Council chiefs apologise for letting down teenagers who died

Council chiefs apologised today for letting down three vulnerable 16-year-olds in the years before they all tragically died.

It follows the release of serious case reviews (SCR) into the lives and unrelated deaths of the teenagers from Swansea, South Wales.

Swansea Council admitted to "shortcomings in our child protection procedures" today and described the deaths as a "tragedy".

The public was also given an assurance that lessons had been learned from the series of tragic deaths.

The teenagers also received a posthumous apology from the handful of agencies, including those run by the council, responsible for their welfare.

Harrowing details of the drug abuse, self-harm and chronic neglect they all suffered are revealed in individual case reviews.

The identities of all three teenagers, however, are kept anonymous.

An independent intervention board was imposed by the Welsh Assembly last year amid concerns Swansea Council was failing to protect young people.

An expert team then went on to oversee the work of the council's social services department.

The reviews they carried out come with a plethora of recommendations, many of which have already been implemented.

The outcome is a series of case reviews which chronicle the tragic deaths of the teenagers referred to only as letters of the alphabet.

Two are schoolgirls and one is a schoolboy, the girls are referred to as child E and child B, while the schoolboy is child D.

Child B died of a heroin overdose at her mother's flat in April 2008.

Both the mother and an adult sister were later convicted at Swansea Crown Court of the teenager's manslaughter.

Swansea council had been responsible for the arrangements of looking after the teenager since 1997.

Her parents had long-standing problems with drugs and the girl had been taken into care and at various times fostered, lived in a flat independently and been put into residential care.

Ten days before her death she had been released from a secure unit and placed in the care of her mother.

Child E, who was also known to the authorities, took her own life at home in the spring of 2008, leaving a note.

She had a history of self harm, substance misuse, problems at school and unresolved emotional issues and suffered neglect.

The review into her case highlights the failure of agencies she was involved with "to adequately take account of the child's voice".

It adds: "She frequently articulated her unhappiness but insufficient account was taken of this in planning."

In the case of child D, a boy, he had moved with his carer to Swansea in 2002.

He died in his bedroom in January 2008 due to bronchopneumonia and the taking of a lethal mix of morphine-based drugs.

The review highlights the fact that when he was born in 1991 he was given to a neighbour to bring up, a state which was eventually formalised.

Despite moving to Swansea he was never registered with a school or his local GP by his carer but was often involved during his final years.

He was involved in criminal activity from the age of 12, and often found drunk by the police out alone in the early hours of the morning.