Nursery worker found guilty of manslaughter

[LadyEloise1]

Such a dreadful case.
A nursery worker Kate Roughley, has been found guilty of manslaughter when a 9 month old baby, Genevieve in her care at a nursery died after being placed face down, tightly swaddled and strapped to a bean bag and covered with a blanket.
She left the obviously distressed baby girl in that position for 1 hour and 37 minutes.
Beyond horrific.
Where were the other adults at that nursery ?
How could they allow it to happen ?

The poor wee baby and her grieving parents.
How can they ever get over that

She looks awful, hard faced and got what she deserved. What about the other staff though? She must have bullied them too as nobody challenged her.No excuse they all saw and heard Genevieve fighting for her life and did nothing. They need to be charged with neglect or causing/allowing the death of a child.

Awful. The poor parents. You trust nursery staff to care for your babies. This is just horrific. What an evil twisted woman. I hope she gets a good sentence.

There are certainly some good nurseries, and lots of good staff, but they are sadly matched by bad ones too...i've seen a fair share of bad practice and crap staff over the years as a professional and a parent.
People really do need to be careful and do a thorough assessment of the staff and the environment.Do things like turn up abit early to collect, look/listen through the door or window, put examples of situations to them such as 'what would you do if my child did Y' or if 'X' happened to see their response, ask them to send you photos of your child so you know they aren't crying all day, and most importantly go with your gut and with your child...if something feels 'off' or the staff don't seem caring, intelligent, passionate and committed and/or your child continually gets upset going with no proof that they have quickly settled after you leave, then do not send your child there.
It's not easy....they put on facades and do things very differently in front of parents....I had the inside scoop from being a nursery worker and still made a mistake initially with my child sending her to a bad nursery and had to quickly remove her.Luckily I was vigilant and noticed the red flags early on.
I would have said CCTV should be a reassurance, as sometimes parents can log into the systems to watch their children...but in this case sadly it clesrly wasn't effective.

@newbathroomtiles
*It was locally known as an outstanding nursery.

It's in a very middle class / affluent area. Everyone I know loved it. Before this obviously.*

So how on earth did it fool parents into believing it was outstanding? And how can parents discern what a nursery is truly like? 😞

I completely agree, it would be a much better system. Children shouldn’t be away from their primary caregivers till they can at least start to communicate if something is wrong. They are so tiny and vulnerable, their safety and happiness shouldn’t be compromised because the government prioritises the economy over the well-being of the next generation.

The owner/manager of the nursery should also be prosecuted, a bean bag is in no way a suitable place for naps!

Indeed. The thread is about an evil twisted killer. Not [yet another] opportunity to judge women for trying to keep a roof over their heads.

Things have fortunately changed for the better, but when my elder children were born in the 1990s, maternity leave was 18 weeks. If you didn't have childcare and worked shifts, nursery was the only option.

See my post above....I've been on both sides- parent and nursery worker.
Nothing is fool proof, but thorough assessment and questioning is a must.
If they try to pull your screaming child off you and try to force you to leave without waiting to see if they calm down , make you feel like an overprotective or paranoid parent when you ask questions, don't want to do a thorough settling in process, or seem nonchalant and unpassionate about children, that's your cue to walk away.
Listen to your Child, and 'if in doubt pull them out'

This is incredibly chilling. I live in the local area and have friends who had their child in this nursery at the time of this devastating incident. It was a huge shock to all. Kate Roughley is criminally responsible and should now receive an appropriately long sentence.

However, for me that is only part of what should happen. Where were the nursery owners who were after all reaping the financial rewards? They have failed in their very fundamental duty of care. Where were the voices of the other staff who saw these unsafe practices being, what I can only assume, routinely used? Where were the safeguards from external agencies?

The funding situation will undoubtedly lead to an erosion of standards. It’s happening now. 6 months ago I pulled my toddler out of a nursery that had gone from outstanding to terrible having been taken over by a chain leading to an exodus of staff. What happened at this nursery was ringing in my ears. The nursery he now attends offers no free hours.

We need to do better. We pay more to ensure far higher standards across the board. Yes, I passionately believe in the importance of accessible nursery places to allow women to return to work but it cannot be at the expense of safety and standards.

It really does - Care for the very young, the vulnerable (eg SEN) and the elderly should be some kind of degree and then long term placements during training and really well paid . Care work and childcare seem to just be so undervalued and I can’t understand it when it’s such an important role full of responsibilty and requiring skill and care .

In the 2017 OFSTED report it says 7 members of staff are unqualified! Which isn't good.It also focuses heavily on the learning (as sadly many ofsted reports do) rather than things like the emotional presentation of the children, attachments and relationships and how the staff manage any emotional distress, settling in difficulties and challenging behaviour.

