General Chat

I can't believe that this is happening and we must - MUST- find a way to prevent it happening again.

How many times have we been told - 'sorry this child has died but we will learn from and it will not happen again'....but it does...again and again....

Social Services don't seem to have any control....this child was seen over 60 times....he was 17 months - he couldn't talk but he had bruises - he couldn't talk but his child minder reported his distress over and over

Last month we had a father who placed his child over his knee and then deliberately broke his back

Now we have three people - a mother, her partner (the father) and a lodger who tortured a child until he died...and the part photographs we see show a little angel with blond hair

I have looked after my grand daughter today.....10 weeks old - so small - so beautiful - prematurely born and with a nose like a little button....

I can't comprehend the acts of these people

Where is love........

I am lost for words........

Christine

I heard that the mother was 17 and why did the child go to a childminder -did she work ?
Ros xx

...and, as the mother was only 17, where were the grandparents - or at least one grandparent?

This seems to have been discussed on a previous thread

But I am sooooooooooo outraged and soooooooo upset that I think that I must do something - the forces that be don't seem to be able to protect these children

The person who was in charge in Harringay praised her team.

This child had his finger nails pulled out...would the 'person in charge' like her nails pulled out

Would she like her back broken...her ribs broken....to bleed from her ears....I don't think so

Gordon Brown should be kicked in the g.....s for saying what he said in the commons. Cameron made a point, cos Brown was making a political statement about it. I agree the Social Services are short staff, but after 60 visits which must have been made by Social Service inspectors with white sticks it goes deeper than blaming them.
The hospital doctor should have been told that child abuse cases happed in this country though they do not happen in her homeland.
Don't think this will stop the same thing happening to another vulnerable child. Social Services ignore reports made by well meanig neighbours and other member of the public.

Fear many more innocent children will die, and in neglectful conditions and with battered bodies.

God Love them all

xx

Harringay have a budget of over 1.5 million for Social Services - this is always the excuse....we need more people - we need more funding.

I was born in the 1940's....brought up in the 1950's....teens in the 1960's......

My home was a two up two down - no central heating - no hot water - no inside toilet - no bathroom

I didn't know at the time but my father was bringing up two families

My Mum & Dad didn't run for help....they coped

Now it is always....'the Government should do this and the Government should do that'....it is time people are responsible for their own actions

I hope when my daughter qualifies next year with a Honours degree in Social Work that she has more commonsense!

people with common sense are needed as Social Workers - University Degrees and Social Work qualifications mean absolutely diddly squat with no common sense to accompany them. I speak from experience having worked for 11 years in a psychiatric social work department as a secretary. In all those years many social workers passed through the department and I could count on the fingers of one hand those who I considered to be worth their salt. The rest were in it for the money - which is excellent - and because it semed to me they had dreadful problems of their own. With these tiny children who have been abused, if there is the slightest doubt they will be damaged physically or emotionally they should be removed from the parents - if it is found they have been removed for no good reason, then far better to pay compensation to the wounded party than to have a little one lose their life because of sheer incompetence. Someone should have lost their job over this - more than one - they were not up to the job or this would never have happened. Maria Colwell died back in the early seventies and here we are in 2008 and people are supposed to be more aware and the phrase "changes have been introduced to ensure this kind of thing never happens again" are about as much use as a chocolate teapot. Heads should roll over this and be seen to roll. A massive investigation should now take place, nay a public inquiry and people should be named. Some of these cases are so awful I cannot watch or listen to the TV or read the newspaper.

and Rosalyn, I am sure you should have no fears for your daughter - she will have common sense cos you are her mother!!

I personally know a Social Worker who's a good friend of mine.This person has served for 26 year's and has explained to me the change's within the organization over the year's.
The problem seem's to be that the "Pen Pusher's"/Theoretically educated to degree level.[with very little field experience]..are taking over the common sense,understanding and grounded staff who've spent year's knocking door's,checking up and creating bond's between themselve's and familie's and individual's..that do have problem's.




The friend I refer to,say's,"I now spend a great deal of time writing up report's and attending meeting's which mean that my time taken outside the office has reduced.I asked him about the content of the meeting's he attend's;His reply,"Report's,Statistic's,Target's,Working practice's and then....client's!
The Police have the same problem as has well been reported over the year's......Paper work! and no time on the "Beat"

As I said on another thread, this will continue to happen because the problem with social services is national and widespread. There are virtually no social workers with any common sense and paper work is no excuse. In the last few months alone I have heard:

'we can only put children in care on a Wednesday'
'the mother says that didn't happen'
'just keep an eye on it, it might not happen again'
'phone the police if you see it again'
'I have worse cases to deal with'
'it's too difficult to accommodate large families'
'he's sixteen in a few months so there is nothing that we can do'
'we've just had a fatality so we can't do anything'

In the above scenarios, one child got brain damage as a result of their inaction, 1 child was left in the care of a drug dealing, herion user because they didn't want to accommodate until the week after, two children were involved in a beating from a herion injecting, partner-beating scumbag and another boy was repeatedly beaten until he was unconscious by a violent parent.

