Climbies back project to cut child deaths

The Climbies sent their daughter abroad to get a better education

The parents of murdered child abuse victim Victoria Climbie have backed a project to train volunteers to keep an eye on children at risk.

Francis and Berthe Climbie said it was ordinary people, not professionals, who tried to save their daughter from months of abuse.

They attended the launch of the £227,500 pilot Volunteers in Child Protection project on Wednesday, which will run for four years in Bromley, south-east London, and Sunderland.

Community volunteers, supervised by social services professionals, will be trained to visit the families of children at risk.

It follows a similar project in California which saw a 24% drop in reported child abuse among participating families.

Victoria died after months of abuse from her carers

Mr Climbie said: "It was mothers and members of the community that sensed that our child needed help and something was wrong. Volunteers will be doing something useful to help children."

The Community Service Volunteers (CSV) organisation has created the scheme which will begin in the New Year.

They are looking for volunteers with "experience of life" who can act as an extended family to individual children and provide a link to families who are suspicious of the authorities.

Elisabeth Hoodless, the CSV's executive director, said many children on child protection registers were still dying.

She said: "Invariably, neighbours and citizens have reported concerns, but hard-pressed professionals are too often over-stretched.

"The aim is to demonstrate the impact that local citizens can make, benefiting from their local knowledge, such as language and traditions."

Victoria, eight, was sent to Britain from her home on the Ivory Coast to give her a better life and education.

She died in Tottenham, north London, in 2000, after months of abuse from her great-aunt and the woman's boyfriend.

The two were jailed for life for her murder.

An inquiry into Victoria's death by Lord Laming found that she had been let down by failings and bureaucracy in several agencies.