Leiland James Corkhill - heartbreaking interview with his birth mum. Obviously upsetting content relating to physical abuse of a baby.

[LastThursdayInJuly]

I can’t post the link but if you Google Leiland James and BBC news the interview will come up.

Of course, some children can’t stay safely with their parents but this case really doesn’t seem one of them. I’m not commenting on what happened to Leiland James afterwards because it’s obviously practically unheard of for adoptive parents to murder their children.

But I am concerned that people like Laura Corkhill are not treated fairly by SS and are not really able to navigate the system properly. I also agree with the woman who observed that it further punished women suffering domestic abuse by taking their children from them.

It’s a very specific social worker attitude to get overly defensive. When you find out in the news a teacher has been having sex with a pupil you don’t get swathes of teachers going “Oh but it’s a hard job, and not all teachers, and we are trying our hardest”. Teachers collectively express their disgust and reassure that they DO abide by safeguarding rules and wouldn’t stand for this. I’ve worked in schools and actually teachers do, IME, report their colleagues if any suspicions arise. They do accept the profession has bad apples and they don’t cover up for dangerous people. If they can get it right why not social workers.

I'm not excusing them, no-one is excusing them ffs. You attacked a poster for providing some context about the area. That it not excusing.

You are not actually reading what people are saying and you've decided what the narrative is. As you said, it's an emotive topic and feelings are running high so maybe step away because you are just trying to shut down anyone who isn't crying and wailing and demanding heads on stakes.

Please read what @TheCrowening posted last night, 1am ish. No excuses but I really good post detailing and addressing a lot of concerns raised here.

I actually think it’s more for geographical reasons. Barrow and South Lakes are v different to North Cumbria and the border. They have different requirements and needs of their community and this is recognised to have been a bit Carlisle-central. So it’s making authorities that better meet the needs of the communities they serve.

Wether or not it will change procedures and attitudes, I don’t know. It will be the same people in the same jobs. We will see I guess

I would like to see some acknowledgment of the need for change from the social worker apologists.
I am not a social worker but I can see the need for changing attitudes from an authority which has allowed such cataclysmic mistakes to be made on their watch.
I imagine that an Ofsted inspection will not be tolerant about Cumbria Social Services failure to protect vulnerable children in their care.

And of course there has to be a willingness to change.
But you don't do that by wading in, breaking everything apart, blaming and attacking.

You have to observe and learn. You have to understand the context of how something happened, understand the culture of the workplace and area.

You have to systematically understand and review how each mistake happened because it's not just one catastrophic action that led to where we are now, there will be a series of things as detailed in the report about the adopters.

If you don't do all that and go in all guns blazing, telling everyone they're shit and should be sacked, you're left with no service, no staff, no-one trying to protect children.

What then? It has to be careful and considered because anything else is meaningless and won't improve outcomes for children.

@TemperTrap . Are you a board moderator ? Are you telling me I cannot contribute to discussion? Are you trying to shut down any uncomfortable references to the serious review case finding because it is jolly hard for social workers to face criticism?
You are not doing Social Services any favours by defending their actions which led to the death of a child in the care of the local authority.
I hope the new authority is more prepared to learn, change and adapt to ensure the welfare of looked after children.
I am shocked that other people don't share my desire to see looked after children protected and supported.

Surely as a teacher you know that toddlers don’t attend school.

Of course I'm not and I don't work for social services either. I'm not trying to stop you posting I just realise we can't have a rational, sensible discussion when you're just basically shouting at everyone saying they're excusing child murder.

It's frankly batshit.

I wonder how many people who have concerns about the efficacy of Cumbria Social Services are discouraged from raising concerns and are effectively chased away.
Nothing has improved in the last ten years so a reluctance to change has not worked so far.
I hope any new director of the local authority social services unit is open to improved ways of working. A dynamic achieving local authority is much more likely to attract talented staff. I really hope that that is the outcome for Cumbria to ensure safety for the children in their care.

@Parkperson00 means that the older child’s school weren’t informed of a significant change in the family setting (LJ arriving). Given how I sterling a Looked After child can be in a new home to existing children, they should absolutely have been informed

@Simonjt but the adoptive family had a child in school already. One of the recommendations of the Review was a willingness to consult with other agencies.

