**Trigger Warning** Title edited by MNHQ Very distressing news story about murder of 24 day old baby

[A580Hojas]

Aibu to not comprehend how it can be possible that newborn baby Stanley Davies, who had been in hospital on 3 occasions with broken ribs and limbs (if I am reading the reporting correctly) was sent back home with his parents and not removed from them by Social Services? I just cannot fathom how that could happen.

Someone is guilty of failing massively in their duty of care here (I refer to the professionals, not his parents). Unless any more knowledgeable Mumsnetters can explain to me how this might have happened?

The news report I read said he had been in on 3 occasions before his final admission and that is what I was basing my question on.

@usernumbers Samuel was less than a month old when he died. The reports seem to indicate that he went to hospital once and the assessment was not conclusive NAI. This pair killed him so very quickly, the time to gather the evidence just wasn't there.

Usernumbers1234

1- He didn't live even one month so nothing happened over "months".

2- We don't know that a safeguarding referral was put in prior to his last admission. Social workers can't prioritise what they don't know about.

A580Hojas

Are you at all going to acknowledge that the crux of your posts (that he attended A+E 3 times in 3 weeks) is baseless?

It's like you two have created your own story in your head to comment on. It's weird and more than a bit distasteful.

I think we do have to have an accountable child protection system, yes

We do. Which part of the system do you think isn't accountable?
There will be a serious case review into samuel's death which you will be able to read in due course

A580Hojas

Do you fancy linking it at all?

user there are kids in every local authority in this risk range. Don’t be so naive. Why do you think SS remove at birth? For shits and giggles?

And how are we meant to even know about kids like Stanley if nothing is reported to us. Which is what it seems happens in this case.

A580Hojas

He didn’t go to hospital with injuries

He was born , went home and with a very short time frame was murdered

How can a worker predict or prevent that exactly ???????

@notanotman we're the same, had 1-2 vacancies in house for months, and only ever for babies. Few foster carers want over 5s.

@tess, as the above poster said we can always argue there's no point moving the settled ones as when in house carers come up there'll be a new queue of children with a more urgent need to be placed. Plus there's a useful bit of stat guidance we can use to defend at panel if we feel the placement is the right one, even if expensive - sufficiency regulations. Doesn't make us popular with managers but needs must. Though if it was a poor match in the first place (expensive doesn't always mean best for that child, and expensive doesn't always mean quality - Cambian scandal attests to that) sometimes grounds to move is a good thing.

MardyArabella

Yeah I remember going to a conference (a really crap one) and sitting in on Fostering Solutions "lecture". I timed it, it was 45 minutes before they said the word child or any variation.

All the providers I work with are private companies, it's soul destroying.

@tess the difference between child foster placements and adult care placements is that for many children you are looking for a long term home and for them to form attachments to the carers. To move a child for financial reasons when it's a good match and offers a good chance of long term stability is ethically indefensible.

Ethically indefensible until they reach 18 and then are considered be blocking if the carers decide to follow the staying put route.

the difference between child foster placements and adult care placements is that for many children you are looking for a long term home and for them to form attachments to the carers

I don't know why you think that is different for adults. It's exactly the same.

The process is the same as well from what Thread and Mardy have said.

Christ. That poor poor baby.

Thank you to all the social workers on this thread breaking their backs to prevent things like this. It's an intractable situation without easy solutions, however much some posters would like to imagine it could all be solved by taking children into care/for adoption if their parent so much as looks at them the wrong way, or by saving money on envelopes (FFS).

When a child is at risk from their parents there are no good choices, only the best of your bad options, and I wouldn't sleep at night if I was the one who had to make those calls. I don't believe in God, but if he did exist you guys would be doing his work. And getting shat all over for the privilege by ignorant sentimentalists and the trash media.

I will do what little I can and keep on voting for governments that priorities the social contract, and value the work of those who make a difference in people's lives. And keeping my eyes open and reporting any harm I think is being done - as PP above said, SS are not psychic or omnipresent, they rely on all of us refusing to turn a blind eye because it's awkward or 'not our business' to take action.

