AIBU to be furious that all the finger pointing in the Daniel Pelka case...

[PeriodFeatures]

Is being aimed towards the Head of Children Services and there is no mention of the Doctor that misdiagnosed this little boy with an eating disorder ? I mean FFS what kind of eating disorder leads a child to picking up food off a floor and scavenging in bins...

[meditrina]

Thanks!

I've just looked at the time line. He was seen by doctors whe his arm was broken. The (repeatedly cancelled) paed appointment was finally kept, less than a month before his death. At that appointment he was prescribed medicine for worms, and a referral was made for autism investigations.

[Tiggygirl]

The only people to blame are the mother and her boyfriend .After reading the texts they supposedly sent to each other where the mother said he was nearly unconscious after drowning in the bath and they didn't call emergency services ,says only one thing ,these people are pure evil .

[HeySoulSister]

In this case I can't believe it got past the school.... My ds is in same year. The teacher had such a close relationship with all my own dc at that age.... Seemed to know everything. I can't believe she saw him deteriorate this badly and didn't think something more serious was happening with him

[Sirzy]

The school did report concerns.

[IJustWoreMyTrenchcoat]

It seemed the teacher was very concerned and reported various things, but where was the impetus to take it further? How many times do concerns have to be noted before information is passed to Social Services or the police?

It's a very different subject but I read an article in the Guardian's Saturday magazine about sexual abuse of pupils by teachers, there is no legal obligation for a head teacher to report any suspicions brought to them. A newly qualified teacher talked of how she had concerns but had to go through the 'system' where the teacher she was worried about was one of the people she had to report concerns to. We need to make it easier to bypass the bureaucracy and protect vulnerable children.

My heart aches for that poor boy stealing food and then being punished by his mother when the teacher told her.

[itsnothingoriginal]

I agree the blame is of course squarely at the parents door.

What is sad is that the support services and particularly parenting support in primary schools has all been cut. If the school had concerns there would have been no service other than social services to go to. There is really a gaping hole where parenting support services like Barnardos used to be and this will only get worse with further cuts.

[IJustWoreMyTrenchcoat]

Don't get me started, either, on Social Services visiting the. Leaving without actually seeing the child which I saw on the news. Why does this not set alarm bells ringing?! A defensive mother, not being able to observe the child.

[PeriodFeatures]

I wonder how difficult it would be to introduce an emergency court order that any public body could request and then have a magistrate pull together school, social services and medical records to decide whether there is a concerning pattern amongst all the recorded evidence to issue social services with the power to gain access to a child as a first step rather than a last?

What a brilliant idea...I have never heard of anything like this. Although you would probably end up with a lot of leg work and not a lot of fruition. There must be a way of doing it. It would make all bodies accountable equally and responsible equally.

When i rule the world i'll put this in place. it shall be called iamsparklyknickers law.

Joking aside. I think it is more common than we know. Parents Fbricating health issues. John Bowlby wrote about it. He is a key theorist so it seems strange that there isn't specific training to manage these kinds of challenges. (Though perhaps there is?)

[Iamsparklyknickers]

Fair points about the interpreting. I think that's one of the aspects I find so harrowing about this case - that poor little boy didn't even have the option of being able to communicate with the people his mother was flaunting her abuse in front of.

I know 4 year olds aren't in a position to verbalise or to take on a parents bullying - but just the thought that if he could have made himself understood better he might have stood a slightly better chance.

It's all pie in the sky, it just stands out to me for for some reason.

[starrystarryknut]

As a teacher I just find all this astounding. We have endless compulsory INSETS about spotting abuse, talks from council 'experts' (complete with graphic and very distressing stories), lectures on case law history and Serious Case Reviews, dealing with EAL issues, etc etc. I would doubt any teacher would miss these signs (the INSET courses are very standardised), and the protocols for reporting are set in stone. Surely this is the case in the other involved professions? How could this even happen?

[Iamsparklyknickers]

I think there's lots of training - in practice though it's a massive thing to accuse someone of when there's always the possibility you're wrong.

Most of us can't even imagine what went through those peoples heads so it must be incredibly hard to not let yourself be persuaded by any plausible explanation you're given - I think it's quite a natural thing to hope for the most terrible possibility to be incorrect.

