SOCIAL services departments undoubtedly have a difficult task dealing with some of our troubled teenagers and their families.

Indeed social workers and their managers often claim, sometimes with justification, that their successes are never put before the public.

They also complain that when the worst happens there is always a demand that there must be an official to blame.

But surely that demand should not come as any surprise because they are, after all, in the business of child protection and that brings with it huge responsibilities and potentially devastating consequences if mistakes are made.

The report into the circumstances surrounding the rape and murder of Carry Ann Brown generally exonerates social workers and we mustn't lose sight of the fact that her own father Sean Brown is the real cause of this tragedy.

But the report does recommend tightening up management of contact visits between children in care and parents suspected of abusing them.

After one of these visits Carry Ann arranged the unofficial meeting with her father which ended in her tragic death.

The Tory spokesman argues with some force that social workers should have acted faster after discovering that Sean Brown was sharing a bed with his daughter.

In the past few years we have also had separate reports following the deaths of teenagers Shane Cook, Anthony Rigby and Melissa Strickson - all of whom were well known to, or in the care of, Blackburn with Darwen Social Services Department.

One manager was labelled "irresponsible" in one case but otherwise the inquiries have backed the professionals involved.

But strong public criticisms by relatives in all three cases, and the fact that they happened in such a comparatively short period of time, does pose questions about the processes that have been in place in social services in the past couple of years.