HAMPSHIRE Social Services have been condemned for ignoring a cancer victim's dying plea and splitting up her heart-broken children.

Emma Bursey and her two younger sisters were sent to different homes after their widowed mother Maureen died at Oakhaven Hospice, Lymington, in 1995.

Mrs Bursey had begged social services to keep her orphaned children together after she died - but officials disregarded her last wish, it has emerged.

Emma's sisters were split up on the grounds that they were of different ages and had different needs. It has also emerged that one of the sisters was involved in the baby-swap blunder at Princess Anne Hospital, Southampton in 1992.

Now social services have admitted they were wrong after studying the outcome of an independent inquiry triggered by a complaint from Emma.

Errors were acknowledged in a statement issued on behalf of Hampshire social services' director Terry Butler.

The statement said: "Mr Butler has accepted that in this instance the department has fallen short of the standards expected. A detailed plan of action to remedy any shortcomings has already been set in motion, including the recommendation of a new social worker for Emma.

"Mr Butler is committed to offering further help to Emma and has offered to meet with her personally to discuss the way forward.

"Councillors have followed this case closely and reports setting out the proposed improvements will be submitted to the children's services sub-committee."

A county council spokesman refused to say when the children were split up and whether any disciplinary action would be taken.

"We're not willing to discuss the individual details of the case," she said.

The spokesman also refused to comment on allegations that social services had initially withheld a taped, poignant message from Mrs Bursey to her three children.

Emma, now 15, is living with foster parents in Lymington.

Her younger sisters have been adopted by a couple living elsewhere in the South. The teenager is allowed monthly visits to see them.

Officials were criticised yesterday by Fawley county councillor Alexis McEvoy, who knows Emma well.

"She should never been forced into a three-and-a-half year battle with social services," said Mrs McEvoy.

The decision to split the children up was also attacked by Lymington county councillor Simon Hayes, the new leader of New Forest District Council.

He said: "I've read the inquiry report - but I still can't understand why the decision was made. "Hopefully the appointment of an independent social worker will give Emma confidence that there's someone outside the department she can trust. "I'd like Emma and her sisters to enjoy more contact in the future."

Emma was born prematurely in 1984, and another two daughters followed.

The Burseys and another couple were sent home with the wrong babies - but blood tests revealed the error and both tots were returned to their real parents.

Two years later Tony Bursey, 49, died of a heart attack at his Brockenhurst home.

His children were devastated by a second tragedy just 11 months later when their mother, also 49, died a few weeks after entering Oakhaven Hospice.

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