We tend to think that everyone thinks like we do, it's a huge hurdle to put aside and an even bigger thing to be the one to point the finger and take action on a hunch or evidence that has more than one possibility behind it.

[Lagoonablue]

How did the paed consultant just accept the explanation?

The case review will find a lack of joined up thinking. They always do. And poor communication between agencies. This is the case in nearly all serious case reviews.

[Justforlaughs]

I was just as annoyed at the father tbh, who left and went back to Poland (I think it was POland anyway) leaving his little boy with the mother and then blames social services for failing the boy. I'm sure they did, but so did his father. And as for his "mother" and that scumbag, don't get me started on what I would like to see happen to them

[Lagoonablue]

At the end of the day gut feeling counts for alot in safeguarding. i kI know they need evidence but I have trained staff in safeguarding issues and always suggest they follow their instinct.

[dumptytumpty]

Truely sickening and I hope they face a miserable existence in jail for the rest of their worthless lives.

[HeySoulSister]

Then why didn't the teacher push further? 'Reporting' does what? Sometimes you have to make things happen

[Iamsparklyknickers]

Lagoonblue poor communication - yes - but if the mother was convincing enough with her lies why would there be a push to liaise with other people?

I've just read a report detailing the neighbours of this family. They heard screaming during the nights and the boyfriend had threatened some of them. Should it be standard for social services to invite comment from all neighbours when they go to assess a family? I don't even know where to start on the objections people would have against that never mind the resources it would take up.

I agree with the notion that the blame lies squarely on her and her hideous boyfriends shoulders. I would just love to be able to spot a point that would stop any other child living the same abuse. Sadly I don't think that's something that'll ever happen. For every measure put in place a murderer will think of a way around it if they're determined.

[Snazzyenjoyingsummer]

It is very disheartening to think that with all the elaborate systems that are in place, still enquiries get stalled like this. It is of course hard to legislate against psychopaths (which is what the 'mother' and 'stepfather' are) because they are cunning and determined to do evil whatever obstacles there might be to it. But we can't just give up on that, even so.

However, when social services get more powers, I hope everyone inclined to moan about them overstepping the mark remember why that is the case. I bet they won't though.

[Snazzyenjoyingsummer]

I have had to stop reading any more reports on the case because it's just too upsetting. But reading sparklyknickers's post above, maybe we all have to be more prepared to report neighbours when stuff like this happens and looks suspicious.

[HeySoulSister]

Mothers convincing 'lies' !

Just can't get past the pictures of him healthy at the start of school year and then the way he must have looked ( 1 1/2 stone?) at time of death

His teacher saw him most days... How could she not see ? I don't get that bit

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

I heard a bit of the 999 call (on LBC Radio) that she made a full 36 hours after the head injury that was the final blow to Daniel.

It was traumatic to listen to - then you realise that her little boy had been suffering the head injury for that many hours before . She must has realised.
It is how calculated and callous she was/is.

[nettle1]

Yes the parents are to blame for the child's death for this terrible cruelty which ultimately led to Daniels death. But for gods sake the school didn't use their common sense. No report was made to the local authority despite the child's bruises, being terribly underweight and desperate for food. Did he have to wear a placard on his neck stating " my parents are starving me to death and beating me senseless"before his condition was taken seriously. The truth is had this been one of their children they would have done more. One teacher actually said on the justice for daniel pelka Facebook page that apart from taking him home there was nothing they could do. Bullshit. The teachers should be sacked. They are a disgrace and the paediatrician is incompetent to the worst degree. He didn't do his job properly. He relied on what the parents said. A child abuse expert? Really? He should know that parents on such cases manipulate and lie to cover their deceit and abuse. Its part of the game they play. Yet he trusted what they said. Had he not he wouldn't have prescribed worming tablets and not properly examined the child. He didnt even perform blood tests. where was the follow up? He should be struck off.he is partially to blame for daniels death and an example should b e made kf tbeae people. ...

[Lackedpunchesforever]

Where was his father in all of this ?

[HeySoulSister]

In their home country I believe. The parents were seperated

[JambalayaCodfishPie]

'He is partially to blame'

No.
The people who murdered him are to blame.