Yet Another Toddler Murdered!!

[piggynose]

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-59640370

is there nothing we can do to prevent this?

sorry if this was already covered.

[-SharonA-]

These people really don't deserve to be parents.

[johnk]

We have an investigation and a review then change nothing.
There's plenty the authorities can do but they don't.

[emmie]

according to the BBC News the other evening, sorry i don't have a link, 2 children a week are being killed by their parents or someone they know. That's an outrageous amount of children being let down by the social care system.

[barry1010]

That is an outrageous number of children being killed by murderers - that is where the blame firmly lies, not social services.

[emmie]

this is what i found, though the figures are lower than reported by the BBC -

https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/research-resources/statistics-briefings/child-deaths-abuse-neglect

[MrsCheese]

Social services is not fit for purpose at the moment, nearly every council service has been put on the back burner in the last 2 years, these poor kids slip through the cracks. Lockdown only makes things worse.

[emmie]

as we have seen with the two recent cases of little Arthur and Star, both were seen by social services, who let them down completely. Yes the parents are the ones who did it, but social services should be held to account for their complete mishandling of these cases.

[emmie]

lessons are never learned are they.......

[1ozzy]

It's a shame that some are allowed to breed.
But they can't be stopped.

[barry1010]

Social Services don't have enough power - but do we want them to have more?
Damned when they do, damned when they don't. This report from 2018
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7174446/mum-secret-courts-children-parents-record-numbers/

A more recent report
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/little-boy-taken-family-no-21775532

And who can forget what happened on Orkney?

[barry1010]

1ozzy - you are right. A know a woman who has a baby every two or three years. The baby is taken straight into care (without her permission) because she is not a fit parent. I think she will only stop when nature stops her

[emmie]

little arthur was starved and beaten to death, you would think someone noticed his emaciated figure, christ almighty

[davebro]

Yesterday's Mail also reported the case of Ella-Rose Clover in which SIX doctors had seen her & admit they should have seen the obvious signs of abuse! You just couldn't make it up.

[emmie]

davebro, no you couldn't. Better the child is in care of people who will care for them, a grandparent perhaps or in a foster home, better that than be murdered by a so called parent.

[pixie374]

I agree, Barry. That's what worries me, the sheer numbers unnecessarily taken away and left in a care system. Meanwhile, abusive murderers seem to have a brief interview where they obviously just lie.
Social Services have a pretty impossible job, I think more lack of staff and money and unworkable caseloads, rather than not enough powers.

[emmie]

if i saw a child that was thin as Arthur was and as battered i would have done something. The police are as much to blame.

[barry1010]

Wrongly removing a child from the parent(s) causes significant, lasting harm to the child, the parents and the wider family.

There are not nearly enough foster parents, there is a huge shortage and a big rise in the number of children taken into care.

Being placed into the care system is traumatic for the child and let's not forget that abuse has happened in care homes, too.

I wish I knew the answers. I wish that social services, the police, the courts had crystal balls that could tell them that a child is about to be abused and needs to be removed from a situation.

[emmie]

both Star and Arthur had been seen by the respective agencies, not one said let's take them out of the family control, not one helped them, you don't need a crystal ball if you see an emaciated child like Arthur, nor little Star who had multiple injuries,

[pixie374]

There's no real support or supervision of families, who are either just struggling, or dangerous. We should train retired people or other volunteers to stay with the most vulnerable families, give them help, support, plus- just notice! Try a bit better to keep them together and if not possible, at least somebody is around to report back before anything awful happens. All unlikely, I know, but the whole system needs renovating.

[barry1010]

pixie, I couldn't do that job. Every time a social worker is alone with a child there is the possibility of a false accusation of sexual misconduct.
Too much red tape; too big a risk of being sued for negligence; too big a caseload; not enough resources and every day being blatantly lied to and manipulated by people they are trying to help. Never mind the dangerous situations they sometimes find themselves in.

Damned for doing something about a situation; damned for doing too little.