Tragic: Seren Bernard

A MILFORD HAVEN teenager was “willingly exposed to harm by the agencies which were involved in her case” an inquest heard on Monday (Jun 1).

Fourteen-year-old Seren Bernard was found dead near Hakin Point in April 2012.

Now up to twelve witnesses will be called, and ten days have been set aside for this contentious and highly emotional case, which is one of the most complex coroner’s inquests ever to be heard in Pembrokeshire.

Seren’s mother, Sarah Pollock, has argued that Seren should not have been in the care of the local authority.

The inquest at Milford Haven Town Hall, administered by Swansea coroner Paul Bennett, was told that she had suffered with hallucinations and that an imaginary friend had told her to ‘do things’.

Seren Bernard’s mother, Sarah Pollock, who broke down in tears at the inquest, claimed that her daughter had not received the therapy or care that she so badly needed. She told the coroner: “In my view they have willingly and knowingly exposesd Seren to harm.”

But Mr Bennett said at a pre-inquest in December that the scope of the inquest was not about examining “systemic failures” of the council’s care or duplicating what had been investigated by the serious case review.

The inquest has been looking into the events from September 2011, when the teenager went missing for ten days, to when she was found dead seven months later.

The barrister representing Child Adolescent Mental Health Support, which was responsible for Seren’s therapy, said she discussed her imaginary friend Jane with her support worker on two occasions. The inquest heard how during a psychiatric assessment, Seren revealed that she suffered from suicidal thoughts present since childhood.

Seren’s aunt, Tracy Norton said that her niece had displayed strange behaviour including sleeping on the floor and attempting to pierce her lips with a school compass. She told the hearing: “Social services told me that this was normal behaviour for a 14-year-old girl.”

The council’s lawyer said that the Authority had a “difficult balancing act” because Seren did not want to live with her family or have any information to be passed on to them.

A serious case review which took place last year found Seren’s death under the care of Pembrokeshire County Council’s social services department might not have been preventable and Dyfed-Powys Police ruled out a criminal investigation.

Officer had no

cause for concern

On Tuesday, a family intervention officer has said that she had no cause for concern when visiting Seren Bernard in the weeks leading up to her death.

Intervention officer Hannah Jane Thomas gave evidence that she was not a qualified social worker nor was she a mental health specialist.

Hannah had visited Seren on four occasions in March 2012 and described her as in good spirits during these visits despite others saying she was in a low mood.

She added that the way Seren presented herself didn’t give her any cause for concern and that she felt her and Seren had a good relationship.

In between the first two meetings others had noted that her mood had dropped and she had indicated that she wanted to go to the Netherlands to get an injection.

At a meeting on March 21, Hannah had recorded her as in good spirits despite conversations surrounding a friend who had died, spending less time with a boyfriend and having less of an appetite.

Seren had scored her mood at 3 out of 5 on that day and she told Hannah she wasn’t sure how she could improve her mood.

Mr Farmer asked Hannah if she thought Seren might be presenting a false image and she replied: “Seren appeared to be in good spirits, giving me a list of things she was concerned with but I wouldn’t have considered that the foster parents were already concerned with her mood and I wasn’t overly concerned with the way she presented to me.”

The pair met again six days later and Hannah recorded that Seren sounded happier.

On March 29 Hannah visited for what would be the final time and conversation included plans for the weekend and strategies to help her sleep.

Asked how her mood was, Hannah said it was consistent with how she had found her on other occasions.

Hannah added that she never recalled Seren presenting as tearful saying she was always happy.

She was also asked how much time she would spend with Seren and she agreed that she would have spent between 4-6 hours with her.

On March 21, Hannah had recorded that Seren took a long time to come down the stairs when she came to collect her and her foster parents had expressed their worries about Seren about that time and that she had been crying a lot.

She was asked if the things her foster parents had said would be on her mind when talking with her.

Hannah said that even though they were discussing those issues Seren appeared to be in good spirits and that she wasn’t given any cause for concern.

Asked if she saw her work with Seren as positive, Hannah replied: “I’d like to think so.”

Social worker had no

idea about suicide letters

On Wednesday a social worker said she was unaware of previous attempts that Seren Bernard had made to kill herself.

Wendy Rodrigues told the inquest that she knew of at least one attempt where Seren had tried to take her own life but was unaware of other attempts.

When asked if she was aware that Seren had been having frequent thoughts suicide and that she was regularly writing suicide letters, Wendy replied that she had no knowledge of this.

It was these attempts that led to Seren being placed on the Child Protection register and her involvement with the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths group (CANS).

Wendy was also required to carry out a core assessment but she told the inquest that she had started but not finished it. It was pointed out to her that she had a duty to promote Seren’s welfare and when asked, Wendy couldn’t recall why it hadn’t been completed.

She was also asked about various core group meetings and on one occasion where there was no update from CANS.

The inquest heard how CANS had not attended a meeting and the barrister questioned how the core groups could receive a proper update on Seren’s condition without the input of CANS.

It was also argued that Seren’s foster parents should have been at these meetings.

Seren had been to seven sessions with CANS and these were described as going well.

However, Seren had been deteriorating in those sessions and on December 20, CANS told her that they were willing to discharge her.

The family’s barrister added that it wasn’t acceptable for a young girl who had made at least one suicide attempt, suffering from depression and had been placed on the child protection register to be taken out of the CANS sessions.

The inquest continues.