A Serious Case Review into the death of Keziah Flux-Edmonds has been published and concludes that neither the professionals involved nor Keziah’s mother had reason to believe her father, Darren Flux-Edmonds, had the capacity to ‘commit such an appalling action’.
As previously reported by Island Echo, emergency services were called to an address in East Cowes on 1st June last year. Tragically, the body of Mr Flux-Edmonds was discovered hanging from a loft hatch and the lifeless body of 6-year-old Keziah laying on the bed, alongside 2 dogs. Keziah was rushed to hospital under Police escort but was pronounced dead a short while later.
An inquest held in December concluded that Keziah was unlawfully killed by her father as a result of being drowned in the bath. Mr Flux-Edmonds committed suicide.
The Serious Case Review, which has been published today (Monday), has highlighted that key information is not being effectively shared with all the relevant agencies. Police visited the Flux-Edmonds household in the months leading up to Keziah’s death but no concerns of a risk to Keziah were raised and the correct paperwork was filed. The report says that the finding should not be taken as a criticism of individual police officers who attended the scene, who were following established processes.
Derek Benson, Independent chair of the Isle of Wight Safeguarding Children Board has said:
“On behalf of all of the agencies involved in this review, I would like to express my deep sadness at the tragic death of Keziah Flux-Edmonds and express my sincerest condolences to her mother and family.
“The purpose of this joint agency review was to identify appropriate learning for all agencies involved in this case.
“Serious Case Reviews will often find areas for improvement in practice and a number of recommendations have been made in this report. I am confident that the partner agencies have and continue to take forward the recommendations as they apply to their organisations.
Article continues below this advertisement “In the main, the recommendations are for partner agencies to take a more holistic view and to ‘Think Family’ when managing cases. Both the Adults and Children’s Safeguarding Boards are already working together to establish priority areas for development. This will help multi-agency partners to better align their working practices to ensure that appropriate actions are taken to support and safeguard the whole family.
“As the independent report has found; ‘…on the basis of the information available, neither the professionals involved, nor Child G’s mother, had reason to believe the father had the capacity to commit such an appalling action.’
“All agencies on the Island take the welfare and safety of children extremely seriously and I am confident that they will continue to work together to keep children safe.”
A total of 5 recommendations have been made as a result of the Serious Case Review, the purpose of which is to learn from the case in order that improvements to practice can be put in place to help families in the future.
- Recommendation 1: That the systems for sharing information amongst all agencies involved in the assessment of risk to both adults and children are reviewed and effectively aligned.
- Recommendation 2: That the Isle of Wight Safeguarding Adults Board and the Isle of Wight Safeguarding Children Board develop a shared strategic approach to ‘Think Family’ for the Isle of Wight and agree priority areas for development within their annual planning.
- Recommendation 3: The Isle of Wight Safeguarding Children Board to work with its partner SCBs to 24
- a) review the current 4LSCB Joint Working Protocol for safeguarding children and young people whose parents/carers have problems with: mental health, substance misuse, learning disability and emotional or psychological distress with a view to developing a more accessible document with practitioner friendly information for the wider multi-agency partnership.
- b) seek assurance from partner agencies that effective means have been put in place for developing staff knowledge and practice as identified within the Joint Working Protocol.
- Recommendation 4: That action is taken to ensure that professionals know when undertaking risk assessments with adults, that it is the parental response to any caring responsibilities for children, not the children themselves, that may be considered a protective factor.
- Recommendation 5 (for Health partners): A plan to be put in place between the IOW CCG and the IOW NHS Trust to develop the professional understanding between primary health care and mental health services of their roles and operating procedures
The full report can be read at https://secure.toolkitfiles.co.uk/clients/25263/sitedata/Serious_Case_Reviews/Child-G-SCR-report-for-publication-06.02.2017.pdf.
