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AIBU?

To be incredulous that this little boy wasn't protected (warning - distressing news coverage)

251 replies

LEMisdisappointed · 31/07/2013 21:11

news article

I am so angry - yet another child tortured and murdered by his "parents". The school had written comments in the "concerns" book, yet still this poor little mite was starved and beaten systematically over a period of time. Do professionals become numb to childrens needs? Does no one check FFS????

My DD is a healthy child (thankfully) and never taken to the GP as she hardly ever gets sick, the only times she has been in the past few years are for injuries - nothing serious apart from biting through her tongue (ouchie), another time she burnt her hand and more recently a horse trod on her toe. The nurse commented that she was "accident prone" and asked if we had a social worker Fair enough actually, although DP was offended, although no follow up action taken. It looks worse i guess because they are the only notes on her medical record since she was a baby (shes 8 now). Everyone talks about "safeguarding" but it appears that they are just paying lip service to it and children are suffering either through unintentional neglect or willful cruelty.

I don't understand, after the whole Baby P thing that this can still slip through the net

OP posts:

Report

Binkyridesagain · 31/07/2013 22:00

This wasn't just a hungry kid, this was a child who was starving to death, how anyone failed to see this is beyond me.

thebody · 31/07/2013 22:00

LEMis, a cause for concern sheet is a document that any teacher/TA/ dinner supervisor can instigate and its a body of 'concerns' that could help build a picture of neglect/abuse.

the HT and senior management team review it regularly and report to SS if concerns are numerous and worrying.

this case beggars belief.

seriously basic child protection steps are looking in a lunch box or observing if a child steals food or seems really hungry.

think the fruit basket, normal kids take a price or not if they don't like. a hungry kid will take as many slices as they can and arnt choosy.

BrianButterfield · 31/07/2013 22:01

Who says they just assumed someone was doing something?

Sidge · 31/07/2013 22:03

If you read the back stories the school seem to have done the right things - they involved Children's Services, they referred onwards. The child was seen by a paediatrician and school nurse.

The poor boy was not only starved but was forced to drink salt to make him vomit, as well as being beaten and drowned. So even if the school had fed him (and some reports I read said they did) it wouldn't necessarily have helped. The parents were liars, devious and manipulative.

This is a tragic and hideous case - it will be interesting to see what the Serious Case Review concludes and I think it is prudent to wait for the outcome of that before slinging mud at the school staff and other agencies involved.

Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme · 31/07/2013 22:04

It's on the news now. There's a recording of his mother crying down the phone to the emergency operator.

Joanne279 · 31/07/2013 22:04

OMG Brian are you having a laugh? 'But if only what?'

THIS CHILD MIGHT STILL BE ALIVE!!!!!!!!'

Sorry op, I'm leaving this thread before I say snything rude to this man. Joke!

Rest in peace little one x

dontmeanto · 31/07/2013 22:04

Why would parents only single out one child for abuse? What is the psychological explanation behind this, does anyone know? His poor brother or sister, who witnessed all of this, will be traumatised for life.

McNewPants2013 · 31/07/2013 22:06

How the fuck could this has happend.

When Ds has any medical appointments, and he has had a lot every plan of action has been cc to every one in his care, this includes the school.

CocacolaMum · 31/07/2013 22:06

I knew this would be about Daniels case before I opened the thread. That poor baby was murdered and i am not sure that the teachers concerned will feel they did all they could but at the same time they are not to blame for his murder.

BrianButterfield · 31/07/2013 22:06

Can you tell me exactly what, step by step, a teacher could have done, and prove it didn't happen? Siege makes a good post - they did the RIGHT THINGS. it didn't work because the parents were cruel, violent murderers. It's easy to say "well, I would do..." but you don't actually know what anyone did.

Joanne279 · 31/07/2013 22:08

When a child dies its quite simple whst they did. NOT ENOUGH!

