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.

Women Out West are saying their emails to SS to agree and formalise the post birth support plan went unanswered. The birth mother was single during pregnancy and engaging well with this organisation. It's not been made clear why they were not involved in the decision making process.

As others have said, a lone social worker can't unilaterally remove a child.

There will have been many multidisciplinary meetings, and the ultimate decision would have been taken by the court.

It's a dreadful situation, but no child is removed from its parent/s on the say so of a lone social worker.

No one has claimed that this is what happened, @EmmaGrundyForPM

It’s interesting how some don’t want to hear about it, though, and are adamant that SS are not at fault in any way.

Because of domestic abuse!

Many children who are adopted live fulfilling lives and are well loved, even when they have had a traumatic start. What you are saying here is quite insulting towards adoptive parents. This child could’ve had a different life if he had been placed with a different family and adopted into a loving family.

I remain haunted by Poppi and what happened to her - the 'lost nappy' the terrible injury, the bungled investigations.

All of this.

I think the system doesn’t recognise the complexities attached to being a victim. I always say to those who harp on “why doesn’t she just leave” - if it was that easy then DV stats would be 0.

In an ideal world there’d be a hotline for beaten women that you could call and say ‘I need a place to stay so I can leave my abuser’. They send the police to help you move out, they set you up with a new home and resources to start again and they ensure you or your children never see the abuser again. I don’t think that’s a lot to ask for TBH but it’s not even close to what our support systems look like. More like if you do call the police then officers come round, are charmed by your abuser, go away and the SWs come and scrutinise YOU.

now Imagine trying to navigate a situation whereby you are trying to bide time, squirrel away money and find a suitable time to flee. In other words, taking the safest route out for you and your kids. Only for some SW, who works for a misogynistic organisation, to tell you that you’re unfit as a parent. Awful.

I was a victim of DV and SS got involved with me and my daughter. They removed her for a period of time and I had to fight tooth and nail to get her back into my care. And exceptional legal help. That was around 10 years ago now, we are happy I never did have another DV relationship and am now happily married to lovely DH.

I read this story and my heart breaks for her, obviously events have occurred to lead to a point where this would happen but my experience is that SS expect you to jump through every hoop even if it's impossible to jump through. Once their 'process' is in momentum, there's very little stopping it, they seemingly have to follow through.

They did not provide me with any support
They expected me to leave an abusive relationship as if by magic without any support
When I left the relationship they deemed that not good enough as I still lived in the same town as my abuser. I did not move because my daughter was settled at school there
My not moving town and uprooting my daughter was their main drive to removing my daughter from my care and into (luckily) a family member's. They said otherwise there was no evidence I was not keeping in touch with abuser.
They would not return daughter to my care until I completed a DV course. Which was a week long and 50 miles away. I could not get this off work, they wanted me to take unpaid leave to attend which then I couldn't afford the travel or my rent that month. I found the same course where I could complete it online and evidence this, they would not accept this.
They would not return daughter to my care until I moved towns, by this time I had been out of DV relationship for 12 months and no evidence that I was in one. Therefore I had to move, due to lease on the flat I originally moved into and then getting a new place I was paying 2 lots or rent for a time which put me into debt.
They made me complete regular drug and alcohol testing, even though there was never any suggestion or evidence that there was any issue with alcohol or drugs.
When my daughter returned to my care, that was it, no follow up, no reviews, never saw another social worker again in my life. I even checked with school, they heard nothing. Which just baffled me. Made me wander why I'd been put through hell on earth for a year.

My point is they made me jump through these hoops and constantly moved the goalposts. The legal process was complex and arduous. I am quite bright/have a degree (not bright enough to avoid DV, which is what a SW actually told me) and I struggled. So I can imagine it can be very difficult to understand. It's also soul destroying, I contemplated ending my life during this period of time.

I don't doubt there are good SWs out there, that do amazing work. My own experience, apart from one bad one, the SWs themselves were pleasant but I think I dealt with about 8 during the process and the lack of consistency caused setbacks and gave them a lack of insight into individual circumstances. The system however is not fit for purpose. I don't profess to now how to fix that, just offering up my own experience.

Why is it insulting, @acquiescence ? That’s a very genuine question. I’ve no doubt the majority of children placed with adoptive parents are loved and adored by them. I’m sure if my own children were to be taken from me and adopted, they’d be very loved by whoever adopted them. It doesn’t mean taking them from me would be right, does it?

Me too, it’s hard to believe in just a few years an organisation that is systemically competent and classist can turn themselves around.

It is one persons version of the story. Social services have their version and the truth is probably somewhere in between.

Maybe, except it is one persons version of the story supported by a reputable charity’s version of the story.

