Any social workers out there that could explain WHY? Re Dreadful case reagarding 17 month old

[Doobydoo]

Are there any social workers out there that can explain how something like this can happen?
How does the system operate?
What can be done to make it better?

In any agency that deals with vulnerable people/situations, it's difficult not to blam the professional whose job it is to get involved.

But one doesn't blame the police for crime, the fire service for fires, doctors for making people sick.

In hindsight, yes, Baby P should have been taken into care, but it should also be kept in mind that he saw his father a few days before his death, so his injuries may not have been apparent.

Whevme

Maybe you have access to the social services casenotes? If not then maybe you are jumping the gun.
A major part of my role is taking mentally ill people into hospital, sometimes against their will, if there are no other options. People who may otherwise harm themselves or more rarely others Believe me you would notice if we got rid of social workers, its a damn difficult job. You should try it.

Of course we get it wrong, we do not have crystal balls and cannot see into the future (wish we could). We make mistakes. Sometimes we do everything we can and something catastrophic can still happen. Its because we are human beings (albeit trained ones) dealing with other human beings.

I'm banging on about this but don't forget that social services do not operate in isolation. Lawyers advised in July 2007 that there was insufficent evidence to take Baby P into care.Social workers also rely on the evidence of their medical colleagues in cases like this.

Calling for the heads of social workers doesn't help in my opinion but you may want to join the Sun newspapers petition as this is exactly what they want too.

Haven't read other pages. Can't be bothered. But I feel tremendously sorry for social workers, as they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Always. They deserve fvcking medals. A friend of mine said the other day, if they had a magic wand, they'd use it. They haven't. As jellypop says, they're human, like the rest of us, doing a largely thankless task, and it's never the thousands upon thousands of cases where they make a positive difference that are lauded is it?
Off to hide thread too.....

Edam I think you would be tee'd off at any discourse that tries to put forward a balanced opinion of social work.

I am sure that the majority of SWs look at all evidence very carefully and would certainly take into consideration the suggestions of GPs if it was applicable to the case. As for 'group think' well I am sure we are all prone to being swayed by this. All the more reason to insure that Social Workers are invested in with excellent training provision and sound management that can give impartial overview and advice.

I have worked closely with SWs in previous posts and on the whole have found them to be a dedicated group of professionals. Certainly when I worked alongside Leaving Care snd Young Homeless Social Workers I was aware they were far more bound by legislation and assessment than I was in the voluntary sector.

I do think accountability is somehting that does need to be introduced...just as in other proffessions...

Fairlady I am pretty sure the local authority can be sued for negligence.

well...I meant some sort of personal accountability

I think the personal accountability bit comes when 'you' have a nervous breakdown because 'you' havent been able to protect kids in 'your' care from horrific abuse.

The very reason 'you' went into Social Work for in the first place.

izy....like I said earlier....I do realise sw is a very difficult field of work and I know I oculdn't do it....
but I think that, because of the way the family courts are run and things like that...it can all seem a bit like people can get away with things, even when they shouldn't....

however, I do realise that many SW are doing a terrific Job in most difficult work conditions...

but, when nursing, I was always very aware if I directly caused harm that would be the end of the line....iykwim...and the same will go once I am a qualified OT....

not sure I am making sense....

You make sense to me fairlady dont worry! I am just trying to put myself in the position of a child protection professional.

I am assuming you go into the job 'cos you love kids - can you imagine how horrific it would be that you have to live the rest of your life with the knowledge that you might have'f-cked up' and didn't stop baby P's death?

Well I honestly I think most people would rather endure a few years in prison, than a permanent personal hell of that kind. Hope I am making snese too!

or even 'sense' if that's possible lol!

Sorry to drag up a well-discussed subject, but I do feel the need to comment.
I was talking to a friend yesterday and this awful story came up. Two years ago, she became directly involved in a child abuse case after calling the police on her neighbours - their baby was shut outside in the early hours of the morning, in October, wearing only a nappy. The parents were in and she could hear them, but they refused to come to the door, so she took the little girl into her house and dialled 999. The police came and the eventual upshot of the sorry episode was the father being jailed for physical abuse.
For quite some time, various people had been worried about the children, and had seen or heard things they were uncomfortable with. Other children had gone to play at the house and had come back with odd stories. The children always looked un-cared for and often had mysterious injuries. Babysitters had refused to go back to the house.
However, when anyone mentioned calling Social Services or the police, they were told not to interfere, that they didn't know the full story, that it was none of their business, that they should give the family the benefit of the doubt. I find this attitude ingrained in Britain today, and now it seems to have made its way into SS practices. It has become socially unacceptable to criticise or to appeal to higher authorities, and non-intervention is the order of the day. Spineless libertarianism has won.
Sorry, this has turned into a political rant and I'm going to stop now.

SmallClanger you dont need to apologise for your opnions. That's a really sad case - not sure I agree with the spineless libertarianism bit tho'.

However, I think the example you have given demonstrates how looking out for our kids is not just the responsibility of Social Workers or Police (etc.) but should be down to all of us.

Smallclanger - it has turned into awalk on by society. I was thinking about the news story about the 84yr old man who intervened in a shop robbery whilst a crowd looked on. He stood up for what is right & the others watched like watching tv.

This is a discussion I was having with a friend over the w/e . She works in a mental health team and has to deal with social workers and various health care proffesionals and I said to her when you read this case did you or anybody you work with think "There but for the grace of god ?"
She said she was surprised it didn't happen more often . I don't really want to talk about the baby p case specfically but I bet a lot of the people involved in his care didn't even know half of the things that the papers have been able to get hold of.
All those neat and tidy time lines given would have never been available to most of the people because of various confidential issues or different depts having different ideas of what is or isn't important to another dept . I think the biggest change here has got to be health / education / social all talking to each other rather than just dealing with their bit and moving on .

why is it that every time I hide a thread, 10 more pop up in its place? Can't you keep them all together?

It's the old argument as far as system failures and operational failures. Where the system let the person down, or a bad decision made by an individual.

It was reported this morning that the police and a social worker wanted Baby P to be taken into foster care, which obviously didn't happen.

Any investigation will want to know 'why?'

Hi, we're going to keep all Baby P posts in one thread from now on. If you'd like to discuss this subject, then please can you use this thread Thanks very much.