Lessons Have Been Learnt

[beastmonkey]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2381922/Daniel-Pelka-trial-Haunting-final-image-boy-4-starved-beaten-death-parents.html

will the social services stand in front of the cameras and tell us opportunities were missed, but lessons have been learnt, as usual?

whilst i realise it is easy to read these stories and criticise, it does seem to me that there were many opportunities and yet no one acted sufficiently to save this poor little boys life.

[ChillDoubt]

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question1263847.html

[Gromit]

I don't think the social services or police were aware of this family.

The boy's teacher noticed him looking for food but accepted the explanation that he had an eating disorder. How many times have you been lied t and believed it?

Why does it always have to be someones fault and why do you want to blame the council? It is the fault of the parents who were heavy drinkers and druggers.

[anotheoldgit]

This is an absolute tragic case, which has upset me greatly since i first heard of it, so much so that at one stage I wished that they would bring back capital punishment for such crimes, as these two creatures don't deserve to breath the same air as we do.

But these two are not the only ones that should be punished, surely when the school found this poor little mite was scavenging in the waste bins for scraps of food, alarm bells should have gone off, to say nothing for medical staff who treated this child's injuries, and what can be said once again regarding social services?????????????

We can only hope that some will be taken to task after the usual inquiry into this affair, and that the two killers will receive lengthy sentences and spend many years looking over their shoulders for those inside who will be only too pleased to dish out their own type of punishment.

[Gromit]

AOG

Ten of thousands of children break a limb every year. This family would have told the medics that he fell of a bike or something similar. Have you never believed a lie?

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

Maybe but surely there were other signs of physical abuse on his little body?

[brionon]

The 2 most hated people in England- Let us hope the judges aren't lenient. !!

[Gromit]

AOG

Your question infers that you believe people ignored the plight of this poor child. You may be right, but why would they do that?

[AB Editor]

Examples:

"He has an eating disorder, he's on a special diet, you can't feed him, it make his skin weak, he bruises easily, when he eat something he shouldn't he can have a fit"

And then the teachers who raised the issue say "oh, it must be very difficult to look after him" and go on to support the starvation of this child.

It's all easily believed - there is no one to blame here except his parents, who will go to jail for his murder.

[pixie373]

Yes. The parents are entirely responsible.

[AB Editor]

I think it is the cases where teachers/council have been involved, but were negligent or incapable where we should begin looking further afield.

We have enough shifting of the responsibility for children away from parents to continue doing so in these cases.

[Gromit]

It is a mystery in these cases why people seek to absolve the killers and try to blame the council, police, doctors, anyone except those responsible.

[joko]

i agree you cant 'blame' people for not being psychic.

all these incidents sound bad - and obvious - when mentioned all together, but they are seen individually and only on occasion, - (the hospital didn't know about him scavenging etc) so why would people make assumptions?

there is uproar when some overzealous SW causes an innocent family trouble because they jump to conclusions.

it clearly wasn't obvious that he was being mistreated otherwise someone would have noticed

the only people to blame here are the parents

[tonyav]

I fear there'll be another whitewash.

[sp1814]

Lesson will indeed be learned, and in the future, there will be a number of children at risk, who are taken into care.

In fact, I would lay a month's salary as a bet that between the death of Baby P, and now, there have been a number of children who have been saved by social services, and or education authorities.

However, we won't know about these cases, because unless the parents/guardians have been prosecuted, they would not have made the news.

The sad fact is - kids are going to be killed forever. There is no foolproof way of stopping it, in the same way that there is no foolproof way of preventing any kind of crime.

It's just impossible.

Every once in a while, a child will be killed by his or her own mum or dad (or more usually...step dad).

[andy-hughes]

I think the phrase 'lessons have been learned ...' is possibly the most mealy-mouthed non-entity soundbite ever trotted out in cases of a tragic death like this one.

If that is all any official can say, they should say nothing at all.

[anneasquith]

the people who killed this child are totally to blame, but when we have evil people who care for children, there are numerous agencies who have the training , funds. experience, in spotting a child who may be at risk. and if these agencies had done their job properly there would be '' no lessons to be learnt ''

[sandyRoe]

There's a journalist writes in the Sunday Telegraph who's running something of a campaign to highlight cases where children have been taken from their parents because they're thought to be at risk.
Whatever social workers do, there'll be someone to criticise them.

[AB Editor]

"If that is all any official can say, they should say nothing at all."

In fairness, I don't think anyone has actually said it.

[ummmm]

What agencies?

Teachers might be trained to spot signs of abuse but they're not psychiatrists, the aren't trained to spot a skillful liar.

[AB Editor]

... by which I mean, in the interviews I have heard no one has done the whole "lessons were learned by which I mean nothing will happen".