Wales Fails Children: A System Review

Wales's Children at Risk: A System in Crisis

Specialists have delivered a stark warning about the state of child protection within Welsh schools, describing a system that has fundamentally failed in its duty of care. A dangerous void in oversight has existed since 2018, a reality the administration in Wales now openly admits. This admission has unleashed a torrent of criticism from seasoned specialists in child protection and Rocio Cifuentes, the nation's independent advocate for children.

The government's previous framework, which mandated external inquiries regarding any accusation of a pupil being harmed, has been left without national supervision for years. While officials insist that school leadership bodies are still required to select external investigators, they have also promised a full-scale review of these requirements. This pledge comes too late for some, emerging in the shadow of a devastating report on the offences committed by Neil Foden, a paedophile and former headteacher, who abused his position of trust to prey on vulnerable students.

A Void in National Oversight

The troubling gap in country-wide monitoring of inquiries into child safety has left a dangerous accountability vacuum within the Welsh education system. This situation arose after 2018, when the government confirmed it had ceased its central monitoring role. This critical function was meant to ensure that whenever accusations emerged that a student had been harmed, the subsequent independent investigations were thorough, impartial, and effective. Rocio Cifuentes, who serves as the Children's Commissioner for Wales, along with other child protection advocates, has strongly condemned this lapse. They argue that without a national body to scrutinise these reviews, there is no guarantee of consistency or quality across various municipal councils. The decision to dismantle this oversight has been described as a significant retreat from established child protection standards, creating a fragmented system where the safety of children could be compromised by localised failures or inconsistencies.

The Government's Response Under Fire

Facing increased public scrutiny, the Welsh administration has repeated its position that the legal responsibility to initiate an independent inquiry is the responsibility of school leadership bodies. These bodies have a duty to hire an external investigator whenever a claim of pupil harm is lodged. However, this assertion does little to quell the concerns of experts, who point out that without national oversight, there is no mechanism to ensure these bodies comply effectively or to monitor the quality and outcome of their investigations. The government has acknowledged the severity of the situation by announcing a forthcoming review of the requirements surrounding these independent inquiries. This move, however, is seen by many as a reactive measure, prompted by public outcry and the horrific details emerging from high-profile abuse cases, rather than a proactive commitment to child safety.

The Shadow of the Neil Foden Case

The crisis in Welsh school safeguarding is starkly illuminated by the case of Neil Foden, a former headteacher sentenced to prison in 2024 following his conviction for a series of sexual offences against four girls. A thorough assessment of child practice related to his offences, titled “Our Bravery Brought Justice,” revealed a shocking series of systemic failures. The report, published in November 2025, identified more than 50 missed opportunities by various agencies to intervene and halt his predatory behaviour. Foden, described as a "sophisticated and controlling paedophile," managed to operate with impunity for years, creating a culture of fear that silenced both pupils and staff. The review detailed how concerns raised by individuals and even the NSPCC were dismissed or inadequately addressed by Gwynedd Council, exposing deep-rooted weaknesses in the local safeguarding apparatus and the devastating consequences of the absent national oversight.

A History of Neglected Warnings

The current safeguarding crisis is not an isolated event but the culmination of years of unheeded warnings and systemic decay. The foundation for robust, independent oversight was laid in 2006 with the establishment of the body known as the Independent Investigation Service (IIS). This body was a direct consequence of the Clywch report's findings, a landmark inquiry into the historic abuse perpetrated by teacher John Owen. The IIS was specifically designed to fund and ensure the impartiality of investigations into allegations against school staff. However, a pivotal and ultimately damaging reassessment of contracts during 2018 led to its dissolution. The administration in Wales pulled its financial support and devolved the responsibility to already-overburdened local councils and school governors, a decision that experts now argue directly contributed to the current vulnerabilities in the system.

Echoes of the Clywch Report

The failings exposed in the Neil Foden case bear a disturbing resemblance to those outlined in the findings of the Clywch inquiry over two decades ago. That inquiry into the abuse perpetrated by the teacher John Owen while at Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen catalogued a grim litany of failures by education professionals to protect their pupils. It resulted in 31 recommendations aimed at overhauling child protection. One of its key outcomes was the creation of the Independent Investigation Service to prevent such systemic breakdowns from recurring. The recent review into Foden's crimes noted with dismay that many of the same issues, such as poor information sharing and a failure to act on repeated concerns, persist today. This tragic echo of the past suggests a collective failure to embed the hard-won lessons that emerged from the Clywch investigation into the fabric of Welsh education.

