i totally agree that the monsters who did this horrific thing to the child should be held accountable for their actions against this child. but ss are there to make sure as that the child is represented and their rights implemented. from what i understand that i have read in the report the child was taken away once and returned to the mother on the understanding that a friend would help. i am sorry but i think this is a serious lack of common sense and duty on ss part. it is not up to a friend to see that the mother is doing the right thing for a child, it is up to ss and their workers to see that this is being done. and why did ss not check that the very provivion that they set up was being followed through. i understand that social workers have heavy caseloads, but at the end of the day that is not the fault of the child. no lessons have been implemented for the victoria climbie case which should have been. and if that is the case then ss should be investigated and be held accountable for their actions or lack of them. we were told that this sort of atrocity should never happen again but it has and to the exact same council that has already been investigated and found lacking. so what else can be done. to me it shows that they are not fit for purpose if they allow even one child to be mistreated and do nothing, let alone be murdered. i do not believe in the old saying i just was following orders.
but who do you sack? The police were involved on more than one occasion, as were doctors at a hospital and the local gp surgery, and of course social and health workers.
Social workers don't have a right of entry into a premises and, despite popular urban myth, don't have the ability to take children away without court intervention.
Maybe if the police and Social services had a specific liason team in which they could interact with each other on cases like this with investigations taken out in a policing type way with the force/powers of the law from both sectors applied and the like, this might go someway to helping.
According to a good source local to me the Social services loath having the police bought in on anything and to be honest i've sort of seen this first hand myself though 5 years ago.
I reckon the head of Social Services at Haringey Council will either resign, or be sacked within a month. The buck should always stop at the top.
An example of this was the resignation of the head of radio 2 for that programme over the Jonathan Woss thingy.
All professional bodies involved with children, across the country, had to review and alter, if neccessary, their child protection guidelines, following the report from the previous case in Haringey. Shame Haringey didn't follow the recommendations themselves.
this situation makes my blood boil,i wont go into personal/work i do or experiences etc as that isnt fair or about this case.
one thing i will say is and this might sound airy fairy but.... WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SAFETY OF CHILDREN where were the family members neighbours etc? someone must have heard something of this extent going on??
its a sad fact but there is no legal requirement once a child is born other than registering the birth to see health visitors, attend the baby checks, take the child to baby groups, toddler groups, etc etc so many children from the day they are born to the day they are legally expected to register at school can go missing in the system.
even at school age who checks the child is registered and attending a school?
as a profesional worker i have made several calls to ss to report suspected abuse or neglect and even then they dont always take notice, ive had to go higher.
xx fem xx
This will end up as another chase your tail investigation.
The main problems are not enough staff, not enough money, hands too tied to make a judgement, nobody willing to come forward as a witness, etc.
The SS will be damned if they do and damned if they don't. Either they will be too lenient for some and too heavy handed for others........they will never get it right.
Some say if they had visited 60 times they would have noticed that abuse had occured. Ermmm yes, of course you would. These people were giving reasonable responces to the SS and disguising the child in muck so they didn't see the damage. The SS can not enter a premise and grab a child and inspect it (I don't think they can......maybe with a warrant but they need evidence before gaining a warrant anyway). Hindsight is great when you know what you are looking for but when it is one of hundreds of cases it is easy to overlook.
The responsibility of the health of the child is that of the parents........not the SS.
Has the Child Minister instigated an investigation into the council? What a surprise, lets get the "blame" away from the Government. The recommendations from the last case have not been implemented everywhere yet, so she is trying to smokescreen. So her calling for an investigation does not hold any water for me I am afraid.
Dave_Notts
Well I am glad that Paliament is taking this seriously now.
If it is done with no stone left unturned, we will see the incompetence of the whole system in this case.
From the Doctor ( ha ha ) who failed to spot a broken back to the social worker who failed to notice anything wrong with the child six days before he died.
Heads will def roll this time as it seems this bungling council failed to implement changes the last time this happened to a child in it's care.
I just hope that this does not take the usual long length of time and the failings by these idiots result in the only possible outcome....the loss of their jobs and to never work in this field of childcare again.
