Baby P witch hunt

Put more money into social services and healthcare. Then perhaps interventions can be put in place earlier.
In this particular case if someone had flagged up the boyfriend moving in, they could have prevented what happened.
It still wouldn't be a brilliant home to grow up in but he'd probably be alive.

I often wonder why these cases are much rarer in Ireland.

The UK has over 60m more people than Ireland and Ireland has its own child abuse issues with the Catholic church.

Children who have experienced abuse growing up often do the same to their own children. Or have trouble knowing what normal family relationships look like. Murder is extreme but people who have grown up with severe beatings and emotionally absent or abusive parents will not have normal responses to triggers such as a crying baby for example.

What I've read is that the 15 year old child he was sexually abusing was missing from home and that the reason they were staying with TC was to evade Police and services due to his abuse of the child

It's the Greek yogurt with figs isn't it 🤣

As someone who works around social care I totally agree! Social workers get bashed and the actual culprit gets next to nothing. Another thing people often don't post about in other cases are the judges. The media says social services could have done more etc but the judge who often make decisions that leave social workers and us scratching our heads don't get a mention. A social worker could be going to court to get a removal but of a judge says no then it's out of their hands.

The system needs a good shake up but I've worked with many good social workers who have had their hands tied as they ultimately don't make these decisions. I will say there are some poor social workers out there but luckily I've only ever come across 2.

It's also astonishing how few family members come forward when there is a child in need. Yet they stand there accusing others of failing the child but they didn't want to be involved. I do understand sometimes they can't but I've seen many family members just say they don't want to help or be involved. However it's also a big thing that parents try and can block other family members who do want to help. Unfortunately as parents still hold their rights, they have to be taken into account and manipulation is a real thing and proving it can be difficult. It's so sad.

Middle class people tend to have better coping skills. There is something called 'executive functioning', which enables people to plan and organise, anticipate, follow through, prioritise, stay calm etc - this can be lacking in some people, so their lives are hugely chaotic. You are unlikely to be able to hold down a decent job and have a middle class lifestyle if you have rubbish executive functioning.

Something I've always wondered about the case, is the fact that 35 year old Jason Owen had moved into the house with his 15 year old girlfriend. The girl gave evidence during the trial. What were children's services doing this girl living with a boyfriend more than twice her age and her parents allowing this?

Like the royals then?

Perfect storm of damaged people with trauma, own experiences of abuse and neglect, low IQ, poverty, over stretched services, some poor professional practice….

People want to believe that there is some way we could protect every single child from this stuff. So they go hard on blaming.

And in many cases we can. But sometimes we can't. I think that is terrifying for people to face up to.

52% of children in care have a criminal conviction by age 24. So that implies the other 48% don't but it's poor odds really.

Care experienced women are 31 times as likely to go to prison as other women.

There are lots of people who have bad childhoods who never go into care of course but the statistics aren't available for them.

The upshot is that you can't just blame individuals for being evil. People who experience abuse as children will grow up with differently wired brains. They need more support than others but usually have far less.

A tiny proportion of society but yes that's their job. There would be no need for children's social workers if all parents were in a position to parent safely and effectively.

The problem is they are too over worked to do their job safely. That in combination with a health service that's similarly over stretched and a police service that's underfunded but also has attitude problems towards women, and there are problems

So let's say as a social worker I was holding around 28 children.
There are at least a couple in care proceedings and a couple more in pre proceedings. So assessments, reports, direct work with the kids, visits every week or two.
There are a few babies who live with their young mums who might have poor mental health and poor parenting skills and low income and a risky boyfriend on the periphery and they need a lot of support and maybe you're worried about the baby's development or whether the mum is actually getting up in the morning or just leaving baby in the cot all day. That's head space, meetings at least once a month each, visits as often as you can. Liaising with other services to figure out if this baby is safe and whether safe sleep is being followed and whether maybe theres a man in the house or drug use going on.
There will be a few kids who are living in a home where there is real nasty serious domestic abuse and you're responding to incidents and trying to help mum safeguard the kids and working with police and the idva and considering whether refuge is needed or whether the children need to come out and you're visiting the kids at school too so you can try to understand what's going on at home.
You might have a family where there is organised crime involvement and the windows have been shot at or the dad or older brother has been tied up and cut with a machete and no one will talk to you hut the Police Intel is that they aren't safe and that the dad or brother has done something meaning people are after him.
You definitely have a couple of parents who are addicted to drugs or alcohol and you need to visit in the evenings to make sure the children are safe and being cared for. You also have at least one family with very unsafe home conditions and you need to see them a lot and help them plan how to sort it snd respond to calls from school telling you the kids are hungry and dirty. Sometimes they have an injury and need a child protection medical.
You probably have a child who has experienced sexual abuse from a relative and the family need support and kindness. You will also have a couple of teenagers who are always missing and being located in risky situations, being criminally or sexually exploited, and maybe a mum or a teenage girl who is at risk of honour based abuse and you're trying to manage that safely.
Tell me more about how regularly you can knock on someone's door and how easy it is to work out what the truth is when they're hell bent on Lying to you. Yes sometimes social workers don't do enough but it's very rarely because of intelligence, commitment or basic training.

I remember the case at the time and the outcry about the professionals involved. I worked with children then and made referrals to children's services and attended child protection meetings etc. Whilst mistakes were obviously made by professionals, I remember trying to explain to friends at the time that some parents, like Peter's mother, can be very cunning and clever at covering up abuse. I feel very sorry for Social Workers. They have a very difficult job. They bear the brunt of public anger which is in most cases, misplaced. TikTok has videos made by parents who've had children removed, telling the world that social workers are evil and the children have been removed for nothing.

IIRC the social workers involved had tried to get Peter removed but the courts had not allowed. More than once, too. This is the bit I don't understand regarding the witch hunt for the SWs. What else are they supposed to do?
I started work in Haringey just as this was happening and remember the protests outside of the Civic Centre. People were rightly angry but I don't think they were angry with the right people.

More prevalent in deprived areas due to cycles of trauma and women who for a wide variety of reasons choose bad men.
More bad men also due to trauma and a range of other things.
Where I am based drugs are also a major issue.

I've often thought this, too. No-one blames the fire brigade when they fail to save lives in house fires caused by other people, and yet EVERYONE blames overworked and overwhelmed social workers (whose hands are often tied by legislation and procedure) when some nasty, abusive thug kills a child. It's totally unfair.

The doc wasn’t up to much, however you look at it. Incredibly and unusually in her profession, she had the integrity to resign.

As SS remind us, abuse happens in all classes and income levels.

The difference is that rich people can and do pay their way out of problems.

Uninterested mothers get nannies, drunk mothers get nannies, LD mummies get nannies, private schools refer their pupils to psych services so no Cahms fail (which SS get blamed for).

Men in work have an income that makes them less likely to look for a GF-with-a-house. Women in work sniff predatory losers a mile off.