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Take more babies away from bad parents, says Barnardo's chief

659 replies

bubblebutt · 06/09/2009 21:51

Many more children need to be taken into care at birth to stop them being damaged beyond repair by inadequate parents, the chief executive of the children's charity Barnardo's has told the Observer

How you can you say that when they the parents don't know how they will turn out themselves till after the event

Martin Narey called for less effort to be directed at "fixing families that can't be fixed" and for social workers to be braver about removing children at risk .

what tosh some families can be fixed and yes some cant but come on that means all babies that are under the SS would be taken into care because he fears another baby P and that is so wrong on many levels. A lot of families out there are going to suffer because of this reporting.

After revelations about the neglect and dysfunctional background of two young brothers from Doncaster who viciously attacked an 11-year-old boy and his nine-year-old nephew, social workers have once again come under fire for failing to intervene at an early stage.

this is alleged neglect and abuse no one knows this except the kids and their parents SS have to do a report and have to get all their facts together BEFORE they can remove a child. This takes time not 2 minutes. Another reason mistakes are made as there isnt enough Social Workers.

The brothers, aged 11 and 10, had been known to social services and police for several years. Their mother had allegedly given them cannabis as toddlers and forced them to forage for food in bins, while their father was allegedly a violent alcoholic. Despite this, the pair had been taken into care just three weeks before the attacks. The case has led to Doncaster social services opening an inquiry, its seventh serious case review since 2004.

What do they expect the SS to do wave a magic wand and its all better it doesnt work that way.The 2 boys are damaged now and need help as much as the other boys do.

Calling for more children to be in care from the moment they are born, Narey, a former director general of the Prison Service and previously a permanent secretary at the Home Office, made clear he was not reacting to this case in particular, but to issues with Britain's child protection services that needed urgent attention to avoid failing many more troubled young people.

Yes he is and a lot of families are going to suffer because of it.

"If you can take a baby very young and get them quickly into a permanent adoptive home, then we know that is where we have success," he said. "That's a view that is seen as a heresy among social services, where the thinking is that if someone, a parent, has failed, they deserve another chance. My own view is that we just need to take more children into care if we really want to put the interests of the child first.

So some one struggling is going to leapt on and the child taken away all cos she isnt coping the way the SS want and some want you to go after there arses cleaning em when they are old enough to do themselves Oh there is SS like this out there or the one that comdemns you if you cant cook and give your kids microwave meals all the time or something out of a tin god forbid they do that,

"We can't keep trying to fix families that are completely broken. It sounds terrible, but I think we try too hard with birth parents. I have seen children sent back to homes that I certainly wouldn't have sent them back to. I have been extremely surprised at decisions taken. If we really cared about the interests of the child, we would take children away as babies and put them into permanent adoptive families, where we know they will have the best possible outcome."

If the family is beyond repair so be it but what if they have turned there life around and can get their kids back why take that chance away as some SS do just that. they seem to tar every bad parent with the same brush hence why the SS shouldnt be there after 3 years as it makes them jaded in what they see everyday.

He said he understood his views would be seen as "illiberal heresy": "I think if social workers were courageous and sought to intervene quickly, and were supported properly in that, we would see far fewer problems."

As above and also there would be a national out cry from parents that have done nowt wrong but asked for help to be told they are neglecting their child(ren) when they clearly need help to be a better parent. Not penalized this way.

While foster care was on paper a good option for older children who had to be taken into care, he said, a shortage of suitable placements meant that children were suffering from a lack of stability. "What troubles me is the number of children I meet who have had vast numbers of placements. Last week, I met a 15-year-old girl and her foster mum. It was her 46th placement. The woman said that whenever there was a row or disagreement, the girl went to pack her bags. She expected to be sent on.

there isnt enough foster parents in the world as they are told to see the foster side as a business and it so isnt its helping and nuturing and caring for a child that needs your help

"It is undoubtedly a good option when children have been taken into care to replicate the family in foster care placements, but I have spent the past four years meeting a lot of children in care and I can tell you that it is by no means anything out of the ordinary to meet a child whose foster placements run into double figures. There comes a point where we have to accept that it is not working."

As above

Philippa Stroud of the thinktank Centre for Social Justice reacted cautiously to Narey's comments. "If the model is to move children very quickly to adoption, not necessarily from birth but certainly under a year, then that is something we would support," she said. "We need far more early intervention to try to stop this disintegration of the family we are seeing, but we would like to see more working with these families. What we recommend is the model of the mother and baby going into care, filling that hole and giving the whole family a chance. "With child protection, all the legislation is actually in place: it's the implementation that is the issue."

