TWO recent tragedies have led to calls for a review of how social services deal with families whose children are at risk.

Baby Levi Rose died in June 1996 at the hands of his parents Christopher Rose, 19, and 18-year-old Kelly Catlow at their home in Cronkshaw Street, Burnley.

The couple were both jailed for killing Levi and cruelty to both him and his twin sister Sasha and the case led to Burnley MP Peter Pike demanding action to make sure that such a tragedy never happened again.

But less than three years later, history seemed to repeat itself when baby Jack Shackleton died at the hands of his drug addict father Glenn, 27, of Bar Street, Burnley. He admitted Jack's manslaughter and cruelty to both Jack and his twin brother Adam and is serving a seven year prison sentence.

Just last week, Jack's mother Georgina Shackleton, 23, admitted neglecting her sons and is awaiting sentence.

And the similarities between these two cases are striking.

Both young couples were struggling to cope with the demands of bringing up twin babies as well as another child.

Kelly Catlow and Christopher Rose had moved to Burnley from Accrington, while the Shackletons had moved to the town from Blackburn.

Both fathers were drug users, and both families had come to the attention of social services.

An investigation into Levi's death concluded that there had been a breakdown in communication between the various agencies involved and the baby's family. It also ordered a review of the roles of individual social workers.

When the report was published, Mr Pike said lessons had to be learned to prevent such a case ever happening again in this country.

He said: "We need to do something to ensure that those lessons are used effectively. It's worrying when different agencies are involved, all with different bits of information, when if they had been pieced together they could have acted differently."

Now the case of Jack Shackleton and his twin brother has raised more questions about the role of social services.

Mr Pike said the system had failed baby Jack and again called for an inquiry into the case.

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