FIRST and foremost it was a fundamental failure of parenting.

But what happened after that in the cases of four young children in Southampton who lost their lives in 2011 is what came under scrutiny during the course of this week.

After hearing evidence surrounding the deaths of Blake Fowler, brothers Jayden and Bradley Adams and now Nico Maynard, the city coroner has called for the closest possible scrutiny of the social services professionals and other agencies that were involved in the care of the children in light of their tragic deaths.

In summing up after a week that highlighted failures by key safeguarding agencies, coroner Keith Wiseman said work still had to be done not only by the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board – the body responsible for scrutinising the actions of the authorities – but also by the professionals themselves.

He said: “There is, in my view, work still to be done not only by the safeguarding children’s board but by those professionals involved with these children during their lives.

“Indeed it must be a matter of concern to perhaps slightly varying degrees in different cases, whether any of the adults involved should ever have been permitted to have had the care of the children.

“I have no doubt that, in so far as they have taken place if they have not completed already, there should be the closest possible scrutiny by the social services department as to whether any of these children should have been living with the adults who were caring for them at the times of their deaths.”

Despite his pointed remarks, the Daily Echo has been met with a muted response by Southampton City Council who maintain they are unable to comment on many of the findings this week due to ongoing reviews by the LSCB, which have only recently got under way.

Dawn Baxendale, chief executive, Southampton City Council said: “Four tragic cases were considered by the coroner this week, all of which raised important questions for professionals involved in child protection.

“Although our Children’s Services were not involved in the case heard today [Nico Maynard], we have noted the important learning points for all agencies indicated in the Serious Case Review published last week.

“We continue to work closely with the Southampton Safeguarding Children Board and our partner agencies to improve public services for children and young people in our city.”

For their part, the LSCB said it would continue with the reviews with a view to preventing any repeats of the tragic deaths.

Keith Makin, Independent Chair of the Southampton Safeguarding Children Board, said: “The details of the cases heard by the coroner this week are very upsetting and naturally people will want to know that Southampton’s public services are doing everything they can to prevent similar circumstances arising in the future.

“Southampton Safeguarding Children Board has commissioned Serious Case Reviews into each of these cases to investigate the facts in detail and identify what lessons can be learned.

“The Serious Case Review into one of these cases (Nico Maynard) was published last week. It highlighted a number of important learning points for our partner organisations as they seek to improve services for children in Southampton.

“The other cases are subject to continuing Serious Case Reviews and I will ensure that these are published as soon as possible once the reviews are completed. Naturally the coroner’s comments will be taken into consideration by the independent reviewers.”

Mr Wiseman also levelled criticism at the parents of the children themselves and those caring for them at the time of their deaths who he said showed a complete failure to adequately care for and nurture their children.

“Some of the adults involved may have been to a greater or lesser extent victims themselves, as opposed to actual perpetrators of harm, but none of these children were being properly protected by those who had the care of them,” he added.