One of the saddest stories in a long time TW: Neglect/child death

[Perjo]

I read this this morning and it has to be one of the saddest, most avoidable child deaths I've read about in a long time. Especially where it says he was still alive on January 2nd.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/47b4c6b2-673d-4c43-8ef0-b8ba05c47f0a?shareToken=39b0f7f8b3c90882aca021214db91159

@Twonewcats no, they are bruises.

Charles Bronson

Of all the boy's names available , why would you pick this one?

Yes they can.

The police are the only agency with power to enter a property. Another professional (SW) calling to say that they are concerned about a vulnerable child is absolutely cause for police to gain entry.

No way is the the fault of social services or the police.

The mother has a picture of Tom Hardy in the title role in the film Bronson (about the notorious prisoner) on one of her umpteen Facebook accounts.

If the cases are more frequent I would think its more complicated than people simply not doing their jobs properly.
Firstly multiple services and agencies (surestart, health visitors, CAHMs, adult MH, social services , police etc) have been underfunded and cut to the bone so they are spread too thin, or harder to access as well as people potentially living more isolated/insular lives that they don't necessarily have a support network from friends/neighbours/family , before you get to social service intervention.

In this instance it seems the SW was the only person concerned enough to raise an alarm after not seeing, hearing or speaking to the family for a week.

How do you know that though? As they also look like dirty marks?

The poor soul, i can't stop thinking about him

A neighbour in the same building has stated that they made a report to the NSPCC over the holiday as the father could often be heard 'having a go' at the child at night, and Bronson could be heard crying through the night. It gets worse

If social services had to remove every child due to a parent shouting at them and/or them having medical conditions then half the population would be in care. The threshold of what is deemed "good enough" parenting is very low.

I'm not saying this isn't tragic and I'm actually shedding tears over poor little Bronson this morning. But I have numerous health issues, and I have lost my rag with the kids on occasion. I'd hate to think they would be removed on this basis as they are my entire world and I do everything I'm capable of and constantly striving to be a better parent to them.

I do wonder why the social worker didn’t chase up the welfare check with the police (maybe she did?) as it was days before she gained entry. I am sure she was concerned on the first day and must have been wondering where the little boy was that night and the next day.

I was a safeguarding officer in a school for some time and you do have to check and chase things up in some circumstances. I said earlier in the thread I have always found the police to respond quickly to requests for a welfare check although a pp said times have changed. A family member of mine had a welfare check this week. The police turned up within an hour and took the person straight to hospital.

@Singingasong she did chase up the police when they failed to attend after her first call.

DM article. Nspcc now in the frame. Wouldn't they (nspcc) be required to report something like that to social services?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12979553/amp/police-watchdog-investigate-missed-opportunities-bronson-battersby.html

The only people who come out of this with any credit are the neighbour/(s) and the social worker.

I see from one of her numerous Facebook profiles that the mother was posting about a new relationship in September 2023. Guess that was more important than seeing her 2 year old from her previous relationship.

I wonder if anyone will investigate her role. It beggars belief that she lived 10 minutes away and hadn't seen Bronson for weeks.

Did I read in the Mail article that the day after the discovery thieves broke on and stole the dads wallet? It is all just awful.

So the police didn't even secure the crime scene.

Eh? Not a fan of the police, but this is not a crime scene - its the site of an awful, tragic accident. Unless someone actually murdered the dad. So why would it be secured?

Eh? Not a fan of the police, but this is not a crime scene - its the site of an awful, tragic accident. Unless someone actually murdered the dad. So why would it be secured?

Hindsight is great - we know the causes of death now. That wasn't known at the time though. Two dead bodies. It could have been poisoning, suffocation, carbon monoxide. It absolutely should have been treated as a crime scene.

I know the social worker chased it up but surely later that day and the next day she was concerned and could have rung the police again to ask if they had attended the house and what was the outcome.

How do you know it wasnt treated as a crime scene until someone said it was a natural death? Or that they were not able to rule out carbon monoxide etc quickly? Plenty of people die at home and the houses are not treated as crime scenes. In this situation, the tragedy is that it was not only the dad who died.

Maybe the NSPCC did inform social services which is why the SW notified the police on their first visit...rather than assume there was no one in or they had forgotten the appointment?

His half sister (sharing a father) has suggested that she doesn't think social care or the police are to blame.

Bronson Battersby’s sister: social services not to blame for death

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/1d356f8a-ff32-4ecc-b29a-18bc762cb4f2?shareToken=d6bdf261ea1608177d6ca10279f5a770

SS are the only ones clear of blame here

@Singingasong i mean, we don’t know that she didn’t. She seems like she went above and beyond getting the key. Imagine the outrage from the family if SS had let themselves in and everything was fine. Plus her workload, lots of people miss/dodge appointments so hard to keep on top of it really.
I’m not surprised NSPCC didn’t act quicker if it was “just” shouting. Like someone else said, the bar for parenting is painfully low not least because there is no where else for these poor kids to go.
I hope the SW is doing ok.

@Citrusandginger This lady seems sensible and measured. In, such difficult and tragic circumstances.