'Child Protection Should Be Higher Priority'

Here was a child who, between his birth on March 1 2006, and his death on August 3 2008, was seen 22 times by social services; 14 times by hospital staff; 13 times by doctors and four times in clinics.

A total of 28 experts - social workers, doctors and police officers - saw him during the period he was known to be at risk. And yet time and again he was returned to the torture chamber that was his home.



No matter how many times I read this its still doesnt get easier to comprehend how this happened!!!

You dont have to have a degree to see a child is been battered, but all these experts with all the qualifcations and training still got it wrong. This system needs a good shake up.

lincs wrote:You dont have to have a degree to see a child is been battered, but all these experts with all the qualifcations and training still got it wrong. This system needs a good shake up.

It seems like none of them cared...they knew but didnt care enough....

What is the world coming to when ppl leave their children alone at night then go out not thinking of the dangers and ppl still support them....and now this case where the baby was so let down...

....it seems that more and more ppl are uncaring!!

Ambersuz wrote:Here was a child who, between his birth on March 1 2006, and his death on August 3 2008, was seen 22 times by social services; 14 times by hospital staff; 13 times by doctors and four times in clinics.

A total of 28 experts - social workers, doctors and police officers - saw him during the period he was known to be at risk. And yet time and again he was returned to the torture chamber that was his home.



No matter how many times I read this its still doesnt get easier to comprehend how this happened!!!

ABSOLUTELY. It is beyond, way beyond, my comprehension. Even allowing for a few mistakes, or people not doing their jobs well, this is still absolutely incredible. HOW this happened will be a question that we will be asking ourselves for a long time.....

I think this particular baby will never be forgotton.

Dogwood wrote:

Ambersuz wrote:It suggested there were 8,067 violent incidents against children under 10 last year, up from 3,805 in 2006.


Good heavens and even knowing this they didnt take action sooner for Baby P???

It sounds like a question of money to me.

Yes but they always find the money to go to war. Why cant they find the money for our children?

Money shouldn't come into it.Our children are our future..there well being should be the most important..regardless of cost.

lubelle wrote:Money shouldn't come into it.Our children are our future..there well being should be the most important..regardless of cost.

Quite right

11:55pm UK, Monday March 02, 2009
A national campaign to recruit more child social workers is being launched amid fears cases like the death of Baby P will worsen the shortage of staff in the profession.

The Local Government Association (LGA) has also urged retired social workers to return to work as a short-term measure to help protect children from abuse or neglect.

Baby P died at the age of 17 months in August 2007 at the hands of his mother, her boyfriend and a lodger, although he had been seen numerous times by social workers and health professionals in Haringey, north London.

The LGA said it fears such cases will further reduce respect for child social workers, leading to mass departures from the profession and adding to the difficulty in attracting new candidates.

One in 10 child social worker posts are vacant at any one time and around 5,500 child social workers are agency staff, it said in its new report Respect and Protect.

"The fallout from the devastating case of Baby P is still being felt," the report said.

"Historical evidence shows that as respect for child social workers declines, people who were looking at child protection as their chosen career think again.

"Many long-standing experienced professionals may also decide enough is enough and leave.

"Just when we need to be tightening the safety net to do our best never to repeat the mistakes that contributed to the death of Baby P there becomes an increased danger that the gaps widen as people decide it's time to get out."

Up to 5,000 recently retired child social work professionals need to be encouraged back to work in the short term, according to LGA chair Margaret Eaton.

"Being a child social worker is one of the toughest jobs in Britain," she said.

"Encouraging back those who have been at the front line tirelessly working to save the lives of vulnerable children is key to helping plug the gaps and ensure that we, as a nation, can do everything we can to keep them safe.

"It is a tough job to do and for councils it is the toughest job to fill."

Children's Secretary Ed Balls has already urged experienced social workers to return to the profession.

I think that if the social workers are leaving then its because they know they arent good at their job so let them leave. What we need is for ppl to be trained well in this field or many more children will be victimised for years to come.

Allstar wrote:I think that if the social workers are leaving then its because they know they arent good at their job so let them leave. What we need is for ppl to be trained well in this field or many more children will be victimised for years to come.

agree with you 100%

Allstar wrote:I think that if the social workers are leaving then its because they know they arent good at their job so let them leave. What we need is for ppl to be trained well in this field or many more children will be victimised for years to come.