So if this is the case why do we see baby P stories all the time. I feel that the child protection and SS should be overhauled and the government needs to bring in more and they shouldnt be allowed anymore than 3 years in that field and then moved on if they wish to return they have to wait 3 years to do so. Also the work load of a SS shouldnt be anymore than 5 families and this is for full time workers not the part time.

The numbers of children taken into care rose slightly following the death of Baby P, the 17-month-old boy later named as Peter Connelly, who died in London in 2007 of injuries inflicted by his mother and her boyfriend, despite being seen repeatedly by doctors and social workers. But Narey says it was only a temporary increase.

How many of these babies, children whom parents hadnt done anything wrong really to their children and they where taken because of the mistakes of another SS office hmmmm that worries me more.

"As soon as these cases recede from the memory, everyone will get reluctant to move these children all over again. Only 4% of children adopted from care in England are under the age of one and the figure is even smaller in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

I for one hope it doesnt recede from memory as we need to be reminded of baby P and the others out there that their own parents didnt give a stuff about them. We need to address these mistakes and take stock and agree we where wrong. Not hidding behind we did nothing wrong and it wasnt our fault crap. If known abuse of any kind you amass your info and remove the kids. Not this wishy washy oh we didnt see this or that or she wouldnt let us in crap either. Also if on the "at risk registrar" they should visit more than once a week or what is the point of being on the registrar in the first place. Also no written warnings either. They should just turn up on the door. Again this would mean a full over haul of the SS departments all over the world.

"Less than 5% of the children taken into care in England last year were aged under a year old. Some 3,500 children were adopted in Britain from care, at an average age of four."

This is to do with the birth parents wanting their children back and fighting the SS over it and it takes on average a year to go to court with all the evidence they have against the other to proceed and sometimes this can be stopped if the paperwork isnt done right. Also the parents themselves could have turned their lives round and can show they have so this again hinder any proceedings. Also the SS could be dragging their heels too as one SS could be busy on other cases so it is again delayed. Not good for the child is it.

I copied and pasted this as its the article of said subject and it has angered me the silly man he is. I have added my own bits to it and wondered what you all thought.

"here itthe piece"

OP posts:
dittany · 12/09/2009 15:23

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dittany · 12/09/2009 15:26

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TheDMshouldbeRivened · 12/09/2009 16:03

'TheDMshouldbeRivened - Was the SW that made the claim about you responding to the needs of your child being a damaging action disciplined? Given your experience I would never ever meet a SW on my own. I think that the risk is far too high. shock'

She was. Then she reported me for using un-PC language in my own home and I recieved a very nasty letter threatening my dd's security.
In my own home I can say what I damn well please!
I no longer allow them into my house unless an advocate is here. As a disabled person I am very vunerable to someones prejudiced ideas of what disabled people can and cant do.
Last one was amazed a disabled person can be a msulim 'I thought that wasn't allowed' she said.
What planet is she from?

So my point is SW are human beings with a chock load of societies prejudices, just like anyone else. Especially towards those with a different or alternative lifestyle (I could tell you about the harrassment of travellers and traveller home educators). Even on mumsnet perfectly nice people think its ok to comment on scruffy dressing and say its only mannerly to dress in a way that is ok in society.
Imagine that sort of prejudice wrapped up in draconian powers!
Now of course children at risk need to be removed, and quickly, without all the arsing about and failures then many many different foster carers etc but how are children of more vunerable, yet perfectly good oarents going to be protected? I've had a SW (remember, all mine work on the disability team, not CP. The one we had who moved to the disability team from CP was a bloody nightmare and accused me of drugging my child (medicines from her paed), not feeding her and teaching her that being disabled was ok) comment on my messy house and demand it to be cleaner for the next visit. Or, and this is my favourite, make notes that my house doesn't have a fire guard or socket covers for the under 5. dd is quadriplegic ffs.
How can good parents who are 'different' be protected from not so good social workers? Systems need to be put into place before more powers are granted to protect parents and children.

wahwah · 12/09/2009 16:43

There are checks and balances in the system. Perhaps it would help people to know that. It's complicated to explain, but there is guidance for those who are interested. I'd recommend the london child protection procedures as they're really accessible.

I would LOVE public scrutiny of our work (if it could be managed without harming children or families and ultimately informed the public rather than the strange interests of a prurient few). I would be delighted if one of you lot could spend the day with me and the people I work and see how much thought goes into the work, how difficult it is, how we agonise over decisions and how many checks and balances there are.

Dittany, I have masses of experience and of course I know about MSBP (or factitious illness disorder or whatever it's called now) and I have never known a case where this diagnosis has been made. That tells you how rare it is.

Maria, get over the attachment stuff. This was a tiny part of my training and one of many theoretical perspectives considered. It is not the basis of social work and social work decisions, but it is extremely helpful conceptually.

I think I might be a bit grateful to you all.

