Daniel Pelka

[heygirl0001]

This petition supports the mandatory reporting of child abuse/neglect - so schools have to tell the authorities if they suspect a child is being harmed.

epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/53476

Every school has a Designated Child Protection Officer who is the nominated person to report teachers' concerns to social services. However they do not have to report them. There is no legal obligation to do so and it is completely at their discretion.

We know Daniel Pelka went to school with black eyes, bruises on his neck and in front of staff he ate food he found in bins. When he took food from other pupils' lunchboxes staff put them out of his reach. When fruit was given to the class he filled his pockets and ate it in the toilets. In court staff testified he was a "bag of bones," and that he looked like a child with cancer. His mother and her boyfriend did this to him and it seems no one at school made a fuss to the authorities that he was being hurt.

We do not know exactly what was done by school as the Serious Case Review into the case is ongoing. But clearly what should have happened didn't happen and one day, for the last time, CCTV from the school shows him trailing his killer mother in the playground.

Until schools have to report concerns to the authorities more children will continue to suffer. It actually removes the pressure of assessing a situation to decide if a child is at risk of harm if they have to report concerns.

Sign this petition and please forward to as many people as possible. 100,000 signatures will help it become an issue debated in parliament.

thanks

[TylerHopkins]

Signed

[cafenoir]

Signed

[deepfriedsage]

Bump

[heygirl0001]

Thanks TylerHopkins - I'm new to mumsnet and all over the place. I just can't stop thinking about Daniel. When the trial was going on daily I searched for his name and dreaded seeing it, fearing what detail would emerge in court of his ordeal. I lived quite close to the area he lived in at one point and it just makes it worse. There are so many things wrong with the way we are that this can happen. We are urged generally not to get involved in other people's business so it goes against the norm to then do this. I don't think this is going to change now - this is the world we live in. But making it law is the only way to ensure children at risk of neglect and abuse are looked at by the social services. Critics say it will flood the system but I think the point is to get the information out of school and to the child protection experts - it's for them to assess whether the child is at real risk of harm.

[Dizzydummy]

Come on people, this only has 51 signatures so far!!!!!!!!!!!!

[runnerblade]

The issue of mandatory reporting is a complicated one. The evidence suggests that, where it is adopted, it does not necessarily lead to a reduction in child deaths, child protective systems become overwhelmed by referrals and most of these will be unsubstantiated ('...international comparisons suggest that, in America at least, which has the longest established mandatory reporting laws, increases in reporting have not been reflected in a reduction in child deaths' www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/publications/downloads/mandatoryreportingNI_wdf51133.pdf). I am not saying that we should not move towards mandated reporting, but that the evidence that it is effective is equivocal.

[Eebahgum]

Do we actually know that the school weren't reporting though? As a school, we regularly report children to a social services and nothing is done. It frustrates me that blame is placed on the school, and schools in general when most professionals would be screaming at the authorities for a case like this but that still doesn't necessarily mean someone would have intervened.

[HeySoulSister]

We know nothing! Not yet

[BuntyPenfold]

I've signed.

[LisaMumsnet]

Just to let you know that we are going to move this thread to our Petitions noticeboard shortly. MNHQ