The problem is that inexperienced workers are taking on complex cases with poor supervision. Ask yourself why most experienced workers and most good managers are no longer in child protection. For anyone who feels that they could do better, most Social Services Departments will have vacancies in child protection teams. Money and mouth spring to mind.
what i am going to write now is only an opinion so obviously its not right or wrong its just my opinion.....
i think the main problem is with all these claim money for this claim money for that type places that are about now social services are actually scared to do anything incase they get it wrong, if social services was able to take children away while the cases was looked into then return them back home if it was found to be a mistake knowing there would be no come back from the parents i think more children would be safer, but they can't social services are actually scared to make alligation and remove kids as they are scared of the come back if the parents press charges, its just a stupid system we have, job or no job noones going to put themselves in a possition where they are going to get taken to court and sued for doing their job, they have their own family and children to think about, i would'nt do their job i know that.
Obviously tho, something has to be done because there are far to many of these type stories lately, children should'nt have to live like this.
All these enquiries over the years prove that it is the same mistakes that get made over and over again: People (or so called professionals) simply not talking to each other or acting in a co-ordinated manner. It's upsetting and a disgrace.
I believe that fingers should not be pointed in an emotional reaction.
Social workers are social workers they don't have the training, time or mindset to be detectives. If the parents are doing their best to cover up any malfeasance then it becomes very difficult for a SW to uncover the truth, or even spot anything other than obvious signs. The Social Services may have the SS acronym but they don't have the Gestapo as a sub-branch. They can't just haul kids away for no reason, not even a hunch.
I honestly can't believe that someone who wanted to become a social worker in the first place is going to deliberately ignore obvious signs of abuse. None of us are party to the inner workings of the SS and we most certainly aren't in possession of any genuine facts.
I fully expect there to be some arse covering going on in the inquiry and there will be somebody hung out to dry afterwards most assuredly but my innate cynicism tells me that the person who gets the shaft will the person that is easiest to give the shaft too and not necessarily the right person. For all we know the case workers did report fears to their supervisors who in turn reported them higher... only to get some bureaucratic BS from someone who had never seen the kid outside of a manilla folder. They will of course dodge the bullet.
The parents on the other hand should have a compulsory vasectomy and hysterectomy for starters. Then be given a very long prison sentence in general population, complete with the full facts of the case sellotaped to their cell door so that all the other convicts can see why they are there. With any luck they should then get to feel for themselves exactly what the child felt and went through.
Just a suggestion. :twisted:
I havent read all the replies to this, and it may have already been said what i am gonna say but i will say it anyway.
The mother/step father/lodger should all be locked up for life for ever neva getting parole, not just the 14 yrs, reason was because the could not say who gave the fatal injury.
As for the Social Workers and the woman in charge of them what a set of tossers they were, even a senior policeman advised them not to send the child back to the parents, so as far as i am concerned they are an accessory to the murder of the child, and shud be charged as such. The Doctor is being made to take all the blame for this by social services as she failed to diagnose the broken ribs and back, but hold on a minit if social services had done the job right in the first place and taken this poor baby into the loving care he deserved he wouldnt have had the injuries which in the end killed him.
As a tax payer i dont want to pay these peoples wages, they are disusting and all want locking up.
scarey but they are not all trained social workers,
some of the people will only be trainie social workers,
they will have a case load while also completeing their degree in social work. (only last few years changed to degree from a diploma)
some have no life or work experiences, they work from a text book.
they will only be on about £16,000 a year. they will be expected to make desisions and are not qualified. they will take their findngs back to their line manager, who will direct, but only on what they are told.
they do not get training on childcare or child health as such.
x fem xx
I did see on Question time tonight that there was incredulity that a social workerhad 26 cases on the books. Well f*ck me backwards so! It was followed by the statement that 12 should be the limit. Lets be honest in a perfect world we would have 3 social workers per case. Each could assess each situation and if two came up with differing answers then the third could be the deciding bit. Oh and they could make decisions anonymously too so as not to have any come back.
At what point do we stop making excuses for stuff eh? This was a shit happening and with shit consequences I thank god i'm not involved of course i do and I am gutted for those who are. By and by these are in relative terms, isolated cases and should be treated as such.
