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Baby P
BillieTheBot
Posts: 8,721 Bot
You almost certainly know which story I'm referring to in that title. It's the extremely disturbing case where that baby was subjected to horrific levels of brutality in its short 17-month life. The details are almost too awful to read. Up until now, Haringey Council has practically absolved itself of any responsibility for the death. The line from Sharon Shoesmith, the Director of Children's Services fot that council is effectively "Move along folks, nothing to see here.". Why is this woman still in her job? Her organisation has failed to protect this baby, with disastrous consequences. Had she any honour whatsoever, she would have already resigned. Shame on you.
So what do we get from the government? Earlier today, Ed Balls was wheeled out to the media to tell lies about how the latest review of children's welfare services will change things. Click here if you want the details on that. Isn't that what they said after Victoria Climbie died after the very same council failed dismally back in 2000? Have they honestly learnt nothing? I mean, some of the failures in this case truly defy belief. We had a doctor who somehow failed to spot that the baby had a broken back, for crying out loud! How the hell do you miss something like that? Here's hoping that doctor is promptly struck off by the General Medical Council.
I've come to believe increasingly that the only way things will change in social services is if people are held criminally accountable when they fail in this way. Drastic, maybe. But consider this. If I were an air traffic controller, and I made a huge mistake resulting in the death of hundreds of people, I would most likely end up being prosecuted for manslaughter and end up doing a very long spell in prison. If I went out driving tonight and killed a person thanks to negligence at the wheel, I would be tried in court for manslaughter and would almost certainly face prison. So why aren't the senior management of Haringey Council's social services department, such as Sharon Shoesmith going to face the same treatment?
I have an awful feeling that Baby P will not be the last to die in this brutal way. What are your thoughts on all this?
So what do we get from the government? Earlier today, Ed Balls was wheeled out to the media to tell lies about how the latest review of children's welfare services will change things. Click here if you want the details on that. Isn't that what they said after Victoria Climbie died after the very same council failed dismally back in 2000? Have they honestly learnt nothing? I mean, some of the failures in this case truly defy belief. We had a doctor who somehow failed to spot that the baby had a broken back, for crying out loud! How the hell do you miss something like that? Here's hoping that doctor is promptly struck off by the General Medical Council.
I've come to believe increasingly that the only way things will change in social services is if people are held criminally accountable when they fail in this way. Drastic, maybe. But consider this. If I were an air traffic controller, and I made a huge mistake resulting in the death of hundreds of people, I would most likely end up being prosecuted for manslaughter and end up doing a very long spell in prison. If I went out driving tonight and killed a person thanks to negligence at the wheel, I would be tried in court for manslaughter and would almost certainly face prison. So why aren't the senior management of Haringey Council's social services department, such as Sharon Shoesmith going to face the same treatment?
I have an awful feeling that Baby P will not be the last to die in this brutal way. What are your thoughts on all this?
Beep boop. I'm a bot.
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However I did see that the nurse at the hospital failed to examine properly and see the horror he was put through.
VERDICT
totally disgusitng, hang draw and quarter the parents.
the nurse should never be allowed to practice again and sent back to her country of origin.
I know it can't be used as an excuse but in reality it is probably the case.
I know where I am the social services etc are under staffed and stretched to their limit, they rely on bank/angency staff who may work a few shifts at a time then go, then people wonder why communication is so poor.
I know I'll probably get shot down for saying it but thats my opinion and it's from someone who has to work with social service workers ect day to day while at the hospital.
How can things be changed if they are not recieveing money to cover the staffing numbers that are despretly needed, it can't happen and unfortunatly things slip through the net and, like this, have horrific consequences (sp?!)
I heard on the radio that it was a Dr who failed to pick up on the fact that the baby was suffering from spinal damage. Also the mother tried her hardest to cover up any signs of abuse by smearing the baby with chocolate.
Believe it or not it is hard to report abuse, you might think you would not think twice but in reality it is not always like that. A nurse at the trust I work at reported what she thought was child abuse, social services were called in and procedures were followed. It turned out the mother was not abusing the child and was so ashamed killed herself, leaving the child motherless. The nurse has never practiced since and feels she is living with this guilt. It's hard to make that decision.
As for the mother and the stepfather, being beaten to death by a lynch mob would be too good for them. What kind of people could seriously treat a baby like a dog. How sick do you have to be to rip out a baby's fingernails and toenails? I hope they all receive long sentences in prison. If I find out next year that the two men were used as punching bags by other criminals inside already, (remember that paedophiles and child killers are regarded as the lowest of the low by prisoners) I will shed no tears for them.
Obviously people with severe mental disorders. The father didn't even know how to read iirc.
People like these should be screened and tested before they're allowed to keep a baby. The fact that social services had checked the house on numerous occassions and found "nothing" wrong makes it all the more depressing.
You have to be screened to have a dog by the RSPCA but anyone can have kids :rolleyes: it's bad
I have come across social services in the education settings, in situations that are not pleasant, and the social workers have no time to actually do their job due to the sheer amount of paperwork and unachievable targets that have been set at local authority and government level. And, to top that off, funding has meant that the demand for social workers is high and the number of available social workers are low. I'm not saying that all social workers are angels. Far from it. But I do think that it is unfair to tarnish all social workers as being inept at their job. I've come across some who are simply superb. And it isn't a job that I could do.