If the school weren’t aware that a child had been fostered into the home they wouldn’t know to look out for signs of distress in the older child. Who on reflection was frequently emotional and upset. It takes so little to join up dots to build a bigger picture and basic things like picking up the phone to the school really cannot be excused

A dynamic achieving local authority is much more likely to attract talented staff

you aren't listening. It doesn't matter how fabulous the services are in that part of the world. It's in the arse end on nowhere and can't attract an outside workforce across nearly all sectors, BAE systems and sellafield being the exceptions.

The council is splitting in two unitary authorities at the direction of the Secretary of State. It's political/ geographical and absolutely nothing to do with children's services.

What kind of work do you do? Aren't you bound by confidentiality?

What kind of work do you do? Aren't you bound by confidentiality?

Eh?? I’m talking about a colleague not a client or service user.

And did I give names or details? Have you never seen someone else’s story told on MN?

A bit confused what you’re trying to imply here?

But I’d you wish to report me to my former employer (who would piss themselves laughing if you called them) by all means PM me and I’ll give you details so you can do just that

When I first read it I assumed a client until I got to the end. They've just misunderstood that I think.

I would say it is Cumbria Social Services who are not listening. It is easy to harangue me and tell me off. and tell me to stop contributing to discussion. I don't have vulnerable children in my care. I don't have the death of innocent children on my conscience due to safeguarding failures.
I really really hope that the new authority is receptive to the need for change and puts child welfare at the very heart of all their policies.

I imagine that an Ofsted inspection will not be tolerant about Cumbria Social Services failure to protect vulnerable children in their care.

Ofsted’s last focused visit was 2021 and the report is available to read online. The last full inspection in 2017 ironically found the adoption service to be one of the few that was performing well.

It does feel that I am one of the few posters hoping for better outcomes for these children. I cannot imagine teachers describing a school as in ´the arse end of nowhere' . Obviously there are factors to consider concerning the number of children in free school meals in assessing the socio economic background of a school or local authority. It shocks me that that the failure to adequately safeguard children in care is blamed on a provider being in the arse end of nowhere ´
Again, I really really hope that there are significant improvements to the provision for looked after children in Cumbria so that there are no more child murders.

Kindly, Parkperson, you don’t understand the work of social services. You are making lots of statements about how things should be without realising that’s exactly the aim of social services already. No social worker wants to remove a child from their parents or certainly the family as a whole. Adoption is a last resort. There has to be significant evidence of the risk of harm before a court would make an order, and while I don’t deny there are some “bad apples” who may let personal prejudices influence their work, it’s not on the say so of one person.

In Leiland’s case there was enough evidence of risk for the judge to make the care and placement orders. We don’t know what that evidence was because none of us have seen it. In respect of the potential adopters, we can see from the review that there was nowhere near enough evidence shared with social workers to indicate a risk of serious harm or to be able to predict what happened.

I know you will just carry on shouting that nobody cares about children except you, but I’m afraid you’re simply wrong.

I am not shouting. That kind of passive aggressive accusation is a way of trying to silence posters.
I remember when I first started teaching and meeting staff who had taught in Secondary Moderns and were quick to disparage and put down those teachers who wanted better outcomes for children. London had some terrible schools but groundbreaking leaders such as Donald Naismith were determined to improve schools for all children.
London comps are now some of the best performing schools in the country.

Put me down if you will but I firmly believe that the welfare of looked after children is the most important factor for change in Cumbria Social Services. I am shocked by the same kind of response to the need for change that I encountered back in secondary modern legacy teachers.

it is disappointing to read the apologists who don't appear to have the same ambitions for looked after children in Cumbria

I agree with you for the most part but no one is tying to blame remoteness or geography on SS failings. Just trying to provide context in a town that has a disproportionate history of failing women and children, it’s just a talking point

I have also just checked and this thread is on the News Board. There is no suggestion that it is a topic reserved for social workers only and yet at least two posters have suggested i should not contribute to the discussion because I am not a social worker.
Adding a comment about the local authority being 'in the arse end of nowhere' and then explaining it is 'just a talking point' is upsetting to read. A child was murdered whilst in the care of Cumbria Social Services.
I can't get over that

But the geography of the place is relevant to the question of its ability to improve. If educational outcomes are generally poor, how do you recruit degree standard social workers to do the best job for children, how do you keep them? With low council tax and other income for the council how to commission and pay for high quality services, how to you ensure the best services for children? How do you entice the big charities and national organisations who provide support to children and families to come and deliver that support in your area?

If your hope, as everyone’s clearly is despite your comments to the contrary, is that services on Cumbria improve, there are significant barriers to be overcome related to its geography and demographics that can’t be dismissed.