The Daily Mail reported yesterday that he was admitted to hospital on 3 separate occasions with broken ribs and limbs. I can't link or c&p as I'm on my phone. I just googled and the story is still there.

Actually there is a huge difference, we are means tested so if the person has capacity we can label it as "their choice" and charge the extra expense to them. Although, of course, they often can't pay it so then they "choose" to move. If they lack capacity we can do the same thing only it's "family choice" but we have a fighting chance of arguing the case in those circumstances which is what I was thinking of.

I’ll take the other reports over the Daily Mail thanks.

He had also been admitted to Portsmouth's Queen Alexandra Hospital for 32 rib fractures and nine more to his arms and legs on three other occasions

I assume you mean this which is a really poorly written sentence and (deliberately) ambiguous. From everything else I have read it means the injuries were cause on three separate occasions.

It's worth noting The Mail do a time line on the end with only one trip to hospital on there (the one that ended in his death).

So can you stop saying it now?

Cheers.

If the county only had one social worker to cover all cases, this case should have been prioritised over all others. I refuse to believe there are dozens of children in every county council in the same risk range, so it’s not a resourcing problem, it’s a problem with identifying risk and responding.

I can't work out whether this is naive or ignorant... what a wonderful word you live in where you believe there's no other children at this level of risk!

@namestheyareachangin and other posters in the thread who have looked at this rationally and not got the pitchforks out, thank you.
We're thick skinned and don't claim to get it right all the time but people being realistic about what we can do and allowing us to be human is appreciated.

@tess I keep debating about making the move to adult social work (it was what I originally trained to do, from being a care worker) but your posts are reminding me grass isn't always greener!

If I remember correctly the rates in the UK of deaths/murders of children at the hands of their parents or carers currently stands at around 1 death per week.

We only hear about a tiny minority of these deaths in the mainstream media, and usually quite some time after they actually happened.

This isn't as rare as people would hope, and it's very difficult to predict.

There will be thousands of parents reported to social services by police due to concerns about substance use and domestic violence. How do you determine which of those will just need a child in need plan and a family support worker and which are going to so seriously harm their newborn baby that he dies when he is 24 days old?

@HammerHorror and the poster you quoted - naive doesn't cover it does it!!!

You can find out at any given time how many children are on cp plans in your local authority. We respond to freedom of information act enquiries quote often. Based on my case load which is about 25, about a 3rd if those are children on cp which means risk of significant harm according to the legal definition. My other cases are made up of CIN, supervision orders and looked after children. There are 8 teams in my service or about 7/8 full time posts. That would make 466 children subject to cp as an average and post conference as that is the intake point.
Doesn't take into account cin cases on the verge of cp - I might be waiting for a strategy for some or new cases held in the front line assessment team though that will be less.

Are you going to train as a social worker or apply to be a foster carer then because this is a huge part of the problem. There is a huge shortage of both the average life span of a child protection social worker is 18 months before they are burnt out and have to do something else.

That poor baby was murdered by his evil parents this should be a wake up call to invest massively in social care and fostering service it’s the only way to reduce this from happening.

But my la is a unitary authority so not the largest.
Also for clarity my/our Looked after children held in my service are looked after because they are in proceedings - meaning the child protection plan was breached and the children have been removed.

Tessliketrees

Why are you being so snippy? In my op I said "if I am reading the reporting correctly". If what was meant is that he had been injured on three separate occasions but only admitted to hospital once then yes that sentence is criminally poorly written. It may well be a rag but it is a mainstream newspaper with a huge circulation that does employ professional editors and so one should be able to expect a degree of accuracy in their factual reporting. We won't get started on their bias or their politics or their agenda.

So yes I will stop saying it now. Can you check yourself for rudeness? Cheers.

@Maldives2006 the average career span of a social worker is 7 years. I've done 10 nearly!