Hamilton Foster Carers Death 'Avoidable'
A Sheriff has ruled that a troubled teenager should never have been placed with Lanarkshire foster parents, one of whom he later stabbed to death.
Dawn McKenzie, 34, was killed in 2011 by a 13-year-old boy who had been placed in the care of her and her husband, Bryan, 36. It was the first time the couple from Hamilton had ever looked after a foster child.
However, Sheriff David Bicket said the death may have been avoided if he had not been placed in their care by foster agency, Foster Care Associates Scotland.
A Fatal Accident Inquiry was held in Motherwell earlier this year, probing the tragic events of 2011.
The 30 days of hearings followed the criminal conviction of the boy - referred to in yesterday’s report as Child D – who pled guilty to a charge of culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility. He was jailed for seven years in 2012.
In his FAI report published yesterday, Sheriff Bicket said the McKenzies were unaware of the boy’s previous aggression and encounters with violence, meaning they had a lack of experience in dealing with children like him.
But the Sheriff also said that no-one could have predicted the boy’s frenzied attack nor the “tragic consequences” for Mrs McKenzie.
He made a series of recommendations, ensuring that prospective foster parents are better prepared before taking children into their care.
Sheriff Bicket said all new foster parents should be given Crisis Prevention and Intervention training before anyone is placed with them.
Parents should also receive in-depth information on a child’s background – in writing – before taking on a child.
And new parents themselves should be more closely assessed for their suitability for fostering children.
The Sheriff wrote:“The death of Mrs McKenzie might have been avoided if Foster Care Associates Scotland, when considering if they had a suitable placement for child D when so requested to do so by Glasgow City Council, had taken proper account of Mr and Mrs McKenzie’s status as new carers, and lack of suitable prior experience of adolescent aged children such as child D and accordingly had not recommended them as suitable prospective carers for child D.
"The tragic circumstances of the death of Dawn McKenzie which precipitated this Inquiry are, so far as I have been advised in evidence, unique amongst foster carers.
“From the evidence of Dr Eleanor Kerr (a child and adolescent psychiatrist) it is clear that more is being learned about the damage that a traumatic upbringing can have on children, particularly in the early years of their development, and the lasting effect that that can have on them.
“From all the evidence that I heard no one could have predicted that child D would have acted in the way in which he did, and no one could have predicted the tragic consequences for a dedicated and caring foster carer such as Dawn McKenzie.”
The Inquiry had heard that, after the killing, the boy had told social workers that he had previously been present at a violent brawl, in which his stepfather had been hit by a machete.
Immediately prior to Mrs McKenzie’s death, he had been ‘grounded’ and his computer confiscated.
Sheriff Beckit added:”It was not foreseen nor was it foreseeable that child D would take the life of the person who was caring for him, but now that that has happened clearly it is an eventuality which has to be considered by those involved in caring for children in a fostering environment.
“It is to be sincerely hoped that such an event never reoccurs, and that the appropriate agencies are now alive to the tragic possibilities and will do all that can be done to ensure that that is so.”
Foster Care Associates Scotland had been asked to find foster parents by Glasgow City Council.