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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:
blueshoes · 06/10/2009 09:20

Does anyone find it strange that if we take that domestic violence exists, because social services are advising the women to get out of the relationship/house etc, that it is domestic violence in the eyes of social services, but not domestic violence in the eyes of the police.

It seems rather convenient for authorities to be able to blow hot and cold when it suits them.

So the police are off the hook. Social services are off the hook because the onus falls on the woman to leave the relationship.

The abuser's human rights are intact. The children's 'interests' are being seemingly protected.

The only one who rights are ridden roughshod over are the woman's, who is not protected from violence, and who faces losing her children.

I think New York is on to something ...

dittany · 06/10/2009 18:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

snapple · 06/10/2009 23:03

Dittany and Blueshoes so a zero tolerance approach / barring order would need to be adopted.

AWR I congratulate you getting through this utter misery must have taken such perseverance. I can not imagine what you have been through.

AHR and John Fleming - I congratulate you both for your campaigning.

Alongside the many posters on here you have certainly made me really think about what tax payer money is spent on ? I mean how much money would have been spend on the court case for AHR ? imagine if those funds could have applied to focus on prevention and education say for teens to focus and change any destructive behaviours before they are transferred to adult relationships.

Right, I will look more into barring orders and the NY approach.

blueshoes · 07/10/2009 08:36

snapple, if you find out more about the NY approach I'd be interested to know.

cory · 07/10/2009 09:29

blueshoes and dittany, at first sight that seems very reasonable

but the police may know perfectly well what is going on but not have a strong enough case because the woman refuses to testify and no other witnesses are forthcoming

unfortunately, it is very common for a woman to refuse to tell on her partner

it is also common for an abused woman to keep letting a violent partner back into her home because he apologises and she thinks he is going to be all sweetness and light

just read the threads in the relationships section

so what are the police to do if the woman keeps changing her story or swears blind that her bruises are the result of a fall against the kitchen door and that her child who told the teacher that daddy beat mummy last night is just being naughty and telling a tall story?

I can see in a situation like that that the SWs still feel the need to do something

when authorities tell a woman to get out, they are saying "yes, we know what is going on". But the police have to have evidence that will stand up in court. And that isn't necessarily easy to get in a domestic setting.

snapple · 07/10/2009 22:11

October is Domestic Awareness month in NY.

It would be interesting if anyone had experience of this in action in NY ? there is a statement that many people say that getting an order of protection improved how they felt, including increasing their self-esteem and feelings of security

www.opdv.state.ny.us/help/fss/policecourts.html

Some research is alluded to on the second link

Protection Orders and Intimate Partner Violence: An 18-Month Study of 150 Black, Hispanic, and White Women

Intimate partner violence experienced by women before and after receipt of a 2-year protection order. Among other things, abused women who apply and qualify for a 2-year protection order, irrespective of whether or not they are granted the order, report significantly lower levels of violence during the subsequent 18 months.

  • However, I have not read the journal articles and this was in 2004.

www.aardvarc.org/dv/orders.shtml

snapple · 07/10/2009 22:14

And it should have read - October is Domestic Violence Awareness month!

blueshoes · 08/10/2009 21:22

Thanks for the links, snapple.

Interesting that in NY, women can apply directly to the family court, without a solicitor and with the assistance of a local domestic violence programme, for a protection order against a violent partner. And violation of it is grounds for mandatory arrest by the police.

I can see how such protection orders would be empowering to the woman feel more secure, so important for them to be able to break the cycle of violence. It also sends a strong message to the abuser that he is no longer free to terrorise her without serious consequences. Abusers are cowards at the end of the day.

No reference in those links to child protection issues, with the focus solely on action by the woman against the abuser.

blueshoes · 08/10/2009 21:26

Cory, I understand what you are saying about women who 'collude' with the abuser almost for whatever reason and are unable to place the safety of their children above their abusive relationship. That is so sad.

My concern is that at least for women who finally find the courage to break free of the relationship, that first and foremost they are adequately supported by the police/courts in ridding themselves of the abuser.

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