4 year old starved to death by his parents

[SquidgyMummy]

Horrendous Story

What i can't understand is why all the people who could have helped him: Teachers, school nurse, doctors etc could not see he was being mistreated. My 2 1/ year old weighs more than that poor child when he died.
I am just sickened by his needless death and the hand wringing "if only's" by the other adults who should have protected him

Surely its better when seeing these obvious signs to remove the child than give the parents a chance to turn it around and take a risk. Why do they deserve the chance? How is this child centered? It seems as a society we forget that the child is the priority and not appeasement of parents. This was the problem with Baby Peter, god rest his soul, and now Daniel Pelko, and how ever many more children. Surely its better to overreact than risk such horrors?

I never cease to be amazed and horrified by stories like this. The parents are to blame - whether due to neglect and cruelty, or ignorance (if the child had a medical condition which was not addressed or bothered about). They were given nutritional tablets for the child which were not even opened. The child had bashes and bruises and the school noticed these. Surely a child with injuries, who went into such decline over a few months would get alarm bells ringing?

I am also surprised that the school did not really push after noticing the boys decline.

There's that old saying 'it take a village to raise a child'. Sadly these days everyone just minds their own business. I realise that this poor child was probably isolated (how many of us would turn a blind eye at a poor mite like this brought over for a play date?), and assume that there wasn't an extended family close by to see what was happening.

Just read the local paper report. Just crying. If those text messages are to be believed, I'd just like a few moments alone with those 'parents'.

Hear hear

The problem with 'procedures' is that when people have pushed the bit of paper onto the next desk they feel they've done their duty. I fail to see how any teacher or social worker could not notice that a 4 yr old weighs 20 lbs and is skin and bone despite apparently having an uncontrollable appetite.

They didn't 'not notice'. from what I've read - they alerted everyone they possibly could. But schools do not have the power to remove children - only to refer cases to Social Care.

I've known several children who imo should have been removed from their parents' care - one who was whipped with a metal dog lead, for example. All teachers can do is alert, alert, alert and keep on shouting but what if they are ignored? The deputy head in this case even phoned the GP because they were so worried about his weight. It's difficult to see what else could they have done.

The teacher friends of mine I discussed this case with, believe a lot more should have been done. They were horrified. One said that the situation would never have been allowed to deteriorate to those levels without proper intervention at the school she works at.
It seems several referrals were made and nothing much came of them. Re the gp: the child's mother was asked and trusted to bring him to the gp and of course did not do so. What happened after that speaks for itself.

Then I don't think your teacher friends can have followed the case closely - all the intervention possible from a school has been reported.

I think schools should be allowed to do more. I've seen too many cases in the media and have been in situations where a school has shouted loudly and desperately on several occasions but no one has listened. It's a horrible position to be in

Schools really should be able to do more they are the ones that see the child every week day and are best placed to spot the changes.

So so sad. Brians Brain -you had a lovely caring mummy

The guidance makes clear reference to the duty to act on any child welfare concerns: ?If somebody believes or suspects that a child may be suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm then s/he should always refer his or her concerns to the local authority children?s social care services. In addition to social care, the police and the NSPCC have powers to intervene in these circumstances. Did they make a referral to social care? I cannot see any ref to this in the media reports. It is certain that no reports were made to the police. The result was that this child was left to die an appauling death. I appreciate the teachers meant to protect the child, but the evidence is apparent. They did not do enough. If they had, the child would surely have been removed under an Emergency Protection Order.

Because, nettle1, there is no way staff would stand up in court and give the evidence they have given without many, many referrals, because the defence would have questioned them closely as to why they chose not to refer, and because the headlines the next day, had they not, would all be about the school having chosen not to report.

It is obvious - perhaps more obvious if you've worked in a school and experienced the frustration and anger you feel when the system allows you to do nothing but report.

All this will become clear when there is yet another case review and more promises made, and if I am wrong then I will be the first to condemn the school. But I wouldn't be so quick to jump on them until those facts are clear.

Do they not have a school nurse any more? Ds's school has one because it's SN but I've also spoken to the nurse at dd's MS comp when I've had concerns so I assumed all schools had a nurse.

Feenie I think we will have to agree to differ on this.

Let's wait for an investigation and hope that if anyone else apart from his mother and stepfather is truly to blame that they are also made to take responsibility.

No, not all schools have a nurse - they have access to one, but the reports say the deputy head tried to contact them but couldn't, so she bypassed them and spoke to the GP.

How could you do that to a child? 2013 and a child has been starved and beaten
Rest in peace

Reading about this just makes me want to hug my 19 month old tightly and feed her. I read somewhere today that 1 in 10 children actually suffers some form of parental abuse or neglect and that we as a society need to do more to combat this. What is becoming of us as a society with such figures?

It's disgusting. I hope they both rot in hell and get the same treatment. Give them half a sandwich a drink and a bag if crisps then force feed them salt. Bastards.
R.I.P Daniel. Such a gorgeous little boy.

No point phoning GP about this. Why did Head do that? should have phoned Children's Services and demanded a SW come round to escort child to hospital for a CP medical with a CP paediatrician. Then the child would have been kept in, and the police involved.

But a school can't 'demand' that. Only Social Care have that power.

The deputy head did that because she couldn't get in touch with the school nurses.

you can demand that. You have to keep phoning and phoning.
You can demand that as a human being.
I've recently also been on bruising training. No way would bruising round the neck result in anything other than immediate discussion with DSP and then an urgent phone call.
And anyone can make that call if it's an emergency - you don't have to go through the chain of command.

As a school we have done all of the above - and got precisely nowhere.

Nigella, sadly I can believe Feenie all too well.

Feenie, if SS won't react when you believe there is a real threat to a child, would NSPCC help perhaps? Just wondering if a report to them might put extra pressure on SS - I know they would just hand to SS but if it came from two routes... although I appreciate the school did try the GP as well.

in that case you phone the police.