The poor 17 month old -died of broken back

[skydancer1]

I just find these kind of stories of extreme abuse so very upsetting and wish we had better safeguards in place to stop such hideous harm happening or at least continuing (when it's pretty obvious!) to helpless children. Why on earth did the doctor not examine a child because he was already on an at risk register and was 'cranky and miserable' at an appointment and hence he/she failed to notice broken back and ribs? It beggars belief. I'm not a punitive 'hang them flog them' type (in fact I'm strongly against corporal punishment) but in this instance I think the mother should be forcibly sterilised to prevent her ever hurting or 'allowing' such hurt to any other child.

The people responsible for ignoring this child should be put on trial for aiding the murder. The mother & partner should be named & life should mean life.

cupsoftea if we do this nobody will want to go into child protection work at all.

We really need to overhaul the services and try to support staff in order to make the right decisions. Obviously staff should not be enabled to 'hide' mistakes, but would you want to do a job whereby you could be on tial for murder if you hadn't made an important phonecall? I know I dont have the balls to do a Social Worker's job.

izy- it's professional responsibility - for examplr if a doc just ignores an ill patient & they die they then accountable for their actions - investgation, court case, stopped from being a doc - why isn't it like this for those looking after at risk kids?

it says here that Haringey council didnt give the police all of the information, and it was only once they were actually in court that the info was given!

To be honest I think Social Workers can be prosecuted for negligence or at least the Local Authority could be, but I would have to check that. However 'put on trial for murder' well I think morale in these services would be so low that people would look for other employment and getting new staff would be very difficult. They so NEED good, dedicated individuals in children's services

I agree cupsoftea. Theres a whole list of people that led to this oys death, not just the two 'carers'.

^boys

Ok but flubdub if we put all the 'people' involved in the death on trial for murder including all the professionals who had 'contact' but dont investigate thoroughly why it happened, then children's services will be run down to zero. We will not be able to recruit the staff needed to protect our kids effectively.

We really need a thorough investigation and a proper overhaul of Haringey and Child Protection services nationwide.

yes izzyboy, they do need good honest 'on the ball' people working for social services, and as i said earlier they do have many. but when you apply for a job like that, you are aware of the risks involved. i like to think of it as a calling as such.
i applied to work with the families and children dept here where i live. the interview went well, and i got offered the job. however i actually turned it down, as i realised i am a very emotional person, and i think it could have seriously affected me. plus i think it would have been a wrong job for me, because of personal reasons.

so social workers today, know the risks involved and if they make mistakes they should 'pay' for them. this case is a prime example of this. they are all accountable.

Well at least you were honest with yourself Matildax but it is the high price of failure that potentially stops many Social Workers applying for posts in Child and Family services.

When a child dies it is so absolutely awful and emotive that I bet alot of those Social Workers in protection work live in fear of making mistakes.

izyboy

social workers and Local authorities have insurance against the possibilty of being prosecuted for negligence. So the potential is there for that situation to arise.

iz. you win my grace under fire award for today.....

I work for a large company selling to the publice sector. I am sick and tired of people saying there is no money, if only they had more budget they could do this, that and the other. The waste that goes on needs to be seen to be believed.

You could almost understand why this happened if they had NEVER seen Baby P but they saw him 60 times and still didnt do anything. If they could have afforded to see him '100' times would he have been saved....

I know what a difficult job SS have but as I said on my previous post - we have become so PC now we wont take a child from what was clearly a abusive situation because the mother was poor (although she seemed to be able to afford fags, a computer, internet access etc etc) and where does the childminder come in... I cannot believe this scum bag of a mother went to work, probably the childminder was another extra provided by SS to ensure the mother had some time to herself.

I have got to say - the family unit is breaking down and this is a shocking consequence. And dont get me started on Shannon Matthews. Seven children (different fathers) a scum bag boyfriend who looks at child porn in his spare time.

Thanks Pag but in actual fact it's been ok on here today so far. Yep, I was wondering about the insurance cover.

