I thought I was dealing with a family struggling to find their feet in a new country

Lisa Arthurworrey Social worker

Social worker Lisa Arthurworrey, of African-Caribbean descent, said she had assumed Victoria's timidness in the presence of Kouao and Manning stemmed not from fear but from the African-Caribbean culture.

"Respect and obedience are very important to the African-Caribbean family script," Ms Arthurworrey told the hearing.

But she said she now regretted applying such a generalisation of African-Caribbean families to assess the relationship between Kouao and Victoria.

'Veneer of respectability'

Ms Arthurworrey agreed with the inquiry's lead counsel, Neil Garnham, that it had not been sensible to equate the experiences of an black person living in England with those of a French-speaking African girl from Ivory Coast.

At the time of the home visit, Ms Arthurworrey said she had not even been aware that Victoria was from Ivory Coast and knew nothing of her background.

She said the family's "veneer of respectability" had misled her.

She said: "I thought I was dealing with a family struggling to find their feet in a new country."

Ms Arthurworrey is continuing to give evidence to the public inquiry being held in south-east London.