If I fuck up in the job I'm in, not only do I have to live with the horrific consequences for the child, but my professional life will be over and probably my mental health (judging by what's happened to other people). I've always thought that the work I did was worth this risk, but you've all convinced me otherwise. I cannot achieve perfection and that seems to be the demand. I know I'm really good at what I do, but I can't be 100% all the time.

Anyway, I've made the decision to get out and do another job that's possibly available in a less high profile area. Pe

dittany · 12/09/2009 16:50

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johnhemming · 12/09/2009 17:04

The problem is that theoretically the family courts act as the main check on the system. They generally fail to do so.

This is obvious from the statistics.
thisis a big PDF of 2007 court stats.

Table 5.3 on page 93 (pdf page 94) gives you the number of applications by social workers that are rejected and accepted by the courts.

Table 5.4 gives the results. See how very few cases are rejected. Either the judgment of social workers is so very good or the courts fail to do their job properly.

dittany · 12/09/2009 17:17

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blueshoes · 12/09/2009 17:37

wahwah, I had a quick look at the London Child Protection Procedures. They are very comprehensive procedures and best practice directions - for that I am heartened. Do you reckon they are followed?

For example, guidance to social workers like interviewing the child alone.

Also, procedures to consult can be a form of checks and balances, but it is not scrutiny, much less public scrutiny. I recall in the Baby P case Ed Balls declined to make public details of serious case reviews in the Haringey borough. That is counter to transparency.

'Scrutiny', to me, means looking at all the evidence presented by all the agencies, and deciding whether a conclusion taken in a specific case on the specific facts was correct and whether procedures (like the London Child Protection Procedures) were followed.

I agree with johnhemming that the family courts have the task of applying scrutiny to the case before them. But if a family court gets it wrong, unless it becomes a high profile police case like Baby P, nobody gets to hear about the facts, there is little redress or lessons learnt.

That is chilling, particularly in the light of situations given by Riven and Cory. I cannot reconcile a power given to authorities to whip babies away from their parents (as suggested by Barnado's chief) with a lack of transparency and accountability to the public as to how those decisions are taken.

The key in all cases is to get it right, yes 100%, just like you never imprison an innocent man. But it is 98%, then there must be a reliable way to for the public scrutinise that 2% to ask why it happened to ensure that it does not happen again. It is not just the Baby P cases ...

blueshoes · 12/09/2009 17:55

Does anyone know any jurisdictions whose family court proceedings are not conducted in secret and how that has worked out?

sobloodystupid · 12/09/2009 17:58

snapple, tbh the SW Team Leaders are hugely unhelpful. In fact,one sw told me off the record, of course, that she had recommended in one case that a child be taken into care, but her manager made her change it.

I'm afraid the child I'm assisting was raped at six years old by her mother's partner , he was jailed and was released recently. I feel that I comply morally and legally with the guidelines but that SW don't (or can't or won't...whatever)

snapple · 12/09/2009 18:28

Thanks sobloodystupid and how bloody tragic.

Unfortunately, WahWah, despite your defensive post I don't think your assurance of your professional life being over if you stuff up is necessarily the case . I'd be interested in your take on the stats link though?

SW's on the Victoria Climbié were also involved in the Baby P case.

Public scrutiny is essential.

kentmumtj · 12/09/2009 18:42

well i need to read through some more of these posts but have quickly skim read through small parts of it.

i can say that being a S/W is an incredibly hard job that does come with a huge amount of responsibility

i agree wtih someone (cant remember who said it or when) that parents need to be educated more. However sadly that is not always the case as some parents have so many complex issues that they are simply not ready to parent at that time.

Is the care system a good place???? in my opinion No it isnt.

ive worked in many areas across S/W even disability team as i see this cropping up alot in the discussions, and what i can say is we do not make decisions by ourselves we also listen to other professionals advice ie doctors police health visitors etc etc.

its hard

i currently work assessing parents who are already in proceedings and applied to the curt for an independat assessment (sect 38 of the children act) and beleive you me i have many many many sleepless nights deliberating over some families

i also agree that not all S/W are good but there are some doctors who arent very good as well as chef's, cleaners, plice officers and childminders.
in fact in all walks of life you get some good and some not so good.
as a S/W you do carry a hige responsibility and sadly alot of it is about finances,

sadly it is impossible to say another child will not die at the hands of their parents, just like it is impossible to protect every child throughout the UK although this is something most people would ideally want.

Its not just S/W who have the responsibility towards protecting children this also lies within society.

