DUNFERMLINE CARE WORKER STRUCK OFF AFTER ASSAULT ON BOY
A Dunfermline children’s worker has been struck off the social services register after assaulting a boy in her care at a local residential unit.The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) has removed Abbi Rutherford from its register for children and young people’s workers, ruling that her behaviour was “fundamentally incompatible” with remaining in the profession.
The Removal Order took effect on May 6.
Ms Rutherford, who worked as a sessional practitioner for Moore House School Ltd at Moore House Primary, based at Buchanan House, Upper Steelend, near Dunfermline, was convicted at Dunfermline Sheriff Court on November 26, 2024 of assaulting a child in her care in April that year.
The child, referred to in official documents only as AA, was a looked-after youngster at the service.
According to the SSSC decision, Rutherford slapped the boy on the face during the course of her employment and then wiped blood on his face.
Regulators said her actions had the potential to cause “significant physical and emotional harm” to the child and emotional harm to others who witnessed what happened.
In detailed written reasons, the council stressed that social service workers are trusted to care for “the most vulnerable members of society” and are expected to keep people in their care safe from abuse and harm.
It said workers must not put service users at unnecessary risk or behave, inside or outside work, in a way that calls their suitability into question.
The decision said Ms Rutherford’s conduct was an abuse of the trust placed in her by the child, his family and the public, and that it fell “far below” the standard expected of a caring professional.
It found she had breached several sections of the SSSC Code of Practice for Social Service Workers, which sets out how staff must treat children and young people using services.
Panel members also concluded that Rutherford had shown no insight into her behaviour.
They said they could not be confident there was no risk of repetition and warned there was an ongoing risk to public protection if she were allowed to continue practising without restriction.
A reasonable member of the public, they added, would see the reputation of the profession as damaged if no firm regulatory action was taken.
Although the carer had not previously come to the attention of the SSSC, the panel said that could not be treated as a mitigating factor because this case involved harm to a child in her care and degrading treatment.
The behaviour took place at work, involved a service user and represented a serious abuse of a position of trust.
Investigators considered issuing a warning, placing conditions on her practice or imposing a suspension, but ruled each of these out, saying her behaviour was at “the higher end of the scale of seriousness” and reflected “serious values issues that are not easily remediable”.
