Too be really fucking angry with people who just let abuse happen- Sara Sharif

[dinomirror]

Reading it now its horrific. People saying we heard screams- and yet did nothing??? How does a person just think that no im not going to report this, most likely because they cant be bothered/ dont want to be involved. Scum of the earth the dad is. The stepmother ( and her sister!) going on and on about how they feel bad etc and dont do anything!

Agree that nothing changes.

In the 80s the social workers I had were utterly ineffective. Despite the fact I had amazing teachers and a wonderful HT who pushed them and pushed them to do something to protect us.

In the end when I was 7 (I was the youngest) my teacher and Head Teacher risked a lot. They contacted my grandparents after a particularly bad incident and basically said if my GPs were to come and take us they’d turn a blind eye. My father caused a lot of trouble for them after that, but he was never brave/stupid enough to go to the police as he knew my GPs had meticulous records of injuries and photos.

He isn't blaming it though, is he? He's saying that home education shouldn't be allowed if there are safeguarding concerns.

https://news.sky.com/story/questions-to-be-answered-over-sara-sharif-case-pm-says-as-number-of-children-harmed-by-abuse-revealed-13272056

A report that says hundreds of children killed or seriously harmed by abuse in one year. What the hell is happening here.

Public services have been gutted, teachers barely have the time to think, social services have no funding to help, the police have no funding, everything has been ruined by 14 years of Tory rule

Cuts to everything. Underfunded ,understaffed and overworked services that can't cope with the demand. That means that families/children that want and /or need support don't get it, or it's often too little , too late. It's all a postcode lottery, and prevention nearly inexistent.

Cuts to all sorts of services combined with an absolute determination that parents have the right to try and being up their child regardless of their known tendency to violence

I thought they did report it? There was an investigation, social services told the school to monitor and then the dad pulled her out of school.

They didn't tell SS she was pulled out. Bc she was 'happy' on the morning notice was handed in.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgedlr7qg1o.amp

Lessons are never learned. It's the same story again and again and again.

ah. Yes I can see the issue

It's a psychological term called bystander apathy.

Still in Pakistan. Why have the government not demanded their return.

I mean on 'paper' they done thingsright. But they could 'accidentally' spill a bit of water on her hijab and get her to remove it that way for example. Bit unorthodox maybebut if they are really that concerned that's what I would do.

I think she is saying that parents are not (mostly) equipped to educate. That's why teachers are trained and constantly monitored.

The state has a duty of care to those children.

So have parents. But it doesn't stop some of them committing atrocious crimes like this!

I cried watching the news yesterday and I can’t get what she must have suffered out of my mind these past few days. Heartbreaking.
Disgusting what they did to her. I hope they suffer terribly in prison, but no suffering can atone for what they’ve done. The way her stepmother smirked when they arrested her on the plane made me sick. May they rot in hell.

The saddest thing as others say, is that in another few years there will be a similar case in the headlines, there always seems to be a catalogue of errors leading to a poor child’s death. I think all around Sara should have done better, but ultimately two evil, devious people managed to evade everyone.

You did the right thing, did things seem to improve?

they moved out a while later and the house was in such a state that the owner had to get a professional cleaning firm in. I was chatting to one of them and they said that the cellar was stuffed with rubbish, all the rooms were in a real state but strangely the bathroom was immaculate. Woman who lived in the house that was actually joined onto that house had reported them too as she often heard the child crying and the parents yelling at her. So it was me and another neighbour who did the right thing.

They are not with relatives anymore, they were moved to a children’s home a while ago. I assume there is no other reporting on them to protect their privacy. Maybe they are back in England in foster care, Surrey County Council asked the courts in Pakistan to return the children. I feel very sad for them especially the oldest boy. What a horrific childhood and he must miss his sister lots.

This child was already well known to the authorities from birth and through reporting by her school - I very much agree that this suspicion of abuse should have continued to be followed up, but that it wasn't is nothing to do with "home ed" - she was abused in school, withdrawn in April and then killed in the following summer holiday when there wouldn't have been "eyes on" from teachers anyway.

The recent media articles talking up home ed in connection to this case are sadly more to do with the current and unrelated govt agenda to increase home ed surveillance due to the rising numbers choosing it, than the actual facts of this horrific situation. For a start - in this case Sara Sharif would have been already "registered" as being home ed as all children withdrawn from school are, automatically (as the school notifies the LA)!

You're completely missing the point. Yes, Sara was already known to the authorities from birth, and yes she was already being abused long before she was withdrawn from school. Nobody is arguing otherwise. However, the fact is, she was withdrawn from school to be "home educated" very soon after the school had flagged up concerns about her wellbeing. That should have triggered a more in-depth investigation into why she had been taken out and whether she was safe. If someone had shown just a little more professional curiosity in response to that trigger, the outcome might have been very different.

I do understand that some in the home ed community will feel defensive in response to the media coverage, because clearly, there will be lots of home educating families who wouldn't dream of abusing their children, but it's ridiculous to suggest that home ed isn't relevant in this case - the decision to withdraw Sara from school so soon after the school highlighted safeguarding concerns should have been a very clear red flag to the authorities and it was tragically missed.

So the case does help to highlight the already obvious fact that we need better safeguarding measures in place to protect children who may be less visible to the authorities because they are outside of the school system. This Isn't a criticism of home educating families, it is just basic common sense.

I think it suggests that the authorities were too quick to close this case and not follow up on an ongoing basis with this particular child who they already knew to be at ongoing risk of harm (and sadly, this has also been the conclusion in previous high profile child abuse cases). I agree that withdrawing a child from school specifically after an abuse complaint (and not just moving to another local placement because the relationship with SLT there has clearly broken down) is a red flag that it is an attempt to hide her - just as taking her out of the country or moving with no forwarding address would be (I believe they also moved house).

I don’t agree that this implies that other home ed children who have had no involvement with social services at any point are at any increased risk of harm from their families simply because of the form of their education - just as families who move house normally don’t require additional suspicion.

I'm not blaming. I'm saying there is a pattern with these cases. Relatives appear and weep and wail and sell their stories. Where were they when it was happening?
Baby P for one.
We aren't experts so it's all supposition. My own thoughts are it is down to cuts in public services, selling off and privitising services, unreasonable demands being placed on teachers.

The Baby P situation was similar in that he was simply let down.

There were loads of organisations involved in his case, Drs didn't examine him properly, the police dropped charges, his dad didn't do anything, social services were less than useless.

In these cases , there are usually plenty of opportunities to intervene. I read yesterday that an inexperienced social worker researched Sara's case for the judge and didn't take into account the potential danger of the father. The judge accepted the research and granted the father custody.