S/W is a very sensitive area to discuss and brings out alot of emoitons for many different people depending on their experiences. speaking for myself i work very very hard in a job which seems to require you to work 8 days a week and 25 hours a day,
i dont think people go inot this line of work thinking its an easy job to earn a living as their are much more easier jobs, child protection is of course the hardest area to be in IMO
due to the high demands and stress put onto S/W many leave the job which places more stress on the workers still there as their case loads increase.
and due to all the public ourage against S/W it puts people off to train in this career.

kentmumtj · 12/09/2009 18:46

gosh i feel like i was waffling on and on there i think what i am trying to say is it is one of those areas where
'your dammed if you do and dammed if you dont'

i have worked with many families where there has been a very good outcome sadly these cases are not spoken about in the press, likewise ive worked with many families where the children were removed and placed fro adoption, it is unlitmalty not the S/W who makes this decision its the courts, again it could be the rght decisions and in some cases it may be the wrong decision.

I hear many of you slamming S/W i was just wondering how many of you actually had a family member or friend who was a S/W??

wahwah · 12/09/2009 19:41

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johnhemming · 12/09/2009 21:07

Which gets us nowhere.

I think it is right to allow parents in the family court a second opinion.

ie I think it should not be a criminal offence to find an expert independent of the local authority to express a view about a matter being considered by the court.

At the moment it is a criminal offence to do so.

Does anyone disagree?

And if so why?

chegirl · 12/09/2009 21:32

I am very torn about this move to remove more children, more quickly.

When the new targets for adoption came in I strongly suspected some of the parents with LD I worked with were being fasttracked through the system towards adoption.

But I have also witnessed, first hand what happens when a child is identified, prebirth as being at risk, and then followed the whole process through to adoption.

I am very very glad that the process was thorough. I have to look my DS in the eye and know that everything was done to give his birth mother a chance. I know it was because I saw it. It took two years despite her being clearly not able to put his needs before her own (apparent in the first few months or assessment).

The huge difference in our case was that DS came to us directly from his birth mum and stayed with us. This is because we are family. I nearly lost him at the 11th hour because ss 'changed their minds'. It is only because I was able to quote law, policy and best practice at them that he did come to us.
The process was hugely stressful for us (all the way through) and very very traumatic for DS in the first year (until contacts and reviews etc calmed down)) But at least he did not have to suffer multiple placements.

God only knows what it would have been like for DS if he had gone into FC. Not because FCs are horrible but because it is unlikely they would have put up with the level of contact and the antics of b.mum, plus he had many, many additional appointments. How is a busy fc supposed to fit all this in and advocate for him as well?

So after having a child removed and failing the process so spectactularly what happend? She had another baby in the same borough and guess what? After minimal monitoring she was left to take baby home and still has care of it (dont want to id gender).

So were they wrong about DS or are they wrong about 2nd child?

snapple · 12/09/2009 21:37

I have not been slamming ALL sw's but I have not been convinced that they are open to proper scrutiny. I think it is the lack of accountability and transparency that has been recently challenged on this thread.

wahwah I think the issue has been that the system is inadequate when the procedures are NOT followed.

dittany · 12/09/2009 21:43

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dittany · 12/09/2009 21:52

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NanaNina · 12/09/2009 23:37

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NanaNina · 12/09/2009 23:55

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snapple · 13/09/2009 00:12

Hi Nina, please kindly read the attached - note the comment woe betide if you disagree with the sw.

i've just not heard anything to suggest that sw's are not open to proper scrutiny.

www.familylawweek.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ed1171

SomeGuy · 13/09/2009 00:43

NanaNina, you're not doing your profession any favour whatsoever.

I haven't read the thread, but just saw your comment and went through Riven's posts only. Clearly she has had personal experiences, which doesn't give you the right to come on all 'I'm an expert'.

WTF is this about: 'make further insulting comments and airing your prejudices from a position of unenlightenment'?

I think this is the point that has been made. This idea that people are in a 'position of unenlightenment' because they are not 'professionals', is exactly what is being argued against.

I am capable enough to be able to make my way around 'the system' (not social workers, I have no contact with them, but the legal system in general), but I'm well aware that most people cannot, and moreover that the people subject to the mercy of the Philospher kings (as you evidently see yourself) are least likely to have the necessary resources to do so.

And even if they did try, the pedestal on which you place yourself as 'enlightened ones', experts, with them in a position of weakness, even relative to society as a whole, makes their position an unenviable one.

PS. You could really not be any more of a parody of a self-important social worker if you tried if you tried - telling people they are unelightened, that it's unprofessional to post anonymoised stories, and so on. And then having been so ridiculously pompous, you make personal comments that you pity someone's social worker. How professional you are.

Argh. God help us.

EldonAve · 13/09/2009 06:58

NanaNina - you are missing JH's point
If a parent wishes to appoint their own independent expert, and present the report to court they cannot
The judge can appoint one but the parents cannot

sobloodystupid · 13/09/2009 08:23

nananina, with regard to confidentiality, that's right, you don't know what area I work in. That's how confidentiality works.