Yes, Rocky, it was detailed in a report that SS paid for baby P to go to a cm 4 days per week as the 'mother' was struggling.

The have all been named, sorry if someone has already said - baby P was baby Peter. x

"? Why did the local authority not abide by the fostering regulations when it used family friends as temporary carers for Baby P? "

Kinship Fostering is operated in many areas.

Cupsoftea - If all those guilty of ignoring child P should go on trial - that puts all of us - every single one of us in the dock.

It's so easy to sit there in front of your computer and be righteous and make threats about what you'd do to the people that did this. Then you'll get up, and walk away, knowing that there is someone else out there, doing their best to stop things like this happening every minute of the day so you can go off and have your cup of tea and biscuit and sit cosy in your own home.

My heart aches for this boy so much. But I dont feel like I am so innocent that I could point my finger at others without hypocrisy.

the worst thing about this case - apart from the dreadful treatment of the baby - is the fact that none of these three can be sent down for life because they have already been found not guilty of murder. According to the bbc website the max the mother could get is 14 years which will be half that, in all probability.

'causing or allowing a child's death' is a bloody scandal and a disgrace. There should be murder convictions here because that child was murdered. What the fuck does it take to get a murder conviction round here? were his injuries just not quite bad enough or something?

the more I read/hear about this revolting case the more astounded I am at the ignorance and neglect of those in positions of some power and authority. 60 visits by SS in 8 months - how many is that monthly, weekly? about two per week, right? how could a trained paediatrician not see the baby was paralysed from the waist down?

this is all just pointless words though really. None of us can bring him back and I am so sad about it, like everyone else.

donnie - the problem is that they can;t prove which of the defendants caused the injuries IIRC in a few cases people have had to be aquitted because although both defendants must have known of teh abuse it wasn;t possible to prove which committed it. Thats why a new charge of 'causing or allowing a child's death' was intorduced - better than nothing I suppose.

Two paediatricians have testified that they don't see how a paediatrician could have missed the injuries.

VVVQV - thanks for posting 'If all those guilty of ignoring child P should go on trial - that puts all of us - every single one of us in the dock.'

I don't feel quilty about what happened but what I do feel is a complete sense of powerlessness that such an awful thing could have happened to such an innocent young boy. I, like many others that I've spoken to in RL, have had trouble sleeping at nights for thinking about poor little baby Peter.

I would love to know what I personally can do to make a difference - I'm not a big one for writing to MPs etc but I'm willing to do anything that might help.

The thing that gave birth to him can't bring herself to tell what really happened, after the death of the poor little might. She is such a fucking monster.

Apparantley the council have apologised for not doing more! Fine, but what is going to be done to ensure that this, in the day and age, never, ever happens again?

Not wanting to sound like Barack Obama, but change needs to happen and happen fast and I, for one, will do whatever I can, however small a thing it might be.

x

I've been thinking that myself weegle. I've applied for information on foster caring, and - as it happens - enquired about Social Work degrees - particularly one that ties in with midwifery (what I'd like to do).

Even if I hadnt done the above, I cant, in all good concsience, condemn anyone for doing a job - even very badly - that plenty of folk, if we are honest, wouldnt consider doing because of the very nature of it.

Things went so badly wrong here, and I dont doubt that there are plenty of folk feeling really guilty right now about what they didnt/couldnt/wouldnt do with regard to Child P and would turn back the clock if they could. But, you know, the folks ultimately responsible for this are the three adults involved, and a society that allows them to conduct themselves in such a manner, and to allow this sort of behaviour to develop and escalate unchecked to such a degree that they get away with what these 3 degenerates did.

I have also made enquiries as to qualifications needed to start a SW degree, although I think I am probably not their ideal candidate, far too middle class.

I am a parent of 2 DC with SN and have plenty of common sense, so hopefully they would consider me.

Although, I amy perhaps be a little too judgemental for being a SW - because I think being brought up by a drug addict (as this 'mother' was) is no excuse, I was brought up by an alcoholic and lived in a completely dysfunctional family. I am well educated, responsible and am doing my damndest to be a better parent than my own mother.