A Fife man who helped a colleague have a romantic relationship with a resident of a young person’s care home has been given a three-year warning.
John Scott has been warned over inappropriate behaviour while working at Forth Craig in Inverkeithing, a home for children and young people.
While working there he failed to tell bosses his colleague was romantically involved with a resident there, and helped his fellow worker meet the young person outside of the home.
Mr Scott also made inappropriate comments to a different colleague while working at Forth Craig in 2019, an investigation found.
The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) has issued a three-year warning to Mr Scott and he has been dismissed from the home.
Worker covered up relationship with Forth Craig resident
The SSSC report said: “In 2019, between February 2 and 10, Mr Scott did not tell bosses at Forth Craig that one of his colleagues, referred to as AA, was having a romantic relationship with a young person, known as XX, at the facility.
“On dates after February 2019 he helped AA meet young person XX outside of work by driving them to unknown locations.”
‘You have a nice backside’
The report also revealed Mr Scott told a colleague they “have a nice backside” and said “you are trying to tease me”.
The care worker was then dismissed but the inappropriate behaviour continued.
The SSSC report said between February 3 2020 and April 24,2020, Mr Scott “failed to maintain appropriate professional boundaries” with a young person living at Forth Craig, referred to as YY.
He offered YY a Chrome notebook and dongle, which gives devices access to the internet, met them and gave them money.
Mr Scott told the resident he would “always still look out for you” despite no longer working there.
‘I don’t want any of that whole child protection stuff again’
He then told the young person: “Be careful because I don’t want any of that whole child protection stuff again.”
He gave YY and another former service user money on another two occasions.
The SSSC report called Mr Scott’s behaviour “an abuse of trust” which put people “at increased risk of harm”.
It said he failed to show insight and it “cannot be assured that the behaviour would not be repeated”, calling Mr Scott “untrustworthy”.
At the time the home was run by Radical Services Ltd, part of Pebbles Care, which has since been acquired by Ardenton Capital.
A spokesperson for Pebbles Care said the incidents took place under previous management.
They added: “Recruitment of the best care professionals to look after our children is a vitally important part of our business and we follow ‘safer recruitment’ practices that are in line with guidelines set by The Care Inspectorate (Scotland) and Ofsted (England).”