This will continue to go on and on until the Government bring in serious reform so we all have a duty to lobby. Unfortunately it IS the Government's responsibility and it is a NATIONAL disgrace.

Not that it helps much, but about six years ago, when I was at sixth form, I had a friend who was self-harming. Although she would tell me she was doing it, she didn't want me to tell any of the teaching staff (although I did in the end and they took her to the health centre to get bandaged up, but she took the bandages off so that her parents wouldn't see them).

She did also tell me that her parents were physically abusive to her younger siblings (which I and another friend related to a senior tutor) but the problem was that the staff couldn't intervene unless the girl involved asked them to and she wouldn't (she had three younger siblings I think, aged between about 9 and 15) because she didn't want to be the one who split the family up.

I was never fully sure what was going on (although the fact that my friend was worried about being the cause of a family being split up makes it sound like it could have been something substantial) but it seemed to me like there was too much red tape that the college had to follow (like they couldn't intervene based on the information I relayed and they couldn't intervene if my friend didn't want them to) that, as Andrea and Cassidy said, that the system in place seemed to make it as hard as possible to do anything.

Kaz

Can I ask what experience that you have to quantify your view that what has been said on this thread is 'utter crap'?

It is the Government's fault because they pay the wages of the incompetents who are supposed to be there to STOP these atrocities from happening. In an ideal world they wouldn't be necessary but this ISN'T an ideal world.

The people who commit these atrocities absolutely should not be doing this but that doesn't stop it from happening - FACT. They either don't have the capacity or the control not to do it so need intervention. Therefore it is essential that the huge amount of money pured into Social Services (by the Government) actually reviews and removes any level of risk associated with danger to children. But it doesn't. Because Social Services are incompetent.

All of the things I mention in my above thread are not 'utter crap' they are absolute facts and I'm sorry if you don't like it but I work with lots of vulnerable families and see first hand the damage that is repeatedly done to children by the ineptitude of Social Services.

That little boy was visited 60 times and the social worker believed the mother who excused all of his injuries as clumsy. That is totally incompetent. If that Social Worker had done his/her job properly that child would still be alive today and that is another fact.

Kaz no-one has absolved the parents from any blame. What is being discussed is how did Social Services and other Health professionals not see what was going on. No need for your reaction as far as I can see.

Child abuse is rife , Rife when we have preventative measure's in this year 2008 ?
I am confused , sickened, disturbed ...
As mentioned in a previous thread "where were the grandparents?"
Excuses excuses i hear everyone say ?
What can be done ?
I Know if i was to see a child that had bruises and marks i would call the police. Parents innocent or not , the fact is this day and age a lot of people see but dont look . Hear but sont listen .
Fear of revenge has turned OUR blessed society into one that turns the other cheek and reports , its not my business why should i care .
This happens repeatedly all over the world .
What happened to care ?
What happened to taking time out to help others ?
All Gone ...
I am 36 years of age i could not standby and let anyone suffer .
I never have ...and i never will
Fear will never win with me .. Do a good deed and help someone in their hour of need .

Kaz in a Tizz?Yes!.Parent's to blame?,Yes!.
Safety net for very vulnerable minor's has been eroded due to performance target's and the like resulting in 70% of social worker's time in the office.
Police force have the same problem.

looks like things are moving towards a public inquiry - bring it on I say - name some names

And Kaz - I strongly object to you calling peoples' input "crap" - how dare you!!!!

My sil brought up five children, and when they were off hand,she thought she would like to do social work, helping new mums, just those wanting to know if everything was alright. Being able to talk to someone who had brought her own children up well.

She had to go to Classes to learn Child Welfare, before she was accepted.She did this, as she really wanted to help.,and successfully ran a Help Group in a Church Hall. We were all amused, that she had to 'go back to school' , as she had always looked after her own well.

I might add that her first two children were born, when their father had lost his job, and he retrained for another one. She never went to work all this time, but made do on a small allowance.

This is what they want in Social Services, good Mums, who have brought their own families up, not these people with a degree in this and that, and no common sense.

I think this has been bubbling away for some time, waiting for the balloon to go up.

Bottom line is that Social Services, are not fit for purpose. I'm sure the problem is now endemic across the country, not helped by government interference and insistence on spending more time filling in forms, meeting stupid and meaningless targets, and putting ticks in boxes, rather than actually doing the work they should be doing.

Heads must roll this time and this must at the very top. It is no use making scapegoats of individual social workers as has happened in the past.

We have an advert on TV here at the moment
A baby is born handed to the mother and the mother says where's the instruction book to go with it.
I laughed when I first saw it but on second thoughts SOME mothers have no skills on how to bring a child up especially when they are children themselves. Doesn't seem to matter to them that they are being abused.

We all make mistakes through life and no one is perfect but those Social Workers are like most of your Government Workers they are programmed to a certain level and then they don't know any more.
First bruise I saw on any child I would report to my department if I was a Social Worker and would not rest until something was done about it.
These Children would still be alive today if we had people who know about children like Mothers that have brought up a family in a healthy invironment, so I agree with Teddy's Girl completely make sure these workers know about children before giving them this SPECIAL JOB. Children's lives are at stake.
Regards
Jackie