To wonder what can be done for vulnerable people? (Trigger warning) [Content warning added by MNHQ: mentions child abuse]

[Soubriquet]

This poor little boy starved to death after his father died of a heart attack. He was found curled up next to his dad.

Apparently a social worker tried twice to gain access, even contacting the police, but still didn’t do anything until she went to the landlord and gained a key in which it was far too late.

Why didn’t the neighbours report a child who was surely crying with hunger?

Why didn’t the police investigate when the social worker reported twice that she was getting no response from a vulnerable family?

lonk

How heartbreaking - the mother is quick to point fingers but why wasn’t she asking after her son between Christmas and 9th Jan. that’s over two weeks!

Exactly. I mean if I separated from my dh and left the kids with him, I would have called or messaged to see if they had enjoyed their presents.

@rubyslippers sadly yes, many forces won't do this anymore. They would probably have dispatched if an 'active incident' was taking place (Screaming, shouting, escalated violence) but most won't just turn up and break entry now. If the SW could have seen and heard Bronson, they may have done.....which only makes it more heartbreaking.

It is heartbreaking.

It is not the SW fault they must be traumatised.

This family were known to social services though, the mother may not have been allowed contact for any number of reason but there must have been someone who thought about the no contact.

It’s all very well pointing fingers at SS and from their track record I certainly hold no high regard for them either. However and I don’t want to say anything hurtful because of what they’re suffering but this little baby had a family. It has be asked why didn’t any of them check up on him as well. Surely someone was capable of doing so.
RIP beautiful baby Bronson. Xx

It was a 2 year old. Social services were concerned.

It is priorities not underfunding.

This little one was described as vulnerable and must have been under a plan for the weekly visits, there's a lot of research that very young children stop crying when they have become accustomed to their cries not being responded too, so he may not have been making much noise.

How utterly heart-breaking.

I am also very surprised at the mother pointing fingers at the social worker.

It reads as if the social worker is the only person who cared enough to make three attempts to reach this poor child - two door knocks, and then contacting the landlord for the key.

That’s considerably more than the mother did, which is pretty bewildering.

The social worker is the only person who tried in this scenario.

What hope for ‘stronger communities’ if even immediate family members aren’t in contact? And it looks as if the Dad was in contact with a neighbour.

The only people responsible for children are their parents. Social services absolutely shouldn’t have let this happen but for the Mother to absolve herself of responsibility towards her own child is disgraceful.

i agree - my DH calls my DSS several times a week if he doesn’t see him.

This case has broken my heart today. That poor poor little boy and what he must have gone through, I can barely bear to think about it. It's utterly tragic in the saddest way possible. I suppose the break down of communities is partly responsible for this. How did this happen without anyone noticing?

I'm not suggesting it's right, but we have passed the point of blaming priorities, management or wasting money (or any other rhetoric) If there were absolutely no police available as they were all dealing with other priorities, what were they meant to do? We need more police, but recruitment is declining and that's the government's fault.

Actually, I can't see how something like this can be prevented in future. Mum or dad die suddenly at home leaving baby or young child with nobody to look after them. Baby/child dies. I don't think this is anything other than a tragedy and we don't need to attribute blame anywhere.

It just shows they didn’t have a good support network.

My thoughts exactly, wouldn't she have been worried if her ex went radio silent?

What would more could have been done by neighbours or SS? A neighbour visited on Boxing Day. The social worker visited on the 2nd and took reasonable steps when she couldn't get a response, going beyond what you would normally do for a missed visit, and eventually getting hold of the keys from the landlord. The police will need to review their response. But ultimately it is a very tragic series of events.

The people who could and should have done more are the little boy's family, including his mother, and they will have to live with this which won't be easy. I'm sure this is why the mother is lashing out at the social worker. It's easier than admitting her own fault, and I'm sure she has vulnerabilities/ problems of her own.

You aren't wanting to point the finger at a mother who had no contact whatesoever with her child since before Christmas, but happy to do so at the police who are not funded or supported to do welfare checks? I am no fan of the police, but where do you think they get the resources to do these jobs from - because the answer is that it is from the same diminishing pot of money they don't have enough of to solve crime.

Seriously, what mother has NO contact with her two year old at Christmas?

I suspect that there is much more to the story that the Daily Mail has chosen to share. But that wouldn't be unusual, would it?

I don’t understand the rush to blame authorities - the social worker (who tired harder than literally anyone else), the police, the need for stronger communities - when the most obvious person was completely uninvolved as this tragedy unfolded. For a prolonged period. Over Christmas.

Agree that there is obviously much more to this.

I actually gasped when I read the mother who left her child is blaming SS. She should be ashamed of herself for not trying to contact her own child herself. Poor poor little boy :(

The mother of ten had two other children with Bronson’s father. What an all round tragedy.

the most awful story, so very sad

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/jan/17/bronson-battersby-two-year-old-boy-died-of-starvation-curled-up-next-to-dead-father

It is priorities not underfunding

When services are massively underfunded, they are forced to prioritise and the more thinly spread they are, the more tragedies will happen.

I agree with you but there always posts on MN from frazzled parents who want a network and they get told “your kid your responsibility, it’s no one else’s and you shouldn’t expect anything from anyone even grandparents / family”

On another thread there was some discussion about a family where there was blame on the SW for not getting into a property and it was said on there by a police officer that the SW should have called the police

But the police dont always attend if they feel there is no evidence with which they can justify a forced entry. I think they have to have evidence of a crime or warrant or something in order to force entry.

And if that dad had been alive and the SW entered with the key she was given, she would have been shot down in flames if he made a complaint. You can hear it now, SWs going round letting themselves into peoples homes, busy bodies, vulnerable family being targeted by the SW, over stepping her remit etc etc.

What do you mean they shouldnt have let this happen

What would you expect would be done differently?

Another bash SS and SW thread.The police don’t routinely do health welfare checks and under right care,right person police expect Health and SS to undertake initial contact attempts unless it’s flagged as an emergency . The SW acted promptly by reporting that they couldn’t access the property.