Now, I am not condoning what happened to Baby P. It is a truly horrific case and somebody needs to be accountable. But since the Victoria Climbie tragedy there have been a lot of changes for the better and slowly things *are* improving. The Every Child Matters document is well used, well received and is making a difference to many children's lives. However, when there is such a reluctance to remove extremely vulnerable children from their parents as we have here, there will always be cases that 'fall through the system' so to speak. Which is tragic.
And the RSPCA are cunts who often make innocent animal owners go through hell.
I wouldn't want that level of intrusion.
But something needs changing here, this should have been avoided.
This case seems to have come about through as a result of several very stupid individuals. Why are people as incompetant as that employed by such important services?
Most social workers are scared of doing anything incase its the wrong decision and they loose their job over it. Yes i completely agree, that that mother should have been picked up when she had post natal depression and very closely monitored, plus i also think that he doctor must have been blind not to see a broken back and ribs and thus should be stricken off for good.
Yes, most social workers i have come into contact with are completely useless, but this is often due to their work load or their attitude rather than anything else.
Every child matters doesn't go far enough, they need to have more close working with vunerable parents, a friend of mine was cabable of looking after her son, but because they put her in a totally inapropriate foster home with him, she ran away with him, and thus had him taken away. She should have been able to keep him in a specialist unit.
Personally, i think all of the child protection laws and systems are out dated. most were put in place in the 80's and society as a whole has changed since and thus these laws need to change. Even the leaving care act, which was last reviewed 10 years ago, need deperately to be changed as its leaving lots of young people who have become used to living in the care system completely vunerable to so many things i.e. homelessness, drug abuse, neglect, compromising their health needs, general abuse... the list goes on...
tbh, i'm so angry with things like this because i was put through the mill by social services, but still i was taken into care and then these kids who are so little they have no way of convaying what happening are completely left to rot. what will it take for them to change policy?
Even if this is the case witht he serverity of this case i still think he should be named
What does everyone think of Gordon Brown's reaction to all this? In the House of Commons today, Macavity accused David Cameron of having a "party political" reason for raising this issue. What a despicable cunt you really are, Macavity.
Think they should all be tortured
So it would be ok if we did it to the parents but its completely unacceptable for them to do it to the kid? That sends out a somewhat confused message doesnt it? Torture is wrong regardless of the reasons.
As for Social Services in general, given the state of the care system is it any wonder that social workers do everything they can to keep the family together. They know full well what life chance kids in care have. Which of course isnt to excuse this case.
Its not ok to torture people no, but on a scale of badness, its much much less bad to give some fucking evil sadist a taste of their own medicine than it is for said sadist to torture and kill a small child. I really fucking hope he gets whats coming to him and the mother too who enabled it.
That poor baby was nearly the same age as my Félix :crying:
I mean wtf is going on?
WTF?!
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1925012.ece
She shouldn't be responsible for any living thing, ever again.
I have to say I won't be upset if that happens.
I work with children and the Child Protection guidelines etc are so ridiculously anal that I can't believe so many professionals let this slip.
As I was reading through the Times article, so many of the typical 'alarm bells' were triggered. I would never have let that child go back to its mother after witnessing some of these things. SO ridiculous.
However, a reason I hate journalism:
"The overweight woman, who had never had a full-time job"
There's just no need to mention it. It suggests that just because she's fat and hasn't had a job that she must be a dick. This statement is just so up itself.
(NB: I'm not trying to defend the mum! Just people who are overweight or jobless!)
Since this case is luckily the exception not the norm, Cameron's comments were oportunistic and nauseating in the extreme. He's right to raise the issue of this case, but very wrong to try to make political gain out of it by attempting to smear the nation-wide system. Unless the comment was taken out of context.
I don't think he said anything of the sort, from Hansard
PM answers
PM answers
Speaker calls the house to order
PM answers
PM answers
Speaker calls the house to order again
PM answers
His quote must have been taken out of context because I can't even see it. The nearest he gets is the reasonable question over whether Councils should investigate themselves in cases of this magnitude
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm081112/debtext/81112-0002.htm#08111228000013
I've actually been reading several Labour MPs blogs in the last day or two about this. Believe it or not, despite my visceral hatred of politicians, I do keep a very close eye on what they are saying. Like you say yourself Aladdin, keep your friends close and your enemies even closer. Not one of them is prepared to come to his defence, and many of these are politicians who do not have an axe to grind with the Prime Minister. Doesn't that speak volumes? This episode simply revealed just how emotionally deficient and tribal our Prime Minister really is. Instead of answering a simple question, he tells lies about how the Leader of the Opposition is somehow trying to make a political point. Tony Blair, for all of his faults, would never have dreamed of making such an offensive remark.
Incidentally, does anyone believe the woman who Haringey Council wheeled out in front of the media today when she said they were "truly sorry" for Baby P's death? If they were sorry, heads would have already rolled about this.