tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20855066.post7983173505222258689..comments2023-09-20T13:32:30.933+01:00Comments on Scottish Law Reporter: Kerelaw inquiry concludes many failures as pupils were devastated by abuseUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20855066.post-74063422308123035082009-05-16T12:53:00.000+01:002009-05-16T12:53:00.000+01:00Dear Sir
The conclusion (Independent Inquiry into...Dear Sir<br /><br />The conclusion (Independent Inquiry into Abuse at Kerelaw Residential School<br />and Secure Unit … led by Eddie Frizzell) that “abuse was prevalent in Kerelaw” must not be allowed to go unchallenged.<br /><br />What did this abuse consist of? The inquiry is not clear on this other than stating that allegations of sexual abuse were rare. The major problem seems to revolve around the use of restraints. <br /><br />The Glasgow City Council’s chosen method of dealing with conflict situations is Therapeutic Crisis Intervention (TCI) which allows (pain free) physical restraint as a last resort after other attempts at de-escalation have failed. This is admirable but the decision that non physical de-escalation has failed or is impossible is a subjective one. A worker in a crisis situation may opt for a physical course of action that an investigating officer considers precipitate under the last resort terms of TCI. This is simply a difference in judgement - the one formed in the heat of the crisis and the other formed at a desk after the event. Even so a precipitate physical action is a breach of TCI (a matter of training or discipline) but it is not of necessity abusive. The formula - precipitate physical action = inappropriate restraint = abuse - unfairly and illogically condemned many workers. <br />The restraint method used in Kerelaw required two restrainers, moving their bodies, legs and arms at the same time and in a coordinated manner within a period of some 16 seconds, acting in a synchronised way to subdue a young person. According to research (see Social Work Research Findings No. 21 Measuring Competence in Physical Restraint Skills in Residential Child Care by Lorna Bell and Cameron Stark) it was possible to make 44 errors during this manoeuvre and this was assuming the person being constrained was compliant! In real life, if the young person (and he could be a young man of 16) struggled, the method would lose its coherence and, with that, its efficacy probably resulting in pain or injury to the young person. Workers accepted the truth of this and readily admited to having participated in or seeing poorly executed restraints. This is by no means the same as admitting to abuse for a poorly executed restraint is not necessarily abuse. <br />In short a failure to follow TCI guidelines or engaging in a clumsy restraint may be a training/disciplinary matter but they are not by definition abuse. The Frizzell inquiry and others have not noted these distinctions and have failed to recognise the weaknesses of TCI leading to the erroneous conclusion that abuse was prevalent in Kerelaw. <br />John Murdoch (ex joint Branch Secretary Glasgow City Unison)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com