BrianButterfield · 31/07/2013 22:08

So what else should have happened?

shufflehopstep · 31/07/2013 22:10

I'm watching the news and am stunned. I can't imagine what was going through that woman's head. It's one thing to be so far removed from reality that you become a child abuser but on top of that, to do it to your own flesh and blood... My baby girl is the most precious thing in the world to me. I kept her safe for 9 months and then brought her into the world. I would lay down my own life before letting anything happen to her. What is wrong with some people?

It is so so sad.

exoticfruits · 31/07/2013 22:11

The depressing thing is that each time there is a dreadful case like this you think it must be the last, but then we get another. As we write this there will be some children suffering horrific, hidden, abuse.

spotscotch · 31/07/2013 22:11

Was he not having anything for lunch at school then, I don't understand?

Sidge · 31/07/2013 22:12

School staff are not social workers. Nor are they miracle workers who can just take home children who are not being treated appropriately by their parents.

There are procedures to follow, laws are in place. Children's Services are the people who can remove a child from it's parents and even then only with police and legal jurisdiction.

A lot of the posts on these threads are just speculation - we DON'T KNOW what went on behind the scenes, why poor Daniel wasn't removed, or reviewed more urgently. Until the SCR is published we WON'T KNOW if there were failings in the system. So IMO speculating as to how the school staff let Daniel down is inappropriate.

JackNoneReacher · 31/07/2013 22:13

It is heart breaking. I cant bear to read the details. Did his teacher ring the police when 'passing on concerns' didn't get results? If not does s/he sleep at night?

Joanne279 · 31/07/2013 22:13

The person who has the power to make that kind of decision should have stepped in and taken that child and his sibling away.

Are people thick enough to fall for the lies when the body of the child in front of you is telling z very different story?

This country is full of crappy red tape in more areas than this alone and it needs to be put right. Not next week. Not next year. Now!

No child deserves this. Someone somewhere knows it was them (at one stage) that had the power to help this child and they failed him.

Wellthen · 31/07/2013 22:13

This child's death lies with his mother and her partner. No one else.

Randomly pointing the finger at any adult with any contact with this child is disgusting behaviour. His teachers and social workers are grieving. Leave them alone.

scottishmummy · 31/07/2013 22:13

Appalling,such sustained violence,upon young boy
So sad
there will be serious case review

BridgetBidet · 31/07/2013 22:15

I read something about this case tonight that I read before.

The mother had told such convincing lies about his supposed eating disorder that she had even conned a hospital doctor. The little boy was being investigated for a hyper metabolism disorder because of what she had said. She was so plausible that even a consultant believed her.

She told them that he constantly ate yet never put on any weight and that he would eat food out of bins and discarded crisps off the floor despite being well fed already.

Given that the boy was under the treatment of the hospital for this faked illness and the mother would likely have been able to back up her claims as a result I'm not really sure what the school could have done. They thought that they were dealing with an eating disorder, not a child abuse case.

This was a plausible woman who was being backed up by members of the medical profession in her lies.

DanceLikeJohnTravoltaNow · 31/07/2013 22:15

I'm shocked at the physical reaction I've felt about this news story. It's an ache in the pit of my stomach. That poor poor boy, I wish something could have been done to help him.

I think of my DD asleep in her bed, and we are here in our comfortable home, and you just don't know what's happening outside your four walls. It's frightening.

BrianButterfield · 31/07/2013 22:16

Jack - as a classroom teacher when you pass on concerns you do not generally get to know the outcomes. Usually there are issues of confidentiality which mean you only get to find out tiny pieces of information, often long after the event. The class teacher would probably not know whether social services had been called or the results of any medical examinations. Calling the police would be way outside their authority.

indyandlara · 31/07/2013 22:16

I too have filled in Welfare Concern forms for far less. This whole case disgusts me. In Edinburgh we had the horrific case of Caleb Ness. If we haven't learned from these cases in the past when will we bu too have regularly fed kids, provided coats for winter etc. I would happily go over the HT's head if a child into class presented as this one had.

magimedi · 31/07/2013 22:16

Dear Lord - I am so saddened to read about this.

Did no one realise - WTAF is wrong that this could happen?

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