The Independent Investigation Service: A Lost Safeguard

The choice to dismantle the Independent Investigation Service in 2018 represents a critical misstep in Wales's child protection strategy. Established as an essential legacy from the Clywch inquiry, the IIS provided a centralised, state-funded mechanism for ensuring that allegations against school staff were investigated without bias or internal influence. Its removal fragmented the system, placing the financial and logistical burden of conducting these complex and sensitive inquiries onto individual school leadership bodies and municipal councils. This decentralisation not only created a postcode lottery for child safety but also removed the national layer of scrutiny that could identify patterns of failure and drive systemic improvements. Critics argue that this move prioritised administrative reshuffling over the paramount need to protect vulnerable children.

A System Lacking Transparency

A significant flaw in the current, decentralised model is the profound lack of transparency and public accountability. The advocate for children in Wales, Rocio Cifuentes, has emphasized that there is no legal requirement for local authorities or schools to publish the full reports of their independent investigations. Often, her office receives only a brief summary, leaving crucial details and recommendations shielded from public view. This opacity makes it impossible to know if vital changes are being implemented or monitored effectively. Without a mandate for full disclosure, lessons learned in one area are not shared nationally, preventing other schools and authorities from proactively addressing similar risks. This lack of a robust, transparent feedback loop perpetuates a cycle of isolated learning and repeated failures.

The Commissioner's Urgent Call for Action

Rocio Cifuentes has been a vocal critic of the current state of affairs, describing the system as nonsensical. She argues forcefully that conducting investigations and arriving at conclusions is a futile exercise without a powerful mechanism to enforce and monitor the resulting recommendations. In a public statement, she emphasised the need for a national process where others can assess these findings on a national level, allowing for systemic weaknesses to be identified and addressed across the board. Her position underscores a fundamental principle of effective safeguarding: learning from failures must be a shared, national endeavour, not a private matter for individual institutions. Her advocacy calls for an immediate reinstatement of a centralised, accountable, and transparent system to protect children.

Rocio Cifuentes: A Champion for Children's Rights

Appointed in April 2022, Rocio Cifuentes brings a wealth of experience and a powerful personal history to her role as Children's Commissioner. Having arrived in Wales as a child refugee from Pinochet's Chile, her career has been dedicated to social work and advocating for marginalised communities. Before her current appointment, she led the Ethnic Minorities and Youth Support Team (EYST) Wales for seventeen years. Her work is grounded in the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and she has consistently used her platform to ensure the administration in Wales is held accountable for its duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Her independent voice is crucial in highlighting systemic flaws and pushing for meaningful reform in safeguarding policies.

Expert Voices Raise the Alarm

The chorus of concern goes further than the children's advocate's office. Helen Mary Jones, a former assembly member and now a respected specialist in the field of child protection, has publicly questioned the chain of accountability. She has pointedly asked who holds the duty for putting recommendations into practice and who faces accountability if they fail to do so. She insists that government ministers must take ultimate responsibility for ensuring that corrective measures are followed after failures occur. This sentiment is echoed by Professor Sir Malcolm Evans, a Cardiff-born academic who was a member of the official panel that investigated child sexual abuse across England and Wales. He warned that dismantling the national oversight mechanisms that were in place until 2018 made a resurgence of safeguarding problems almost inevitable and tragically foreseeable.

A Pattern of Missed Opportunities

The review into Neil Foden's abuse, titled "Our Bravery Brought Justice" at the request of his victims, serves as a harrowing case study of the system's deficiencies. It revealed that over 50 distinct opportunities to intervene were missed by various bodies, including Cyngor Gwynedd and North Wales Police. Concerns were raised as early as 2018, yet Foden, a man described as a "prolific sex offender," was able to cultivate a culture of fear and intimidation that allowed him to offend "in plain sight." The report catalogues a series of "red flags" that were ignored, from inappropriate contact with pupils to complaints about his bullying management style. This damning indictment points not just to individual failings but to a systemic paralysis that failed to connect the dots and protect vulnerable children.

Failures of Governance and Leadership

At the heart of the Foden case were catastrophic failures of governance. The review found that Foden controlled every aspect of Ysgol Friars, ensuring that key safeguarding roles were filled by individuals who lacked the necessary training and experience to challenge him. The designated safeguarding persons at the school were described as "weak" and dependent on Foden for guidance, rendering them ineffective. This concentration of power, coupled with a lack of effective oversight from the school's governing body and the local authority, created the perfect environment for an abuser to thrive. The report's findings demand a radical rethink of school governance structures in Wales to ensure no single individual can wield such unchecked power again.

