to think that more attention should be given to abused children who are from ethinc minorities!

[welshone51]

Hi I appreciate this this maybe a controversial subject particularly following the coverage of little baby P's case but a part of me is concerned that children who have suffered serious and often deadly abuse but dont fit into the white blonde haired blue eyed mould often get considerably less attention.
My heart breaks for little baby P who is a similar age to my son and shares a resembulance to him but there have recently been cases of severe abuse some resulting in death of children who are from ethnic minorities or are girls which havent been given many headlines at all. I am not trying to be controversial here or to cause problems but this has been something on my mind for a while.
I am not taking anything away from baby P who suffered terribly at the hands of the monsters who should have cared for him but I feel that all children are equal yet it doesnt seem like that when some severe and tragic cases of abuse are reduced to a few lines of a tabloid.
What are your opinion on this? Could it be that for a lot of us cases like Baby Peters brings abuse to home because he shares a passing resembulance to our children or am I totally wrong and do you think all cases of child abuse are treated equally by the press and powers that be!

"there have recently been cases of severe abuse some resulting in death of children who are from ethnic minorities or are girls which havent been given many headlines at all"

Could you give us some examples?

More care and attention should be given to ALL abused children...

I'm not sure about this

Baby P has received a lot of coverage since his death, but his case didn't get the kind of input and intervention that would have saved his life beforehand, did he?

Victoria Climbie received a similar level of press coverage AFTER her death too.

Obviously I'm only aware of the cases that are widely reported, but the press and public reaction to Victoria Climbie, who was black, was certainly of a similar nature to the Baby P reaction.

I agree with Haggis.

children are children.abuse is abuse.it doesnt matter what you look like.

if you said aibu to think more attention should be given to abused children' and left it at id agree with you.

Some examples I can think of was a girl starved in Birmingham recently and the two littl boys stabbed by their mum. Obviously this is just my opinion. Greensleeves you are right poor little Victoria was also given a great deal of coverage so maybe its my cinical mind!

I think there is just as much outrage about BME children who are abused. Sometimes that has a racist element (crazy/backward/third world trraditions putting children at risk etc) although in the case of VC that was sadly true.

I think this is something that levels people actually. Even hardline racists usually balk at the idea of children being hurt, whatever their colour.

Welshone - I know the cases you mean. I am guessing you mean given more attention in the press? I think as far as SS and Police involvement goes all children suffering abuse are treated the same but it is true that white blonde babies are more likely to make the red tops than those from ethnic minorities. It is proven to sell more papers. The same is true of music magazines - if you put a black face on the cover (possibly with the exception of the Death of Michael Jackson) then you sell fewer copies.

However, I think if you look at the more serious press and broadsheets then these cases are all reported in a much less over the top and emotive way.

Baby P got a huge amount of coverage but IMO a lot of the time it was the wrong sort of press.

This is a complex subject. Yes I think that photogenic and often white children get more media attention (unless the tabloids are trawling for any story to back up their 'all social workers are twats' stance).

I do not believe that children from minorities get less attention from the system though.

Sometimes the opposite is true. I hope that things have changed a lot in recent years but historically there has been a problem with professionals bringing their own cultural values into practice. For e.g. it may raise red flags that a young baby lives in a house were multiple adults have access to the child and the child appears to be handed from person to person. In some cultures this would be seen as normal and healthy, in others this would be seen as disruptive and neglectful.

Research in the 50s (?) concluded that West Indian mothers were so dreadful that all West Indian children would be better off in care

The Victoria Climbe case showed the opposite end of the spectrum. It was assumed that the 'master and slave' relationship between Victoria and her 'aunt' was perfectly normal and healthy in African families

These ideas will inevitably trickle down and end up in the DM (they love a good SW story).

So YANBU when it comes to the media but YABU when it comes to real life social workers.

I could write and essay on social services and minority families (including those with disabilities) but it would be long and boring

(have pasted this because I didnt realise there were two threads)

The boys killed by their mother is not a good example, they were apparently very well cared for and loved until she had a mental breakdown and killed them.

The trial has yet to be concluded on the starved child.

(jury dismissed and retrial ordered iirc).

There was obviously publicity surrounding this, but the meejafest won't occur until after the verdicts.

This is a very complex subject. If you been at the dinner table with my family and friends over the years. I often hear them comment that 'English children' (I'm quoting now) are not as cared for as foreign (pls insert various nationalities that say this)children. Remember the Portuguese are still not very impressed with parents going out and leaving children in bed! Some Asians (like my family) think that the English (they mean 'white') (oops! the Spanish think this too!) are more likely to abuse their children. I don't think I need it reporting in the papers I need it investigated and professionals getting the resources they need to help the kids. I really don't need it reporting because its the individual(s) harming that child not the whole race.

Sorry to have not made this clear but I am on about media publicity following cases of severe abuse and not personally attacking social services by powers that be I am on about the people who research and put these stories in the papers and why they seem to concentrate on certain stories. I appreciate that by the time these stories get into the paper the damage has been done I was just interested in peoples opinion on media attention. I am not saying that certain children deserve more attention and I beleive class also contributes.