Poor practice and political correctness are putting the lives of West African children living in the UK at risk, social workers have told the BBC.

In light of the death of Victoria Climbi�, BBC Radio 4's Today programme has been investigating the plight of many West African children living in the UK.

It has found evidence they are being traded in this country as part of a benefit scam to pay off their parents' debts.

Social workers told the programme their plight was being ignored by many social services departments.

Managers rarely confront the problem for fear of being accused of racism, they said.

Weak management

One social worker has worked in several London boroughs.

He told me that in all of them, fear of upsetting West African colleagues meant abuse continued unchecked.

Three other social workers in different boroughs shared his views. They said they would lose their jobs if they spoke on the record.

Another told us of three separate cases of alleged child abuse - where children claimed they had been brutally beaten, cut with knives, even sexually abused.

All were returned to their carers.

Children abandoned

The social workers believed weak management had allowed poor practice to flourish.

Inaction meant children were effectively abandoned by those who were paid to protect them.

Mary was brought to the UK by a Nigerian woman who she called Aunty.

She said she was used as a domestic slave - working 17 hours a day. She claimed she was half-starved and regularly beaten.

Mary said she suffered for eight years and said social services only made the problem worse.

She said when social workers tried to talk to her, she was taken home and beaten.

Victoria Climbie

Some social workers from the West African community accept that pressures to fill job vacancies, poor training and bad management has led to unacceptable working practices.

Eight-year-old Victoria Climbie was murdered by her aunt and her lover under the noses of the authorities in the London Borough of Haringey.

All the signs of abuse were there, but her behaviour was explained away as normal for a West African girl.