Child protection is EVERYONES business

[Absofrigginlootly]

I see it on here all the time

"Mind your own business"
"It's nothing to do with you. Get a life"
"There's nothing you can do about it anyway"

Child protection is EVERYONE'S business.

Just read this story from the BBC and thought I would start a thread just to highlight the issue.

Maybe (hopefully?) it will make people stop and think before they turn the other way and mind their own business???

Child sexual exploitation: How the system failed
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-43400336

"I was also going to the doctor and the youth sexual health clinic a couple of times a week for three years and getting the morning-after pill."
"Nobody asked any questions."
"I had two abortions and again, no questions were asked as to what was going on in my life."

Heartbreaking. And a complete and utter failure of all these health care professionals

"It is never the responsibility of a child to keep themselves safe; the blame lies with the perpetrator."
"As adults, it's our responsibility to spot the signs and take action to safeguard children, not rely on children to tell us they are being abused."

Hopefully this is a clicky link:

www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-43400336

Yes, it is. But also sometimes you need to mind your own business, sometimes you should keep your nose out.

Child protection does not mean that everything any parent does is your business. You need to know the difference.

Oh goodness it's started already

here on mn i see more of posters urging people to report to be honest!

I agree with side. We see threads on here where it is just a parenting style that is no ones business and people should mind their own business.

You can’t have a blanket policy.

Yes because I said we all have a right to know "everything that any parent does"

Obviously I'm talking about red flags here

What has started already?

The "mind your own business" comments

I do agree but I also do think it depends on the situation, if we reported every little thing then valuable time could be wasted, I think you have to be really sure and have good reason to report things.

Thought AIBU was under a tsunami of call 101 / report to SS frothing gush usually.

I think we are on crossed wires. Clearly child sexual exploitation is everyone’s business but most threads on here are about dirty kids clothes and food. That’s clearly a different issue and not always a child proctection one.

I usually see more 'report' posts. Even when it's extremely unlikely to meet threshold for CYPSS.

The 'mind your business' comments are because not everything IS your business. The idea that child protection is everyone's responsibility isn't the same thing as 'no one is entitled to any privacy' or 'feel free to go snooping'.

I'm talking about red flags. Clearly the situation of child sexual exploitation wouldn't be so widespread and endemic if people/HCPs/Police/SS were acting to protect children appropriately.

There is a long standing "culture" of denying and minimizing child abuse in this country

Yanbu to say that child protection is everyone's business. I do think though that some people don't understand what they should actually be reporting and do waste time that could be better spent elsewhere. But I think that it's important people report things even when they are unsure because in general people are not qualified to decide what is extreme enough to report and it's better that decision is made by the qualified people. Leaving things too long to make sure you are certain can lead to abuse continuing way past a point where something could have first been done to help.

There also needs to be severe comuppance for repeat Malicious claims from bitter timewasters. (The Police can trace them but it costs).

The thing is, there's that grey area where people feel they'll be judged for being nosy or overstepping the mark if they do involve themselves, so they're naturally wary. And most of us want to believe in the goodness of people, so we naturally err on the "they'd never let that happen" side of things.

For what it's worth, though, I agree completely. I work in a school in a beautiful little middle-class village with lots of genuinely marvellous parents and families. But I've been horrified on occasion with things that have gone on behind those closed doors because it's a fact that no matter the income bracket or education level, abuse happens. When I first began to teach it was somewhat of a shock to me to discover that children with lovely-looking lives were just as likely to experience abuse as any others.

It just horrifies and terrifies me. I can't believe how we let our children down.

I have a friend who is a (fairly) senior police officer and I asked her opinion on why it took so long for Rotherham to come to light. She was pretty laid back in response which surprised me and said "they just didn't know how to classify it it was a new type of crime" as far as I'm concerned it was still rape. I didn't know that was new?

It brings up the whole issue of consent and that we need to be teaching that at a whole new level because clearly people just don't understand which is beyond ridiculous.

It's pretty offensive of you to use the instances of "mind your own business" as if they are people ignoring serious abuse. When actually they are the correct answer to questions like "should I call the police when my neighbour leaves her baby in the car for 3 mins" and shit like that.

i think red flags are spotted and acted on quite a lot anyway op.....if a teen wants to hide something then they will do! nd they do it well!!

do you have teenagers too?

Right, so if there are genuinely me red flags, don't 'mind your own business'. Otherwise, don't. And learn to tell the difference and react proportionately.

Sorry, otherwise don't get involved.

sideways sorry I didn't mean to offend. I've been on several threads in the past that are discussing serious types of abuse (sexual and alcohol abuse inutero) and there were many many "you're being hysterical, mind your own business" comments

jassmells your friend isn’t laid back, she is just plain wrong. Legislations may have cha ged over the years but generaly speaking the offences were always contained within legislation or common law.

How senior is she out of interest?

Absolutely agree it’s our duty to report

But of course some will defend their decisions to turn a blind eye with excuses like well we have only seen a snapshot who knows what really goes on

I was told when I interfered once on a discussion on here that I probably made it worse for that child becuase I said something to their poor excuse of a mother yes I should have ignored her threatening to punch him him and grabbing him roughly after all she may have had a bad day