I agree totally. The govt should spend less on weapons and wars and see that our youth have a better tomorrow.

All Ed Balls can say.... let us learn from baby P mistake. How many times have we heard this when a baby or child has been killed.

Breaking News

1:32pm UK, Thursday March 12, 2009
Child protection has not been given the priority it deserves in the six years since the inquiry into the Victoria Climbie tragedy, says a report by the same author.


Lord Laming says there must be a stronger commitment to child protection.

His report, commissioned in the wake of the death of Baby P, criticises failings in information sharing between agencies, the poor training and support given to "overstretched" frontline staff and the red tape "hampering" social workers.

Lord Laming said Ed Balls should immediately address the "inadequacy" of the training and supply of frontline social workers.

"We have to make sure social workers are properly supported, trained and looked after," Lord Laming said.

"It is a job that not only involves intellectual demands but it is a job that is emotionally very stressful."

Lord Laming also said there was concern that quality social work was being put in danger by an "overemphasis on process and targets", singling out computer systems which were "hampering progress".

The report makes 58 recommendations on how to bring about a "step change" in protecting children from harm.

The Government must set explicit priorities for child protection and set up a National Safeguarding Delivery Unit to inject "greater energy and drive" into the implementation of reform, he said.

Lord Laming urged Health Secretary Alan Johnson to address the "wariness" of healthcare staff to get involved in child protection work and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to tackle the resources provided to police child protection teams.

And he said Justice Secretary Jack Straw should take immediate action to reduce the time taken for cases involving the care of children to come to court.

Lord Laming admitted that he might not have succeeded in conveying the need for all child protection agencies to work closer together in his Climbie report.

"I think that maybe I failed in the Victoria Climbie report," he said.

"Maybe I didn't manage to get across the need to achieve that everywhere as well as I should."

The Government has accepted all the reports recommendations.

Mr Balls said:"We are taking immediate action from today to implement them, and we will also send out our detailed response to all 58 of its recommendations before the end of next month."

Victoria Climbie was eight when she died in February 2000 having suffered horrific abuse at the hands of her great-aunt and the aunt's boyfriend.

The local authority involved - Haringey Council in north London - was severely criticised for failings in its involvement with Victoria in Lord Laming's 2003 report.

But in August 2007, 17-month-old Baby P died while on the child protection register.

He had suffered more than 50 injuries despite receiving 60 visits from social workers, doctors and police over an eight-month period.

Lord Laming was scathing about these kinds of failings in his report today.

He said: "It has been put to me that it is inevitable that some adults, for whatever reason, will deliberately harm children. That may well be so.

"Nevertheless, it cannot be beyond our wit to put in place ways of identifying early those children at risk of deliberate harm, and to put in place the means of securing their safety and proper development."

Shadow secretary for children Michael Gove, said: "This report is a remarkable indictment of the state of child protection in this country.

"We must fix the IT systems and expand the health visitor programme. We must publish Serious Case Reviews.

"We cannot have a situation where we keep terrible errors secret."

Ofsted says it welcomes the report and Dr Maggie Atkinson, president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services, said the recommendations were "pragmatic and sensible".

Report Findings

:: Child protection issues have not had "the priority they deserve"

:: Social workers' stress is "exacerbated" by indequate training;

:: An "over-emphasis on process and targets".

:: A lack of communication and joined-up working between agencies;

:: A lack of funding making social and child protection work a "Cinderella service".


Key Recommendations

:: A Cabinet sub-committee responsible for setting a key direction for all Government departments for the protection of children;

:: A "National Safeguard Delivery Unit" to make sure the recommendations are implemented in every agency;

:: Serious steps to improve the recruitment and training of frontline workers;

:: A much clearer system of managerial accountability in all of the services.

Lets hope that they do something about the whole system now.

Dogwood wrote:Lets hope that they do something about the whole system now.

The trouble with this country is we are all talk and no action! Kick Gordon Brown out and let's look at our laws and justice system.

eddie wrote:

Dogwood wrote:Lets hope that they do something about the whole system now.

The trouble with this country is we are all talk and no action! Kick Gordon Brown out and let's look at our laws and justice system.

Quite right.