Alfie Steele

[Ffswhatsthepoint]

I checked there was no other thread before I posted this one. Alfie, 9, killed by mum and her bf. Drowned. A catalogue of abuse and many phone calls to police/ss by neighbours. The neighbours often fed him too. We HAVE to find people accountable in this case. It was reported. People knew. Nothing was done. Absolutely nothing. Its harrowing. I feel like I failed him. And I'm hundreds of miles away.

Yet somehow there’s enough middle managers with non-jobs to fill a cruise ship in any given LA.

There are many lessons in this one being: don’t vote Tory!

@weareallout exactly. It’s very easy for people to criticise without any true understanding of the situation.

@Devonshiregal
absolutley, about 65 children a year are killed by a parent, its only a few who make the news

I’m an adoptive parent and foster carer about to take my first placement. The child’s supervising social worker is responible for over 100 children and young people. I don’t know how anyone could have that level of responsibility.
We have an overburdened, under funded system.

Then I'm sure the next murdered child will sleep soundly in their grave knowing that.

I'd add that teachers & schools are at breaking point on non education issues as they are increasingly acting as social workers too. Plus SATs & ofsted & parents who expect schools to parent their child.
I still don't understand why he wasn't removed to a safe place but foster carers are in short supply too

So it sounds like a combination of too much work and perhaps incompetence is resulting in more cases like this than necessary. Both of those problems could potentially be improved through more funding.

It also says that they were in legal discussions to remove the boy, and also implies that they were led to believe the man had moved out.

There's another issue however - and that is of single mums getting into relationships with men who go on to kill the mother's child. This seems to be the pattern. What work can be done to prevent this? Why are women willing to accept abuse from new partners towards children? What programmes are in place for these women? (Because while she is guilty let's face it there was no record of abuse until he came on the scene)

Tigo your last paragraph absolutely nails it - but this is an uncomfortable truth for many people to face up to.

No I don’t understand how so much abuse was ignored

That seems like an unhelpful comment, unless you want to propose a workable solution of course?

It is harrowing. The parents are pure evil. That poor boy lived a life of terror and abuse. He has been failed :(

I am wondering, are the social workers responsible, or is it the courts? I have read a few AMA social worker threads on here and they seem to say SWs don't have power to remove children, as this is a decision made by the courts?

Your last paragraph is absolutely spot on - it’s clear that this is a prevalent issue in the most serious abuse cases so I feel like something needs to happen to address this. I don’t know what though.

Yep and someone will come along to moan about victim blaming soon.

Agree @Ted27
One person
100 vulnerable children in very poor home lives: so bad that SS have allocated them a person to oversee their welfare.
People have no idea the reality of these 100 kids but it's bad.
One person dealing with it all

That is true but SWs are the ones who prepare all the evidence and recommendations for the courts - it looks like Alfie was on a child protection plan but not a PLO (pre-court action) so courts can’t be blamed on this one.

@LifeIsPainHighness staffing issues cause a lack of consistency. This is terrible, but it’s where we are at. Unfortunately people never seem to be interested in this the same way they are as the NHS etc - because 9 times out of 10 it doesn’t impact them directly. Where are the people calling for better conditions for social workers, for example?

ALL public services are run into the ground under this government. People are dying waiting for ambulances. State schools are in a mess/teacher shortages. Mental health services are dire. Jailing social workers/ paramedics/ teachers won't help. You need to look at who's running the country.
Doubtless I'll now be inundated with people saying the government are doing a marvellous job and it's just those lazy social workers/paramedics etc

I don't understand anyone letting a person harm their child. Arthur was killed by his partners gf, Star was killed by her partners gf. Its not necessarily a gender issue. But overwhelmingly the statistics show that children are abused/murdered when a non biological 'parent' is introduced. Even when no previous history of abuse has occurred the biological parent appears to accept/go along/get involved in the abuse. Very disturbing.

@Ffswhatsthepoint because, being blunt, a lot of people are simply not fit to be parents and prioritise their own selfish needs above the child’s.

I wonder if part of the problem is that children are still expected to endure treatment that no adults would be expected to endure. So often, even on mumsnet threads, people are told “mind your own business”.

We need a zero tolerance approach towards abusive behaviour.

What's your suggestion OP? It's easy to start a thread moaning on the internet but when people who work in the system or adjacent to it are telling you how many cases they have; how much their workload has increased - how is it helpful for you to make a flippant comment like you did in your last post?

I've met many social workers who are completely committed to the DCs in their care and to their job. I've met many people within the social care system who stay late, who start early, who spend their every waking hour trying to make DCs' lives better. They're not miracle workers. They're not magicians. Until people stop voting Tory. Until Labour stops arsing about with stupid culture wars and remembers what their principles were supposed to be - social care, social services and all the auxiliary services will remain underfunded and DCs will die.

That's what happens when you live in a country with one of the biggest wealth disparities in Europe. That's what happens when the government gives its cronies billions of pounds worth of contracts.

So if this really upsets you - sign up to be a foster carer; volunteer with the children's panel - and vote for a party that might actually invest in these sectors.

This is very true - and I’d sign that petition!

@Notcontent I agree - but again, people are always outraged until it involves them actually doing something pro-active. I remember getting ripped apart on here a few months ago when I commented that I had intervened in a situation where a parent was walloping a child.

@Ffswhatsthepoint

so what are you actually prepared to do?

its all very well bleating about how YOU feel you failed him.

There is a chronic shortage of foster carers. Where do you think these children go when they are removed? And thats part of the problem.

How about becoming a foster carer yourself?

What I never understand in these cases is the mother is addled and prepared to beat her own child but this only happens when the new partner moves in. I mean these men target women with kids and that's obvious, for their homes and a shag.

But no one in the wider family intervenes. Maybe there are cases. But you wonder about the wider family and what they are like. They too seem to accept that it's okay to get an unrelated man into handle the kids. It used to be that a woman did that, she'd be told the man involved was a paedo or an abuser, because women with children from other men were taking a big risk.

@TheHandmaiden because the new partner will often resent the child as they are a permanent reminder of an ex. Mum wants to keep her new man happy, so tolerates the poor treatment of the child.