Baby P witch hunt

[the7Vabo]

I watched a full documentary on Tik Tok about Baby P today.

The thing I’m most struck by is that social worker/s were fired, a doctor is in permanent psychiatric care, social workers received death threats and in the middle of it all the mother receives a minimum 5 year jail sentence and has been in & out of jail since 2013.

There were clear failing but a lot of it was against the background of an overwhelmed system. In particular the clinic where the doctor worked had been flagged as dangerous to senior management by two doctors who resigned and another doctor was on stress leave. There was no access to notes at this clinic. The doctor who last saw Baby P had no access to notes, wasn’t familiar with procedures around child protection in the UK, was working without the assistance of a nurse who might have helped her. She saw Baby P for a specific reason to rule out underlying conditions that might explain his injuries. She was blamed for missing that he had a broken back but it’s not clear when his back was broken.
Her face was plastered all over the papers and she went to train stations multiple times with thoughts of ending her life, asked for her name to be removed from the register and is now in psychiatric care.

The social worker directly involved might have been able to do more but she did a lot including removing Peter, taking him to hospital, contacting the police and immediately contacting the mother when she heard she had a boyfriend.

The head of the area had serious death threats and was fired.

I know people say the different agencies between them had contact 60 times and they shouldn’t have missed it. But that also means there was a lot of effort being made to protect him.

There were reports written immediately afterwards blaming various social workers, the police and medical staff involved with the exception of that doctor seemed to get off more lightly.

The thing that floors me is the mother got min 5 years and was first released in 2013!!! It’s bloody extraordinary. I saw a clip of her speaking to social workers, she was v convincing!

I just can’t get over how a doctor can have a nervous breakdown but the mother is meanwhile out & about!!!! She back in now for breach of conditions I think. I keep thinking about that doctor.

AIBU?!

I've seen this documentary before and I wholeheartedly agree. It sickens me that the social workers and doctor got more venom and hate than the people who tortured and brutally murdered Peter. Yes they could have potentially done more but they were completely overrun with cases and I don't think they could have forseen what happened in the circumstances.

I know; it’s always the systems at fault rather than blaming the parents. I think it’s because society can’t cope with the idea of parents killing their children so would rather blame professionals, particularly when it’s mothers

I haven't sent the documentary and agree it was the mother and her partner etc that was culpable
But they prevented professionals coming into the house and tried to hide Baby p,s injuries when they did come round?

echoes of Lucy letby and Kate and Gerry McCann. Obvs totally different stories but the blame fell on them. People look for a nice juicy villain, they don’t want the obvious villain, they want the macabre story

The whole seems extraordinary. David Cameron stood up on the House of Commons ranting about a 17 year old struggling mother when for starters the woman was 28.

The media have a lot to answer for, they fed this frenzy against social workers. If that doctor had jumped under a train the editor of The Sun would have blood on his/her hands IMO.

The social worker said the mother was pretty co-operative which made her less suspicious I guess.

In the clip of the mother talking she’s pretty convincing.

It seems it is always easier to blame systems because then we can pretend that this is why these things happen - not because evil people will find ways to be evil. I guess it makes us feel safer but it is stupid.

Yes, the public seemed more interested in the people who missed the injuries than those who caused them.

Yes @the7Vabo . Unless people are knowingly indifferent,it is so undeserved. The toll it takes on the professionals is horrendous.

People were still commenting negatively on the TikTok videos.
The most senior social worker/head of the area successfully sued for unfair dismissal. People seemed to have a real issue with her, whereas I’m glad she stood up for herself.

I watched it too, I was disgusted. I know that the failings were because services weren't joined up and things were missed but ffs the real criminals were the mom the step dad and the brother in law. Where is the anger at them?

I worked in a healthcare role in Haringey at that time - it was an absolute mess! Such a fragmented care system covering a very vulnerable population. St Anne's Hospital was impossible to staff. I still find the whole case so distressing to think about.

One thing that always angers me is when family
members are interviewed in the media condemning the authorities who allowed their GC, neice or nephew to be abused! Where were they? Why were they not looking out for the child’s welfare ? People are far too quick to blame social work, hv, gp etc!

Do you mind me asking (no pressure) other than the perpetrators who/what area do you think was responsible?

The granny in this case didn’t seem to blame SS although I might have missed her saying it. She said her daughter was v manipulative.

What is the documentary? Can I watch it somewhere else? I don’t have TikTok

Thinking about what PP said about working in a deprived area with a vulnerable population.

SS have an impossible task. They are dealing with people living in poverty, likely poorly educated, no support systems, all the social issues that come with that and these people are trying to raise kids while in a bad way themselves.
And SS are expected never to make the wrong call?!
They often get critised for being to heavy handed.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DHDxi_NJtS0

They should have had the book thrown at them, for sure.

But I think it's appropriate to ask questions about a child protection "system" that actually isn't fit for purpose.

Why were no notes available at the clinic?
Why were various services incapable of communicating and sharing information?

I agree I think it’s 100% appropriate and has to happen.
But what happened in this case it appears was a rush job report under political pressure that pointed fingers whereas it seems multiple aspects of the system failed Baby Peter.

I thought the talk about the vulnerable teenager in the house wasn't about the mother, but an underage girlfriend of the brother in law?

Ed Balls effective sacked Sharon Shoesmith on TV.....Peter Connolly's death was at the hands of his supposed care givers. That poor child had a miserable existence and society will always struggle to comprehend that...

Perhaps services might have saved his life if certain things were done, perhaps not but the way the professionals were treated in this case was disgusting.

Social work and health services are in an even worse place now and we should be outraged by this, instead we all have a cry about any suggestion of progressive taxation and (especially on here) 'state interference'. Child protection is incredibly complex and nuanced, with it being very easy to throw that mud.

Baby P's dad took him and was arrested, contact stopped and was told that he would be charged with kidnapping/harrasment.

Star Hobson's family were told that they were over involved and homophobic.
Arthur Labinjo-Hughes grandparents had him removed from their care and called bitter and malicious.

Who else are you taking about? Parents can refuse to have any contact with any member of the family. One grandmother phoned the fire brigade saying she saw flames. Her granddaughter was hours away from death. She was still initially arrested because SS had helped the Mother get a restraining order.
I was doing my CP SW training when Baby P's findings were published. There were massive failings by all professionals and it was correct that they were publicly criticised.

Just to add, the doctor was a scapegoat so Great Ormand Street wasn't put under scrutiny.

I am wondering if perhaps I’ve been taken in by a biased documentary!

If you don’t mind me asking what massive failings do you think they were?