**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?

A red bruise would look like a birthmark especially if the consultant wasn’t aware of there being any other concerns

Well done was that all in child protection!! And do you disagree with me that the services are massively stretched and underfunded

I just can't believe they did this in such a short space of time. How violent, how full of violent rage must you be that you could murder a 24 day old baby? I feel like they should never be released from prison, they must be a danger to society?

OP next time trying reading the whole article.

As another poster pointed out, the timeline on the bottom clearly shows that he was not admitted to hospital on three occasions. It has been pointed out to you so many times that he did not go to hospital three times, yet you still continue to claim he did.

I see nothing that points to social workers failing Stanley. The only ones who failed him here are his 'parents'.

@Maldives2006 of course the services are stretched. The pleading that goes on to squeeze any money out of the council is laughable wherever you work

Disgusting. What a beautiful little boy, may he rest in peace. And may the inhumane bastards that did this rot in hell.

Have to admit this story is haunting my thoughts.

What is the reason that they did it? Was it the partner? I mean - was she too scared of the partner's violence to protect the child, or did she actually not care if he was beating up her tiny son?

Did the partner say he had mental health problems, and then took cocaine?

The safety net is not only one layer deep, surely?

I'm afraid it is, and the holes in the net are getting bigger by the day.

As more and more councils cut their services to the bare minimum because of cuts in the funding they get from central government, and more and more SWs leave the profession or move away from child protection work because of the dangers of ending up on the wrong end of a serious case review, it will get worse.

Still, this is what people voted for.

Also the press rarely talk about how much slack the children's centres pick up with ss. They do loads of outreach and pre birth assessments plus attend all the meetings as partner agencies - another service torrid would shelve altogether ifvthey could!!

No I don't expect that one envelope to make a difference but it is not essential to send out piles of letters in printed (costly) envelopes when people are suffering. Bundles of silly envelopes is just an example of the wastefulness.

A lot of letters are automatically generated and enveloped. It may well cost more to have a human sort them and decide which ones go in the same envelope than to send out separate envelopes automatically.

I thought we now were trying harder to safeguard against human fallibility by having stronger guidelines/procedures so that the fallibility of just one or two people doesn't have such a tragic outcome.

We can have all the guidelines/procedures you like, but if there aren't enough staff to follow them, they won't get followed.

Even if a referral had been made by the hospital, the case would still have had to be allocated to a SW who had capacity to devote the required amount of time to it. In most CP teams, staff are working over capacity almost all the time. How are they supposed to decide which case to put on the back burner so they can deal with the latest referral?

And then if that case turns out to be the one where something dreadful happens, they're hung out to dry and vilified in the media.

I wouldn't be a CP SW for £100k a year, and I can assure you, they get nothing like that much!

Also the press rarely talk about how much slack the children's centres pick up with ss. They do loads of outreach and pre birth assessments plus attend all the meetings as partner agencies - another service torrid would shelve altogether ifvthey could!!

But they've been subject to massive cuts, too, especially in rural areas. Here, many have closed completely and the ones that are still open have had their hours and staff reduced significantly.

It's so depressing, the combination of Sure Start and children's centres made a massive difference to families under pressure.

Obviously lots more will come out abou this case in time but from what we know police had been to their house on more than one occasion. A referral will most likely have been made to children’s services due to this. But children’s services get so many referrals due to domestic violence, they can’t swoop in and remove all children who have been reported to them.

Exactly and expected to work above and beyond at the detriment of their own families. Social Workers are leaving in droves and LAs cannot recruit because it is so totally shit atm.

That, very sadly, does not surprise me at all. It was appalling when I worked there but I know that that was just the tip of the iceberg compared to how it must be now - both in terms of the funding and the problems experienced by children; they were hellish when I did it and I'm sure are worse now - in terms of numbers if nothing else.

@LakieLady about £35k

He wasn't in hospital thrice, the injuries were from 3 attacks.

Poor mite

Tbh unless anything flagged up at the midwife appointments when Stanley’s mother was pregnant and was subsequently reported, I’m not sure if his death could have been prevented. And people lie. He died at 24 days old, in my own experience with social care even an “emergency” situation can take days or weeks to actually get a visit from social workers or any other action, I assume because there just isn’t enough of them to go around, as many on this thread have confirmed. Even then they can’t just swoop in and take the child there and then they have to apply for an order in court and again that requires time and a lot of detailed paperwork to make their case.

Social services fuck up sometimes (as do other agencies) but from what I’ve read I doubt that anyone but the mum and her boyfriend are to blame for poor Stanley’s death.

queen less than 35k in many places. My LA starts at 28 and goes up to about 33.

31 sorry not 33

Only senior social workers (more complex caseload and responsibility for supervising other staff) would be on £35k in my local authority.

Bog standard social workers are on £27-34k.

With all the extra unpaid hours its works out more like 20- 24k - I've worked it out!

SWs must work really hard to ensure that risks are identified and safety plans are established for children where necessary.

More SW’s and more funding will help early detection and prevention. This will reduce the likelihood of child maltreatment and reduce the number of child homicides.

But the devastating truth is that one child every 10days dies at the hands of their guardians in England and Wales.

There has and will always be violent criminals that will go to any lengths to hurt and abuse a child. If crime will always exist then children will always be at risk of harm and death.

Thinking another child will not die is like thinking there will be world peace. The best we can do is try.

In my op I said "if I am reading the reporting correctly

And you were told repeatedly you were not but continued to say the same thing.

@Threadastaire

I work with a few who have made the jump and they say they are happier but I dont think that stretches to happy .

Thanks Tess
Tbh there's daft but real benefits to me - working with children means my visits are crammed in 4pm-6pm so even though as a whole my day might not be that stressful, I go home feeling disproportionately stressed - the end of my day is the busiest part, most emotional, and always finishing at variable times and locations is wearing.

That said, once I make the move I doubt I'll go back so iv probably got a few more years left in this sector first!