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

Absolutely right and also parents who don't care about their children enough to check on them for 10 days at Xmas!

I don't think it's her fault for leaving him with his dad but she'd not had contact since before Christmas. That she'd not phoned to speak to her son or picked him up to take him out in all that time is really sad. And then to say it was Children's services job to keep children safe...primarily it is the parents' job.

My DDs dad died of a heart attack whilst she was in his sole care. She was old enough to call 999 and set things in motion.
Things like this do happen. We do not know the full circumstances yet and this speculation is not helping.
Let's just pause the blame, and think of Brandon and those that loved him.

I think it was because the article said that the mother had not seen her son because she'd had an argument with the dad that I couldn't understand her not being in touch. If she wasn't actually allowed contact then that's different but it wasn't mentioned in the article.

If you were the social worker you wouldnt know for sure that the family or child were in danger

So you would break and enter and then you find dad in there furious at you and a child frightened by Mrs social worker clambering through a broken window, get arrested, charged, found guilty of breaking and entering, lose your registration and get sacked?

People love to say things they will never have to experience

Clearly there were already serious concerns for the child if social services were visiting at all and they obviously failed to make contact. That in itself is a concern.

It's reported that a neighbour popped round on Boxing Day.

How often do you think visits are though?

And are you aware of what is a 'serious concern' or what is a 'concern' or what is support?

And are you aware of what happens when SWs cant get an answer to the door or the phone? What makes it a concern when you knock a the door and you get no answer?

The DS was only on Child in need not Child protection so we can't infer from that if she was capable.

And as to your final point said in hindsight...the SW had no idea the little boy was starving. It wasn't a case of she was aware of that and just walked away. The family who were seen around once a month, only on a child in need plan, missed one appointment.

He was on a child in need plan being seen around once a month - there weren't serious concerns. The SW would have had many DC on her caseload who were under child protection and at risk of significant harm. This family missed one appointment.

Yes on the other thread a poster said it was reported he was on a CHIN plan, not statutory and parents dont have to engage, and many dont

Also, people arent in 24/7, or they forget appointments, or it might have been unnannounced (if she couldnt get hold of him on the phone) or they had to go out, or whatever, SWs turn up all the time to unsuccessful visits, so there is not an automatic assumption that someone is not answering because they're dead

I read this story on the train home tonight and honestly I wish I could un-read it. It hits very hard to home as I have a nearly 2yo so just thinking about a child of around that age being left on their own and how upsetting that would have been just makes me want to cry. I feel this is going to be on my mind for a long time and makes me want to hold my own DC close. I also feel greatly for the social worker who followed protocol but now has to live with the fact that the little boy probably was still alive on their 2nd and 4th jan visits, and the landlady who had a key but wasn’t asked to access the property until it was too late. If she’d had been informed sooner she would most likely have gone to check. It’s incredibly hard to solve for all potential scenarios with standard social services processes but I think where there is a vulnerable child of that age and no-one can contact the family there should be a right to enter a property and check much much sooner.

On the surface (and I cant get into a lot of articles due to ad blocker), its just a tragedy. This could just as easily happen to a family who were not open to any services

A single parent could have a heart attack or fall down the stairs and not be found until too late, if they have a small child or baby it would be the same

It's not just people choosing to have little/no social contact. Its actually quite hard to make deep, close friendships beyond your 20s. By that I mean the sort of friendship where someone would know something was wrong if you didn't reply to their message fairly swiftly.

It's actually quite a big thing if you think about it. How many of your friends would you start to worry if you hadn't heard from them for a few days? To the point where you'd start urgently trying to find out if they were ok? Rather than just assume they're busy.

It's really sad I just can't get my head around it. He was known to have heart issues didn't they investigate further ask neighbours if they heard anything. There was a boxer dog in the flat as well was emaciated but alive just. I'm sure if they had got inside the building and knocked on his flat door. Bronson or the dog would have come to the door.

You’d not have had a clue that he was starving. The true horror of what had happened in that flat probably only occurred to the social worker in the deepest, darkest recesses of her mind, but over the dates in question it might have gradually started to come to the forefront. They’d probably have felt like they were overreacting terribly, and that everyone was going to think as much. That feeling would have been made much worse when they’d spoken to the police x2 and been told they weren’t even planning to travel to the property.

Were you a qualified social worker, you absolutely would not have smashed a window unless you could see an immediate threat to life through the window, because you’d be risking a complaint, being sued, suspended and potentially even expulsion from the HCPC register.

And had Bronson and his dad turned out to be away visiting family, and a social worker had gone to the lengths that they did; contacting a landlord and obtaining a key to let themselves in - they’d have risked all of the same consequences as if they’d smashed the window.

Society is breaking down and this is the result . Too many ' vulnerables ' creating too much damage and despair .
It will not change , we are too liberal and no-one has to take responsibility for themselves anymore . This poor little boy is the victim of inadequate parents nothing else .

If the father died on the 29th , unfortunately the child could well have died from dehydration even if the sw visited on the 2nd and the police forced entry then. It s a tragic accident, it could happen to any single parent with a baby.

Blondehairgonewild
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”

You build a network by building genuine loving and supportive two-way relationships with other people, ideally starting before children come along. No one likes to be used so if you think all the attention and help should flow in your direction because you have a child, don’t expect people to be keen to form a network with you.

People who have loving, caring relationships with family pre-children rarely find that their families refuse to help when they go on to have children. Parents will often help even when it is a struggle for them.

But if, for whatever reason, you don’t have this kind of relationship with your family you can still try to form mutually-beneficial relationships with others, like other parents or neighbours. Why not offer to help others when you are less frazzled? If you are helpful to others you are more likely to get help in return.

A seriously unhealthy 58 year old has yet another child, that the much younger mother then leaves in his sole care, without checking regularly on them. Then blames social services. @hattie43 I agree, personal responsibility doesn’t seem to be a consideration for some.

It has little to do with MH, but it's the reality. Look up THRIVE and STORM procedures, and you can see it for yourself. I'm not defending police, merely stating my own experience across multiple forces when I have been the one on the phone requesting help. The E in THRIVE is for engagement, and the question is around history of engagement with the service user. Many SUs won't open the door to a SW, and the police can't attend every one. My initial point was actually around the dismantling of the most basic support services, that may or may not have made a difference. It's never been perfect, but it is dangerous now after 13 years of cuts. It's also the reason many of us leave front-line services, that SW probably has 100's of other cases and is probably getting little to no support in coping with what happened. We need to get angry at the right people. This government couldn't give a shit about any of us and is the architect of the chaos we are under.

I agree that the fault lies with the police in not doing more to gain access when concerns were raised by the social worker.