It says in the 2nd screenshot that they re-inspected it in Sept 2022 and found issues, so I'm guessing it reopened for a short while after?

First I have heard of this story today. How awful. Vile putrid creature. As has been said, I hope she rots in hell.

That poor wee baby. Her parents looked devastated. Her mother looked like her soul had been crushed.

Fucking hell. What does it take now for the UK to value the professionalism of those who work with the most vulnerable, babies in nurseries and elderly in care. I know many in the sector are fabulous but not all. High standards must be the expectation, high pay and rigid professional standards. This cannot be acceptable ever again. Totally abusive negligent murder. I feel sick to my stomach. RIP this poor little soul who died whilst in PAID CARE.

This will be the kind of beanbag, I assume. Not necessarily this brand, though I chose this to illustrate that it's not just those random amazon products. It's essentially an alternative to a baby swing or bouncer. They went through a bit of a popularity boom about 8 years ago, I remember a friend having one and DH was keen on it and wanted one for DS2. It's possible that the nursery had bought them a while before. I expect they are quite cosy and relaxing when they are used properly.

https://www.tuttibambini.com/playtime/beanbags.html

They aren't approved for safe sleep (despite the marketing - the text on the live page has changed, but the google cache says "Tutti Bambini bean bags represent a safe, comfortable space for your baby to relax and sleep."). I also don't think they are really designed for babies of 9 months who can sit up, crawl etc and they certainly wouldn't be designed to be used face down. That in itself is pretty sickening because you'd think common sense would say nobody should sleep face down on a beanbag, much less a young baby.

I'm certain OFSTED would not approve a product like this for sleep in a nursery. It's supposed to be cots with a relevant safety standard, toddler beds or floor mats only. It's not THAT unusual for nurseries to go outside of the "official safe sleep recommendations" because babies don't always tolerate sleeping flat, and use items like bouncers or pushchairs, although they really shouldn't do this, I can see how it comes to be normal practice. There have been deaths in childcare situations where children have been left to sleep in car seats, which have been fairly widely publicised, although I think none in the UK, at least not in nurseries.

Swaddling isn't advised after babies can roll, so a 9 month old should never be swaddled, in fact I don't think any babies in UK nurseries would be expected to be swaddled, since they tend to start at 6 months or older - and swaddling also isn't supposed to be combined with restraints like a harness. Again, being face down AND being swaddled is horrifying. It's just extreme negligence of basic safety not to mention compassion.

They were severely understaffed, even so can a nursery still run when the staff:baby ratio isn't enough?

Horrific case, I wonder what was going through her mind, jealously of the parents? I see that they are both legal professionals.

To have her parents there in the Court, I wonder if they believe in her innocence like many parents of those convicted do.

I can't see how this could not be intentional. Common sense here would be no other outcome.

They were severely understaffed, even so can a nursery still run when the staff:baby ratio isn't enough?

No.
If the Nursery don't have the right ratios, they have to close a room / tell families the children can't come, or can't stay.

I worked in a nursery in my young adult years and I would never allow a child under 2 in a nursery , never ! The stuff I saw and the cover up they do for each other was enough to scar me for life

I couldn’t actually finish reading about it, it was so horrific. The poor parents knowing how awful the last few hours of their baby girls life was.

Being an experienced nursery worker she knew how dangerous her actions were. As far as I’m concerned it was outright murder.

That’s what I don’t get either. It was murder.

It is a terrible case and I hope she never gets out of prison. Those poor parents.

But I agree the owners should also face prosecution as should other staff members. We need to make it clear they all need to speak out - she was probably doing this to other babies for years. And if they had spoken out the maybe this poor baby wouldn't have died.

I remember visiting a nursery after DS was born and there was a small child screaming which all the staff were ignoring. And when I asked if she was ok, they said 'Oh don't worry - she's Polish doesn't speak English and is always like this'. Obviously I decided not to send DS there but I do wish I'd reported that.

So many people are struggling to make ends meet. Most families need two working parents and therefore need childcare. Not everyone has parents or family to help.
Lets not blame the parents. Only one person is to blame here.

Yup I echo this. I would absolutely never use a nursery for a young child who cannot explain what happened to them. In fact for older kids too it would be my last resort. I've worked in nursery admittedly I'm going back a few years but I was horrified by some of what goes on and is covered up by other staff

@Twolittleloves

In the 2017 OFSTED report it says 7 members of staff are unqualified!

I think that's fairly normal with nurseries. They need a qualified member of staff in the room at all times but the workers can all be unqualified. Too many people assume most workers are qualified professionals when actually that's not the case at all. Only some are