An Interesting Case…

The owner of two York nurseries plans to seek damages following a child welfare investigation which she says has “devastated” her business and forced her to make five staff redundant.

It seems the police were – once again – enthusiastically collecting DNA but never actually getting around to the ‘charging’ bit…

A police probe into Heworth House and Little Joe’s day nurseries, which began last August, ended with no charges being brought against six women who were arrested, with the exact nature of the allegations still unknown.

The council, moving at an arthritic snail’s pace, is still thinking about things:

An inquiry by City of York Council, City of York Children’s Safeguarding Board and Ofsted is continuing.

But Lynn Dyrdal, 54, said she was struggling to keep the two nurseries open as only a handful of children were attending.

Because the initial bad PR, even if never justified by charges, is enough to wreck her business.

She said her reputation had been “absolutely ruined”, she had been the target of abusive allegations and “shame” had been brought on her business.

And she blames the authorities for this, specifically, the way they’ve handled the allegations:

She said: "The way this has been handled has had such a devastating effect on my business and I have had to make people redundant already.

“I have just lost such a tremendous amount of money. I have had to sell a property to keep my business afloat and repay deposits for future bookings.”

Naturally, the authorities cloak themselves in the Shield of ‘It’s For The Chiiiilllldreeeennn!’:

Eoin Rush, the council’s assistant director of children’s services, said it would be “highly inappropriate” to comment on the case while the inquiry was continuing.

But he said: "The welfare of children is our absolute priority. “City of York Children’s Safeguarding Board and partner agencies have a duty to investigate where there is a concern that the needs of children within their area are not being met and there is a risk that the children may suffer harm as a result.”

I think she hasn’t got a leg to stand on, even if she could prove incompetence. And even if she does get damages awarded, it won’t come out of the pockets of the staff. And no-one will be sacked or disciplined.

But it bears watching…