I believe her, in this particular instance. I also suspect lockdown made it far easier to fudge a few details.

My comment about adoption and ‘entering the system’ not always being a negative outcome was directed at this comment. Quote fail.

So sorry you went through that @JCWildWest and it does seem that common sense is absent from the process and “you can only get your child back once this box here is ticked” with no consideration how that ridiculousness affects the child they’re meant to protect. It seems many SWs see ‘protecting a child’ as ‘removing them from a parent’ rather than a holistic approach to protection. Because who is protecting children from incompetent children’s services. ? Parents are trying and no one is listening

I have no personal knowledge of this case so this is all pure speculation based on knowledge of the system:

I would guess...
Mum did reveal that she returned to a violent DP with DC's after they had previously left him for other violence. This will be seen as predictive behaviour of poor decision making in the future and of not having insight into the harm of DV to DC's.

Nothing is mentioned of the DF which says to me he's violent therefore a risk.

Mum appears vulnerable with little support - not having anyone available to be a kinship carer suggests she was abused/ in care herself.

Mum doesn't seem to understand the system/ jargon. Eg she insinuates that she 'passed several parenting assessments'. What I think she means is she had contact sessions and home visits which went well. A parenting assessment is much more than that and 'several' couldn't have been done in such a short time.

She didn't get communications. I'd think maybe she moved? Didn't open mail? Had things sent recorded delivery but didn't collect them? Didn't listen to voicemails? Changed her number and didn't tell them?

But it's a sad sad case.

There are many more mums like her out there.

Understandable - it’s difficult to navigate.

On an individual basis, many children will thrive, but statistically, outcomes for children entering the care system aren’t good, although I recognise we can’t know what would happen to them if they stayed with their birth families.

But it does mean that there is an argument for keeping children out of the care system where possible, although this should be a given.

Yes.

No it’s not always a negative experience, however children placed in the foster system are well documented to have poor outcomes such as trauma, difficulty maintaining healthy relationships, and later in life more likely to commit crimes, to have children who are in the system, to make poor choices etc. That should be taken into account when risk assessing and it isn’t. That’s not insulting, it’s the facts. And it’s not to say adoptive parents can’t be loving but you’re deluded if you think separation anxiety even in a newborn has no effects on a human being.

I don’t think I’m deluded. I agree that it’s a very difficult decision to make and there are many negative to a child being removed from birth parents, which is why is it is the absolute last resort.

I was simply disagreeing with this point ‘they are almost certain to have a difficult, traumatic and impoverished and possibly crime-driven life.’

Many children come through the care system and live successful and fulfilling lives, especially if they have a successful adoption at a younger age.

Well Leiland-James won’t be one of those people will he. and maybe if we stop blaming the birth mother and look at the processes and the (failing, SCR-riddled and highly incompetent) children’s services department involved, we’d see why.

Not to mention, in the same vein many children live happy prosperous lives with birth mothers who’ve previously had children removed. More id say than those put in care.

Thankyou @LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet I was in two minds about posting but this case struck a chord with me.

I realise it is important to protect the children as number one priority. But in DV cases the victim has already been subject to physical and/or emotional abuse.

What happens to the perpetrators of DV? Women and children need protecting from those scum, but that falls by the by.

I pressed charges against my abuser, it never went to court, as CPS deemed insufficient evidence as my word against his. Despite evidence of physical injuries, but he intimidated the neighbours who were the only witnesses. However SS deemed there sufficient evidence that my child had witnessed DV to graduate to temporarily removing her from my care. So how can it be both? There was enough evidence to punish me, but not enough to punish to the abuser?

I went through 12 months of hell, as far as I know my abuser moved on to another victim, no doubt to repeat the whole sorry process with another where there are potentially children involved.

My abuser also had previous for DV and a child of his own subject to child protection due to this. Did SS tell me any of that? No, and it was before Claire's law. They were just sitting back and watching history repeat itself.

Precisely. It's a bit late after the @devastating injury/ abuse/death.

It can’t just be about guessing though. It has to be evidence based. A man who has been charged with raping a child for example and has history - thats a safeguarding issue based on what very well could happen. Presumably the hold would stay with mum but say he’s a single dad, the child is far likelier to suffer harm with him than in social care.

Having been a victim of DV in the past and guessing it might happen again is not a good enough reason IMO to remove children. Especially if the parent is getting support and engaging with services.

I don't see how you can say social workers never get the decisions wrong when a child ended up murdered. Clearly they do.

Having been a victim of DV in the past and guessing it might happen again is not a good enough reason IMO to remove children. Especially if the parent is getting support and engaging with services.

I don't believe though that they remove children solely on this basis.