To think what the hell is going on with all the child murders at the moment

[Belle82]

I’ve had to turn my Facebook news tab off recently, as it became a bit of a running theme that I would go on there and look at news after LO went down. I know it works on an algorithm so because I opened one of these stories it’s going to pull up more in my feed.

But I am not exaggerating when I say there was at least one case of a child being murdered or left to die accidentally or by neglect once a week for the last 6/7 weeks.
Most of these cases were at the hands of their parents / step parents.

I know people suffer from mental health, I suffered from it very badly when my little girl was born.

But what is going on, there have been around 10 cases very recently and it is so disturbing.
Sorry, it’s kind of shaken me and angers me so much for these little children when they only deserved to be loved.

I wrote a uni essay in 2009 that led with the death of a child a week from murder or manslaughter. I forget the exact detail - but my point is, this is nothing new 😕

From what I have heard about two murder cases locally (one involving several children) it is due to entitled men who think they are 'owed'. My information is from local knowledge not what is reported in the papers.

I'm surprised it's not more, the amount of pressure some people and families must be under at the moment is off the chart.

@DrManhattan

I'm surprised it's not more, the amount of pressure some people and families must be under at the moment is off the chart.

I said this on a similar thread and got flamed to bits but I really think it’s true. Families who are already at breaking point have been pushed beyond that.

I work in safeguarding. This is not suddenly a new thing. Sadly children are killed or allowed to die far more often than the general public know about. The algorithm is simply alerting you to it more because that's how algorithms works. Stop clicking on those articles and they'll eventually stop showing up for you but that doesn't change a thing for the children they're about.

I think it will increase as with everything in times of stress. As the economy plummets people will struggle more.

The cruelty and neglect is unimaginable to most of us but it has always happened.

It's normal, nothing new. You only need to look at Victorian newspapers to see that, if anything, more children were murdered than they are now. Children get murdered every week, always have, always will. The difference nowadays is that the murders get greater coverage. Pre-social media, pre-internet, only the most unusual or extreme cases came to public attention. Nowadays every single murder seems to be publicised and makes the problem look worse than it is. It's really nothing to worry about (other than the obvious).

The Serious Case Reviews are posted online and the sad thing is many many children die and it barely makes the news.

Sadly always been the guess but I'd guess all the people struggling with stress from lockdowns, financial worries etc doesnt help. There are some people who are always inches from breaking and right now there are probably a lot of things pushing them.

I don't think internet/social media helps. It makes violent media easily available, so you have kids growing up who've seen things they shouldnt, it messes with their heads long term.

I think part of the problem is we are conditioned to see the UK as a civilised and advanced society. It probably was once but it isn't any more so when things like this happen, we are shocked,

There are many of these cases and they just don't make the news, or if they do it's the local news.

I read Sharon Shoesmith's book about Baby P awhile ago and one of the things she talks about is why it was that the Baby P case was such a famous case compared to other child deaths that happen every week. I didn't necessarily agree with everything but it was an interesting read and made me think about why we may focus on certain cases and not others

Mental health problems are on the rise I guess.

The latest one I can’t even read about, it’s too horrendous.

@DrManhattan

I'm surprised it's not more, the amount of pressure some people and families must be under at the moment is off the chart.

Funny (not) how the blokes so often survive, but the women and children are killed.

It's like a form of terrorism. It is terrorism, against children and against women.

It’s not new. I think 2 children a week are killed by their parents or care givers and have been forever.
I read something when Sarah Everard was killed about how the most at risk group from homicide in the U.K. are under 12 months

There was another horrible one in the papers recently where a Mum murdered her 3 children after they’d all been stuck in quarantine for 14 days after a move from New Zealand to South Africa. I know it’s always happened but there really does seem to be an awful lot of these things being reported at the moment.

This one-
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/children-murder-new-zealand-south-africa-b1921905.html%3famp

It’s not new. As pp says, if you click on stories like that, you’re telling sites that that’s what you want to read, and they’ll serve up more of the same. Stories that make headlines, whether print or digital, are chosen because they drive sales/traffic and people always ‘like’ (wrong word but it’s early) to read horrible, shocking stories.

I'm surprised it's not more, the amount of pressure some people and families must be under at the moment is off the chart.

I think that will be a factor, another is the sharp reduction in where people who aren't coping can send their kids.

Something my mother did was send my siblings and I to our grandparents and clubs and camps and just basically out of things as much as she could. Even before COVID, I think those were shrinking for a lot of people and of course since, it's been disastrous both in fewer of them and the already increasing costs, among other factors.

As others said, it's always been a thing. The most risky person for a child is often the person caring for them, much as in the rest of nature where the riskiest thing for many baby animals is often their own mother. But I do think on a society level, as much as safeguarding has improved in many ways since I was almost a stat, things are getting harder for kids at risk as typical parent coping strategies are reduced.

A quick google says on average 62 children were murdered each year 2014-2019. I can't see any more recent stats, it will take a while for them to be published to be able to see factually if there has been a substantial increase through the pandemic.

Sometimes these murders are highlighted on the media and it appears there are more than what is sadly usual, other times they go by barely noticed.

It’s beyond horrific, but neglectful parents and family annihilators have always existed in sadly high numbers.

www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-22213942

Sad but interesting read about fathers who kill their children.

www.google.com/amp/s/news.sky.com/story/amp/killamarsh-man-31-arrested-after-deaths-of-four-people-was-taken-to-hospital-with-self-inflicted-injuries-12413654

Apologies for posting this one, Its horrific, I don't understand why they would not just leave, get themselves out of the house instead, but cite pressure or stress. As @RedGateWoman said its funny how the perpetrator survives despite their reasoning they just couldn't cope anymore.
Obviously neither of us mean 'funny' (am just rambling now sorry)

Sadly not new, just more reported. My mum remember s from her childhood there were a few child murders near where she lived which never made the national paper.

"Funny (not) how the blokes so often survive, but the women and children are killed."

"It's like a form of terrorism. It is terrorism, against children and against women."

It's frustrating that so many murders are treated as "isolated". It might be in that it's not directly connected to another crime, but the culture/ pattern is not isolated and the dots need joining up to protect families and deal with men's behaviour before it escalates to violence and murder.

Far too often, it follows the same script, time and time again, and people won't see the pattern if they're not looking for it. So many murders of ex-partners and children/ step-children are dismissed as "domestic" and treated as less than stranger crimes.

I don’t know what’s sadder, the fact that these murders happen at such an alarming rate, or the fact that we are so conditioned as a society to see the rate at which children get murdered as normal.
Always has been, always will be, type of sentiment.
I’m not saying anything bad about the people who have commented on here, as they are simply putting into words what is so clear.

A couple of PP have said the killers are primarily men, I’m sure in the majority of cases this is true.
In the last 10 or so cases I have seen, only two have been men (one accidental - left children in a hot car) all the others were woman, most of the time their mothers.

@BogRollBOGOF
I totally agree, the pattern needs to be looked at closer to hopefully have some impact, in at least reducing these numbers.
It’s sad that this rate has been the same for so long but nothing is proactively done to stop it.

One thing I have believed for a long time is that if PND or any parental depression wasn’t such a taboo subject and people felt comfortable reaching out for help knowing the wouldn’t be stigmatised or social services would come in straight away and take a child away from a family who may not have been any risk at all, I think the numbers especially within the first 12 months would be a lot less.
Speaking from experience, I had my own family, my doctor, my visiting midwife and my health visitor all judge me when I told them about my OCD PND. I ended up internalising every feeling out of the fear of loosing my baby.
The way the current system is set up does not provide the right support to mums in my opinion.