To think we need action on child protection

[stargirl1701]

The details of the latest cases have been horrifying. There seems to be no answer from any quarter as to how to stop this happening again. Funding is obviously an issue as both social workers and health visitors have unsustainable case loads.

I wonder if what is also needed is the view of the ordinary person. Do police officers and social workers become numb to their constant exposure to horror? I know my own reaction to the bruising on both Arthur and Star: it's clearly not a normal childhood bruise pictured on either child. I say that as parent of 10 years and a primary school teacher of more than 20 years experience.

The Children's Panel system in Scotland uses lay members effectively. These are volunteer roles in which enhanced PVG status is required. Do Child Protection referrals need to be assessed by a panel like that rather than be left to judgement of the over-stretched social worker team? Volunteers serve for 3 years in a local area outwith their own. The last recruitment campaign garnered 2000+ applicants.

We need a new approach. It is madness to carry on with a system that is so clearly failing to ensure the safety of vulnerable children. More funding would obviously help but there does seem to need to be reform of the system.

These things happened in the first, most severe lockdown. We are now only just finding out what happened when at-risk children were away from schools and locked up with abusive parents.
My friend who was a social worker had her impossible caseload DOUBLED during that lockdown, buckled under the pressure and left. It was unprecedented times. Of course I'm not justifying the absolute horror of it.

Info on the system here:

https://www.chscotland.gov.uk/about-us/how-we-recruit-volunteers/

I've been thinking of Poppi Worthington, she had no justice at all. All these cases are unthinkable and tragic.

We need money!!!! They keep cutting funding.

@Japingjaponica

These things happened in the first, most severe lockdown. We are now only just finding out what happened when at-risk children were away from schools and locked up with abusive parents. My friend who was a social worker had her impossible caseload DOUBLED during that lockdown, buckled under the pressure and left. It was unprecedented times. Of course I'm not justifying the absolute horror of it.

Star wasn't school age.

I hope I'm right when I say that I think the bar has been raised in my lifetime (and it needed to be). A lot of neglect and low level abuse was regarded as regrettable but not requiring action from Social Services back in the 60s and 70s. I believe now there is a much better understanding that this kind of poor parenting is a red flag and some families where it happens are going to have much, much worse stuff going on behind closed doors, so they all need checking out. This must have increased workloads in Social Services a lot, but funding hasn't kept pace at all. And of course we know that mental health services are at breaking point, especially for children and young people.

Mumsnet campaign? Nobody makes this a high enough priority when it comes to election time.

We can't just keep blaming lock down and children not being at school. There had been a lot of concerns raised about these two children already and
S
S were involved. So schools being open probably wouldn't have made a lot of difference. These children had been "seen" by many people.
I think we need more social workers, more foster carers and more help for struggling parents.

Star had a CP medical which concluded her bruises were caused by accidental injuries, this was a paediatricians assessment. Nothing more the social work team can do from that information

She was also seen by the police who have powers but again nothing done

It isn’t just social care

I know we need money...but, I use suggest we are at the point of needing more than just money.

The Children’s Panel in Scotland are the decision makers for children in need of compulsory measures of care. It’s true that they are volunteers, but their job (after extensive) training is to read the reports from professionals such as social workers and education, and decide what level of support is needed and how that should be given.

As a panel member and a student social worker in Scotland, I’m not sure increasing the number of panel members would reduce the caseload of social workers.

And volunteers generally serve within their local authority, but could sit on a hearing for another local authority as appointment as a panel member is now nationally managed.

It's not just social care. I said that in my OP. Everyone involved in child protection seems inured to the horror of it as it is all they see. They see varying degrees of bad.

We need fresh eyes. We need lay people who see good - day and daily. I go have the authority and power to say, "This is not within the range of normal." Not people saying, "It could be accidental."

Arthur's bruise looks like it has been caused by a seatbelt in a car crash. The level of force required is way outside normal.

I don’t think it’s even that. The bar is set so high for court orders that Social Workers are often powerless

Who have the authority...

This is a better link explaining the process:

www.chscotland.gov.uk/children-and-young-people/attending-a-children-s-hearing/

It is the panel’s job to review and scrutinise the plans, with checks and balances in place allowing parents to challenge decisions through the court

TolkiensFollow

As a teacher, I disagree. If the parent/s are 'seen' to be engaging then they are given too much leeway, in my opinion.

@Idontlikeworms

I've been thinking of Poppi Worthington, she had no justice at all. All these cases are unthinkable and tragic.

I’ve been thinking about her too. That case was horrific and I can’t imagine how heartbroken her mother must be.

It's worrying that the grandparents reports aren't taken more seriously.

Like the authorities in Rochdale, it sounds like the professionals were more keen about not appearing racist than investigating things properly. (In Star's case homophobic and racist)

Its not due to underfunding or heavy caseloads certainly in the cases of Arthur or Star, many reports were made, social workers and police visited, they were not too busy or shortstaffed to visit, they just were not fit for purpose and did not do their jobs properly and in the case of Star were happy to call the people who reported the abuse racist and homophobic

The threshold for social services to be involved is far too high because they are under funded and there is a shortage of social workers. There will be more awful, tragic and horrifying deaths.

We had to get help from child protection during lockdown and I could not believe how appalling they were. Missed meetings, reports sent to wrong people, huge delays in writing the reports (but somehow manipulating things to look like they were done in the correct time frame), suggestions of support on the report that weren't given in reality, failure to make referrals. I could go on. I remember thinking at the time that if a child was suffering abuse they would probably die.

My husband attended a child protection meeting today (professionally) and it was the teacher minimising the risks to the children and overstating mum's capacity to safeguard, all other professionals were in agreement. I also have to say that my husband referred those children 3 times in as many months and each time they were closed as safeguarding not necessary. Then there was another police call our and the Arthur result and suddenly they're all jumping up and down. The social care system needs funding but also over hauling too much top heavy bureaucracy and targets to close cases. There also needs to be consistent risk assessment and safeguarding training across a number of professions.
In my role I heard the head of a children's services region proudly say a few years ago that they had reduced the number of children under child protection, when asked how she said they'd raised the threshold!!!

I’m a GP so I’ve seen a fair number of child protection cases in the past 25 years.

The problem is primarily money in my opinion. Social workers are overstretched, they have too many on their case load, and the services they can refer to (parenting classes, Sure Start etc) have been cut. I believe there is also a shortage of foster carers.

Another issue is fear of litigation. We all watch our backs more than we ever used to. I know that if I spot what I think is a safeguarding issue, make a referral, but I turn out to be wrong - then the family can complain about me. At best that involves me in literally days of work responding to a complaint. At worst I lose my job.

I also think the population as a whole has a responsibility. So often on here someone will post that they saw a mother manhandling or smacking a child, and they ask if they should have said something. More often than not, the replies are “keep your nose out, you don’t know what’s going on in the mother’s life, she might have mental health problems”, as if this is a get-out-of-jail-free card. I think if people were publicly shamed for mistreating kids then they might think about their behaviour a bit more.

How do we stop people abusing and neglecting children in the first instance? How do we prevent families needing intervention at the level of child protection?

Well personally I would sterilise anyone who abuses a child so badly that they’re removed from their care. That way they can’t have any more.

These children, Arthur and Star, were known to their local Child Protection teams. There was clearly a lack of action and understanding of the horror these children were going through.

Money would help but it doesn't address the systemic issues.