Was anyone else aware that Sharon Shoesmith (Baby P) now makes money as a conference speaker? Surely that is completely wrong?

[RoseMortmain]

DH has just rung me from a conference he's at and told me that Sharon Shoesmith, whose incompetence had a role to play in the death of Baby P, is the keynote speaker today.

Apparently she's talking about 'Uncertainty in social care, is it our only option?' or something along those lines.

I am struggling to understand

1. why anyone would want her to speak about any kind of social care, given the findings of the enquiry in Haringay Social Services at the time and

2. why she thinks it is acceptable for her to do such a thing with her past record?

Apparently BBC News, Sky and ITV News are at the conference covering it but why on earth is it happening in the first place?

My instinct is that it is just plain wrong on every level.

Rose, I think your point is very sensible but I do hope your dh goes to her speech - would be very interested to hear whether she expresses remorse or tries to justify herself. By all accounts, she was very popular when she worked in education. Sadly incompetent when taking on responsibility for social care.

It's not just that Baby P died on her watch despite dozens of opportunities where SS should have stepped in (and doctors, and the police too - no-one comes out of this well except the one doctor who tried to blow the whistle on the health centre responsible for Baby P's care and pointed out children were in danger well before he died).

It's that her department was very badly run, that she should have known better and done far better and that her initial response was to deny any wrongdoing, claiming that there was 'excellent practice'. She blamed Peter's murderers but refused to accept any responsibility herself until forced to by public pressure.

If she had admitted failings in her department had caused a tragedy, expressed sorrow, and taken responsibility for them by resigning, that would be one thing. But she was intransigent and did everything she could to avoid blame. IIRC she had previously tried to silence people who raised concerns in her department (think that was in one of the reviews).

Its unlikely she'll ever get another job in social services so she's probably just doing whatever she can to earn a crust. Have to say I can't imagine her being taken particulary serious given her track record