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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:
wahwah · 04/10/2009 16:00

Edam, I have tried hard, but it all falls on stony ground. So perhaps I am unable to do it justice, or the recipient is unable to understand what I'm getting at, or is just getting at me!

Any way, it is a bit of a time waster and I have a real life too.

edam · 04/10/2009 16:06

Fair enough.

staggerlee · 04/10/2009 16:06

wahwah, i wouldn't worry too much.certain posters have a 'unique' style of debate and it doesn't vary whatever the topic

atlantis · 04/10/2009 16:09

WahWah,

I find your attitude towards these posts helpful and open.

If anything is to move forwards with regards to reshaping CP it is people like you who need to be at the forefront of the change, others attitudes are sadly more what we are used to dealing with, the element of superiority, arrogance and indifference to how service users and their families feel.

I respect the fact that you have had the decency to answer questions and have also agreed that there is problems within the service.

Quite frankly we need more people who are open to discussion from within the service.

dittany · 04/10/2009 16:42

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dittany · 04/10/2009 17:07

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staggerlee · 04/10/2009 17:20

What tripe dittany. Meadows theory was accepted by the medical profession who are,get this, medical experts.

Are you suggesting, for example, that social workers should argue with Consultant Paediatricians about the finer points regarding the clinical presentation of a child's broken leg?

Have you had a reality bypass?

dittany · 04/10/2009 17:34

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staggerlee · 04/10/2009 17:48

I used it as an example dittany. you will of course take it literally and i can't help you there.

There were many individuals in a number of professions who didn't question these individuals not just social workers.The Courts who ultimately heard and evaluated the evidence is one example.

Interesting therefore that you single social workers out-next you'll be saying they are responsible for world poverty and climate change

dittany · 04/10/2009 17:48

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dittany · 04/10/2009 17:56

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dittany · 04/10/2009 18:17

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staggerlee · 04/10/2009 18:18

You seem very worried today dittany.

At the time of meadows theory it was accepted by the medical profession as a valid medical theory and a medical condition. Are you suggesting that social workers have the necessary medical training and expertise to challenge accepted medical theory?
Of course social workers challenge other professionals, I do it everyday and its a necessary safeguard. However I'm not sure that I could challenge, for example, the work of Dr Robin Murray and the links he has identified between cannabis use and the onset of psychosis. I don't have the necessary knowledge and expertise to do so.

Forgive me but did I say that social workers shouldn't be scrutinised and held accountable for their actions? I think you have misunderstood me. What I find difficult to accept about your argument is that it completely ignores the context and focuses entirely on social workers. I would be interested to know why this is but don't expect you'll enlighten me

staggerlee · 04/10/2009 18:20

Oh love the comedy vignettes dittany-thats just what happens!

dittany · 04/10/2009 18:27

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dittany · 04/10/2009 18:30

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staggerlee · 04/10/2009 18:43

Guess I'll try one more time then throw in the towel as ceres suggested too long ago.

Meadows theories were accepted and vindicated by the medical profession. He was an expert witness (the clues in the title, dit). Social workers have to rely heavily on the evidence provided by a number of other professions-doctors being one-when deciding whether to initiate care proceedings.

Of course critical evaluation should be employed but disregarding accepted medical theory is something beyond this. Again dittany, social workers are indeed the lead agency in most-but not all-cases. They of course should be integral to this discussion but deciding to focus on them in isolation doesn't make sense-unless you have some other agenda which i suspect you do. In which case I can't help you

NanaNina · 04/10/2009 18:48

Wah wah and Staggerlee - I think you are both doing a brilliant job here in trying so patiently to defend social workers and trying time and again to explain matters under discussion. However I think Ceres is right - you are wasting your time and energy and it is for this reason that I am leaving this thread. There are people on here namely Dittany and her ilk who have more invested in believing the nonsense that they are posting than trying to understand your explanations. In fact your explanations (and mine in the past) just give rise to further criticisms, and latterly insulting comments. There seems to be an enormous amount of anger and bitterness in some of these posts and it just isn't going to be possible to have a rational debate. I think that we have been (and you are still trying) to have a rational debate with irrational people and that is a always a problem.

Dittany produces the Sunday Express report and as is always the case in the media, we can of necessity only hear one side of the case, as you will of course be aware. We also know how inaccurate press reporting often is and I am certain that Dudley MBC have a very different side to this account BUT Dittany will swallow it whole as it fits into her perception of reality. Oh and the idea that JH runs a support group "Families for Justice" is scary, very scary and I can only say he must be doing these families a lot of harm. I think the woman who has "fled the country" has done so on advice given by JH as I recall that he said in another post that he often advises parents to do this rather than face the injustice of the courts in the UK. Dittany is obsessed with the MSBP issue and it is getting so wearying having to keep on reading her posts about this and all the other rubbish that she and others post.

I actually think that there are some very arrogant people on here who have no idea about the complexities and stresses of social work yet think they have a right to make pronouncements on how it should be done. Not one of these people have responded to my request (which was quite genuine) as to how they reconcile the fact that they seem to be fighting for parent's rights yet at the same time shout from the roof tops when there is a child tragedy.

Well I'm off now to listen at a few doors and see if I can hear any arguments going on so I can snatch a few children and get them adopted OR maybe there are mothers out there who have epilepsy or had depression 5 years ago or were abused themselves as children 30 years ago and again I can snatch the children. I won't bother going to court I'll just get them adopted. SORRY for my sarcasm but it's the only way I know how to cope with what has become a ludicrous debate. Good luck to you both and I'm sure you can be much more help to people on other threads who are not possessed of the same kind of anger, bitterness and irrationality.

dittany · 04/10/2009 18:55

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johnhemming · 04/10/2009 18:55

The woman who fled the country did not do it on my advice. Her name is Angela Wileman and she posts here (in this thread as well) as ARW.

I run a support group called Justice for Families not Families for Justice. [there is an important difference]

Particularly nananina do you now accept that I have given a detailed factual answer that explains your question as to how I have statistics as to the numbers of children under 10 adopted from care?

dittany · 04/10/2009 19:02

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staggerlee · 04/10/2009 19:29

I didn't say that any other agencies could initiate care proceedings did I-I certainly didn't mean to.

To clarify, joint investigations with the police would occur in cases where a crime is believed to have been committed. Police would take the lead in collating evidence which could then be used by the LA in initiating civil proceedings. The police can also instigate a single agency response i.e emergency police protection powers.

What I'm getting at is that there are a number of other agencies who have statutory powers in relation to child protection and who influence any decision to initiate care proceedings. Which is why I consider the focus on the evils of social workers is a tad blinkered.

Anyway enough of this banging my head against a brickwall-you've made up your mind and thats that. I'm off to join nana, wahwah and ceres at the coven

happyandlucky · 04/10/2009 19:51

hi people im readig so much and the subject keeps changing ever so quickly.

in terms of DV can i ask people what they think is acceptable for children to witness and what they consider is grounds for removal????

dittany · 04/10/2009 19:52

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happyandlucky · 04/10/2009 20:00

and my above question is really posed for the people who are not social workers and i dont mena to exclude you but i would be really keen to here what the general public feel should be grounds for social work involement or not

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