there's no way on earth that I would allow him near my children. I cannot understand people who do tbh.
On an emotional level I think it is always going to hard to understand. Mainly because we react to the details with our own mindset of what is a red flag and what is an appropriate response to a red flag and can't comprehend such an automatic process not taking place.
If you take what was known to the family about Hazell prior to his inclusion in this child's life what would happen in your average family is basically a list of questions where we get the answer so fast we don't even notice the question process.
Does this person have good judgement ?
Does this person have a solid sense of boundaries?
Is this person at risk of being in an impaired state due to substance use/abuse around my child?
Is this person able to put my child's needs before their own wants ?
Is this person capable of losing control and acting in a violent manner ?
Is the person able to consistently provide a good role model ?
...stuff like that.
But as to why a family would not undergo that rapid fire internal questioning - insta answer process...well they would not be able to answer those questions positively about themselves in the main, let alone any outsider. Which could mean either
on a sub conscious level they avoid such questions because it causes self doubt about one's own status as a safe person to be in contact with, let alone responsible for, a child. It think it is easier to understand when you put it in the context of ...in order to instigate any kind of risk assessment on an outsider a relative would face having to recognise themselves as not a good enough parent/person in loco parentis becuase they too "fail" on the checklist of questions. I think that is probably an unbearable proposition and showing tolerance ("I took him as I found him" - alla Tia Sharp's grandmother) in the face of certain facts, may be indicative of a conscious or sub conscious defence against having to recognise their own parental/familial shortfall.
OR
the questioning process wasn't triggered because certain behaviours that your average gen pub would find red flaggy (at best) do not register as causes for concern because those behaviours have become normalised within that family. That normalisation could be the result of a multi generational issue or it may be a first generation absorption due to being plunged into an emotional/physical environment where previous norms are subdued and eroded by the surrounding prevalence of "the new normal".
See what I mean ?