The Government's Pledge for Change

In the wake of the Foden report, the administration in Wales has stated its profound regret and accepted all 27 of the review's recommendations in full. The education secretary, Lynne Neagle, issued a sincere apology to the survivors of Foden's abuse, acknowledging that they were failed by the very organisations meant to protect them. She announced immediate actions, including the establishment of an assurance group to hold Cyngor Gwynedd accountable for implementing the necessary changes. Furthermore, the government has committed to a mandatory training programme for all school staff and governors and a comprehensive, in-depth review of safeguarding across the entire education sector. The stated aim is to ensure such events are never repeated.

A New National Strategy Emerges

The Foden review called for nothing less than the most significant change in safeguarding in Welsh schools for a generation. It demands the creation of a national strategy to ensure consistent safeguarding education, practice, and oversight across all of Wales. This echoes the calls from experts who have long warned against the dangers of a fragmented system. Through Dawn Bowden, the Minister for Children and Social Care, the Welsh administration has confirmed it is undertaking a broad review of safeguarding governance. This review, expected to conclude in Spring 2026, will examine the roles of national and regional safeguarding boards and their effectiveness, signalling a potential move back towards a more centralised and coherent national framework for child protection.

Rebuilding Trust in the System

The immediate task for local councils and the Welsh administration is to rebuild the shattered trust of parents, pupils, and the wider community. The leader of Cyngor Gwynedd, Nia Jeffreys, has publicly apologised, stating the council failed in its duty to keep the children of Gwynedd safe. Similarly, North Wales Police acknowledged missed opportunities and apologised for its part in the multi-agency failings. However, words alone will not suffice. The implementation of the Foden report's recommendations must be swift, transparent, and robust. This includes fostering a culture where children feel empowered to speak up and are believed, and where professionals are trained to "think the unthinkable" and act decisively to protect children.

The Role of Independent Scrutiny

The recent events have powerfully demonstrated the indispensable role of independent scrutiny. The efforts of the children's advocate and the independent chair of the Foden review, Jan Pickles OBE, have been crucial in exposing the depth of the systemic failures. It is vital that these independent voices continue to be supported and listened to. The review's recommendations are designed to create a system with more robust checks and balances, where no single person or institution is above challenge. This includes strengthening the role and training of school governors, who form the first line of defence in school-level accountability. Their ability to challenge headteachers and ensure safeguarding policies are rigorously followed is fundamental to preventing future abuse.

Mandatory Training as a First Step

A key recommendation now being acted upon is the introduction of mandatory safeguarding training for all school staff, volunteers, and governors. The Foden review found that designated safeguarding leads at his school lacked adequate training. The new government initiative will ensure that everyone working with children understands the dynamics of grooming and the sexual exploitation of children, knows how to recognise the signs, and is clear about the procedures for reporting concerns. This training must empower individuals to have "professional curiosity" and the confidence to challenge authority when they suspect a child is at risk, moving from a mindset of "what if I am wrong?" to "what if I am right?".

A Culture of Listening to Children

Perhaps the most profound failing identified in the Foden report was that the voice of the child was consistently ignored. Over a period of years, there was no concerted effort to ask children about Foden's conduct, despite numerous red flags. The education secretary, Lynne Neagle, highlighted this as one of the most unacceptable aspects of the case. A fundamental cultural shift is required within Welsh schools to ensure that children are not only listened to but are actively heard and believed. This involves creating safe environments where pupils feel they can report concerns without fear of reprisal, and where systems are in place to take their disclosures seriously and act upon them immediately.

The Path Forward: A National Commitment

The road to restoring faith in Wales's child protection systems will be long and requires a sustained, national commitment. The failings are not confined to one school or one local authority; they are indicative of systemic weaknesses that have been allowed to develop over several years. The Welsh government's promised reviews and acceptance of all recommendations are a positive start. However, the true test will be in the implementation. It requires a move away from siloed working and towards genuine multi-agency collaboration, underpinned by a robust national framework of oversight and accountability. The bravery of the young people who brought Neil Foden to justice has provided a catalyst for change; it is now incumbent on all responsible adults to ensure their legacy is a safer future for every child in Wales.