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

[LEMisdisappointed]

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

[Goldenbear]

An overhaul of the system, making it a more holistic one, where the agents involved work together competently to investigate a crime against a child would be a start. Children being the PRIORITY not adults. Criminalising ALL corporal punishment. There are loads of changes that could be made but this country is under the delluded impression that it is 'child centric'! Yes so child centric that we have one of the lowest ages of 'criminal responsibility' in Europe and yet we do not protect them from the crime of 'assault' until they are 18!

[cazzybabs]

to be far to SS they are underpaid and over worked and have legal guideline to work within! Removing them from the system would not help!

[AudrinaAdare]

I fed children very surreptitiously, Giant. I went without lunch and also let them keep pesky change they found when tidying my desk drawer. But yes, I would have been reprimanded and then sacked when I refused to stop doing it. Luckily people like me left the profession and will never return to it.

[Goldenbear]

Cazzybabs, it is not about 'hindsight', if it it is written off as hindsight then there is no accountability, nothing changes. It is quite clear that incompetence or flaws in the system are at fault. Criminals generally are 'liars', surely it is a prerequisite of anyone involved in an investigative process to understand that 'all maybe not as it seems'?

[nancerama]

That poor little boy. He went through so much in his short life. It's made me give my boy an extra big hug and kiss tonight.

I don't know what the answer is. These things should never ever happen, but in cases like this our anger is so often directed away from the perpetrators and towards those who probably tried to protect this little boy.

I started my training as a primary school teacher, but dropped out in my final year. During my training placements I encountered so many children who were troubled, neglected and abused. They turned up at school hungry and dirty. I was too young to handle it - I met these children and wanted to help, but there was very little I was permitted or able to do. Who knows how young and inexperienced the people who he encountered were? Who knows if their training and support was enough? I was only 21 years old and I found it tough enough on teaching placements - imagine dealing with this day in day out for years.

The children don't know how to ask for help (indeed many don't even know they need help - if they have only ever lived one kind of life, they see it as normal. The adults who are supposed to help are constrained by red tape and there are simply to many agencies involved. Information spends too much time being passed around and not enough time being acted on.

[cazzybabs]

To be far reading daily mail newspaper accounts it does sound like he had lunch at school just nothing else and his evil step dad made him do military exercises

[cazzybabs]

Goldenbear - that may be but we are judging without knowing the full facts! And I disagree about hindsight plus our whole legal system works on innocent till proven guilty!

[cazzybabs]

personally I think there will always be cases like this! children hidden from the system, parents who lie convincingly - I wish I didn't think this but I do!

[cazzybabs]

also whilst I am on a roll - what about neighbours of the child - surely they must have noticed / heard something!

[thebody]

I am actually fantasising about how these bastards will be treated in prison.

[Goldenbear]

The court case has been reported on since the start so we do know quite a lot of the back story to this.

[Goldenbear]

FFS he wasn't 'hidden' from the system, how explicit do outward signs of abuse have to be before someone becomes 'unhidden'!!?

[Goldenbear]

There was major incompetence and that is the reason it is headline news.

[SaucyJack]

The school were told that he had a serious medical condition and his mother had letters from a doctor to say it was under investigation. Of course they weren't going to feed him on the sly or let him steal from his classmates' lunchboxes. They thought they were doing the right thing.

[GiantHaystacks]

@SaucyJack - I think that is one of the cruellest things about this case; the parents lied to make the school complicit in Daniel's torture. I also heard that the mother's boyfriend felt Daniel's stomach to make sure he hadn't eaten too much at school. The thing that makes me most sick is that they bribed the poor thing with the promise of a chocolate bar to make him lie to doctors and teachers. When I think about the poor thing keeping quiet about the abuse because a chocolate bar meant so much to him I could weep.

[DoubleLifeIsALifeHalved]

The poor child, it's horrifying and so so sad.

I don't think we can say what really happened, as we don't have all the facts either way.

I can imagine errors happening, but we can't say really.

In systems that are not working, people can become very distant and uncaring as they feel powerless to affect a positive change. i can imagine how people could go through the motions of their job without picking up on the signals that would have shown how dangerous these people are. this wouldn't be one persons fault, an institutional problem I can well imagine.

But anyway, im thinking out loud, I don't think ss works well, but I don't know if improving it would have caught this tragedy before it happened. Truly evil people are hard to stop.

[Chigertick]

This case has really made me feel so sad. I can't understand a mother not wanting to nurture her child.

With regard to the "failures" of the professionals involved - there does need to be a real overhaul of communication.

Since having my own children and their need to be referred to a consultant I discovered that the only information ( following the initial referral) came from me and dh. So info about illness etc - there was no request of information from elsewhere. It would have been very easy to look up information and give this to the dr to be followed up with tests etc etc
Just as all the information (if any) the HVs have is kept in the red book, same for midwives - there's no central place to bring together this information.(And all too often it seems that it is the bigger picture that needs to be looked at)

In my job I deal with children going for statements and again, despite the evidence that we need to work together HCPs in particular are not very good/happy/willing to do so.

Not sure what the answer is but there must be one? Although, very sadly, its too late for this little one

[theluckiest]

I find this case deeply distressing and unbelievably awful. That poor child.

Daniel's mother and her partner were cruel, nasty, manipulative and devious liars as well as sadistic torturers. They tried to cover their tracks and no one would ever have believed the extent of their cruelty.

Concerns were raised but who would honestly have believed the extent of their depravation? I cannot imagine how distressed I would be had I raised concerns and followed the correct channels, thought the case was being followed up and then this was the outcome.

Is anyone else concerned that the Every Child Matters agenda which was brought about following the equally horrific case of Victoria Climbie has been quietly scrapped, sidelined and funding pulled? OK, it wasn't perfect by any means but any scheme which attempts to implement a safety net between schools, SS and other agencies, for these incredibly vulnerable kids must be worth something surely?

So that we don't have to read about these bloody awful cases ever, ever again.

[susiedaisy]

I can't get that poor little chap out of my head, its so so sad!

[Goldenbear]

Yes as I said up thread, he was given half a sandwich for packed lunch, the mother told the school that he had an 'insatiable appetite' and there was a letter from a Doctor saying it was being investigated. However, that is not a letter stating categorically he had an official diagnosed health problem. The physical evidence of half a sandwich and his ravenous behaviour should've rung big fucking alarm bells but it didn't- there is no doubt this child was failed by the different agencies.

Equally, the Mother missed 3 appointments to rectify the problem of his emaciation - again, why wasn't this reported?

The School Nurse visited the home but didn't see him - again, not good enough.

This poor, poor, child - this was preventable.

[thebody]

they exchanged text messages between each other disgusting how they would abusers him.

can't get that out if my head.

[thebody]

evil evil fuckers.

[countingmyblessings]

Too right it was preventable. Why didn't the hv have a quick nose upstairs? Why? Why? Why? I'm so distressed about this case.

[chubbychipmonk]

I am actually still awake because I can't sleep for thinking about this poor beautiful little boy.

I have no words to describe his patents that adequately describe the depth of my repulsion toward them.

It's times like this when I'm glad of my religious faith & believe in heaven because I'd like to think he's safe there now & not suffering anymore.

May he find peace at last & may his 'parents' rot in hell for all eternity.