more fully between agencies.
For example, during the adoption evaluation, Castle told a therapist that he drank six bottles of wine a week and had low mood, anxiety, and anger management issues. She talks about yelling too much at her biological daughter.
Concern about her drinking was also raised by a consultant gastroenterologist and the information was shared with her GP.
The report said Castle told a social worker that she was struggling and worried that he wasn’t loving the baby as much as she expected. The report said there should have been a “more timely and robust response” to these concerns.
Leslie Walker, an independent expert from Cumbria Safeguarding Children Partnership, said social workers should seek information and not rely on what they are told. They must be “genuinely curious and up for challenges in all areas of day-to-day work with children and families”.
John Readman, executive director for people at Cumbria County Council, said the authority was deeply sorry and offered his condolences.
He said the castles had gone through an eight-month evaluation process and no one in either agency had raised concerns about their suitability.
“What we now know, from the trial and this review, is that Laura Castle willfully and repeatedly misled and lied to social workers about vital aspects of her life, including her mental and physical health, alcohol use and debt,” Reedman said .
“We also now know that relevant information about Laura Castle was not shared between agencies and that more could have been done to clarify some of the information that was provided to us.
“If the full picture of Laura Castle’s life was known, then the assessment of her suitability as an adoptive parent could better take into account the vulnerabilities and potential risks of approval.”
Reedman said he accepted Castle had told social workers she was struggling to bond with the baby.
“The report highlights that more should have been done to support the family,” he said. “We recognize that and have since made changes to the way we operate.” He added: “I am absolutely committed to ensuring that we do everything we can to prevent anything like this from happening again, here or anywhere else. “
Sign up for First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every weekday morning at 7am BST
Sarah O’Brien, chief nursing officer for Lancashire and South Cumbria, said the circumstances surrounding Leyland-James’ death would stay with them for a long time.
“Ensuring that professionals openly and proactively share information throughout the adoption process is vital and we are saddened and disappointed that the review highlighted a number of gaps where this needs to be improved,” O’Brien said.
“A lack of robust information sharing continues to be present in child death reviews nationally, and for Leiland-James, information sharing was not good enough during critical stages of the adoption process. Steps have already been taken locally to address this and a recommendation has been made to change national guidelines.
Add Comment