Council staff 'put vulnerable children in the path' of sex offenders, who infiltrated children's homes and foster care, with 'devastating, life-long consequences for their victims', a damning report into decades of abuse has found.
Employees in the South London borough of Lambeth 'treated children in care as if they were worthless', and appeared to demonstrate 'a callous disregard for the vulnerable children they were paid to look after', according to the findings of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
It heard evidence of children being raped, indecently assaulted and sexually abused, but said that of the 705 complaints made by former residents across three such facilities, only one member of senior staff was ever disciplined.
It estimated the number of those abused was likely much higher, and recommended the Metropolitan Police should consider whether there are grounds for a criminal investigation into one boy who died in a care home in 1977 having previously complained of being abused by a senior member of staff.
In its summary, the IICSA report said: 'With some exceptions, they (Lambeth Council staff) treated children in care as if they were worthless. As a consequence, individuals who posed a risk to children were able to infiltrate children's homes and foster care, with devastating, life-long consequences for their victims.
One of the facilities examined in the report into Lambeth Council in South London was Angell Road which opened as a children's home in January 1981 and March 1995
Another of the facilities examined was the Shirley Oaks complex, where more than 2,400 children were placed at Shirley Oaks between 1965 and 1983
'For several decades, senior staff and councillors at Lambeth Council failed to effect change, despite overwhelming evidence that children in its care did not have the quality of life and protection to which they were entitled, and were being put at serious risk of sexual abuse.
'When systemic failures were identified, time and again they were minimised and levels of risk ignored.'
The inquiry into Lambeth Council, held in the summer of 2020, examined five facilities - Angell Road, South Vale Assessment Centre, the Shirley Oaks complex, Ivy House and Monkton Street - dating back to the 1960s.
The report highlighted the case of Michael John Carroll, a member of staff at the Angell Road children's home who had failed to disclose in the 1970s a previous conviction for child sexual abuse but was retained when this was eventually found out.
He was subsequently convicted in 1999 of 34 counts of child sexual abuse, including of two boys in the care of Lambeth Council between 1980 and 1983.
The report found 'clear evidence' that sexual offenders and those suspected of sexual abuse were co-workers in Lambeth Council's children's homes at the same time.
Carroll also had a role in recruiting staff and investigations at Angell Road.
The report said: 'Through such poor practice and its
