Yet anothe case of parental abuse

[keg]

Having just read our local paper on line as i am away from home, a young 19yr old mother has been fould guilty of killing her 7 week old baby, the jury are still deliberating on the verdict of the boyfriend in the case.

 

If they were getting to the point of not not coping, why oh why did they not involve one of the charities involved in child protection or worst case social services.

 

I am not a huge fan of social workers but anything must be better than a baby losing its life.

 

Black and white i know....

[ferguson_tom]

I have a 3 month old son and it becomes harder and harder to understand how anyone can do this to their child. There is no excuse for it no matter how hard it gets.

[aris]

I blame social services. Too many scandals - and they seem to be a law unto themselves. Nobody trusts them. The parents probably thought if they asked for help, the child would be taken away from them and put up for adoption. Unfortunately stuff like this happens all the time. Fundamental lack of trust. The social care system is broken.

 

Sadly most of these cases are never reported - because it is unlawful to report on them! Christopher Booker at the Telegraph is one of the few journalists who does report these (within the law).

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/

 

For example:

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/9320905/The-baby-abducted-from-France-is-still-being-kept-from-its-parents.html

[955i]

I blame social services.

 

In defence of the social workers, my girlfriend is a detached youth worker and is supposed to take on case files for some of her more troubled kids to a maximum of 8 due to her other workload. She currently has 22 and is finding it very difficult to spend adequate time with the ones she is supposed to be helping.

 

She was telling me that most social workers in her area have around 150 cases to deal with at any one time!!

 

It is due to cutbacks in funding, not the efforts of the social workers as it is simply not possible to give the amount of time needed to resolve the types of cases they deal with when you are responsible for dealing with that many children and their problems.

 

Yet again, the government greed stuffs the people who need the help most.

[la bala]

In defence of the social workers, my girlfriend is a detached youth worker and is supposed to take on case files for some of her more troubled kids to a maximum of 8 due to her other workload. She currently has 22 and is finding it very difficult to spend adequate time with the ones she is supposed to be helping.

 

She was telling me that most social workers in her area have around 150 cases to deal with at any one time!!

 

It is due to cutbacks in funding, not the efforts of the social workers as it is simply not possible to give the amount of time needed to resolve the types of cases they deal with when you are responsible for dealing with that many children and their problems.

 

Yet again, the government greed stuffs the people who need the help most.

i am with you mate, its easy for some to slag all social workers, my daughter is a child protection officer. i wouldnt do the job for £10000 a week

[pegleg31]

My ex is a probation officer, she couldn't stand working along side social workers.

[keg]

In defence of the social workers, my girlfriend is a detached youth worker and is supposed to take on case files for some of her more troubled kids to a maximum of 8 due to her other workload. She currently has 22 and is finding it very difficult to spend adequate time with the ones she is supposed to be helping.

 

She was telling me that most social workers in her area have around 150 cases to deal with at any one time!!

 

It is due to cutbacks in funding, not the efforts of the social workers as it is simply not possible to give the amount of time needed to resolve the types of cases they deal with when you are responsible for dealing with that many children and their problems.

 

Yet again, the government greed stuffs the people who need the help most.

 

Or perhaps the very people that your good lady is trying help suck up more money and resource.

 

Don't think you can blame this on govt cuts, the same comments about funding were being made under new communism.

 

Not doubting your GF works hard by the way.

[bobt]

Having just read our local paper on line as i am away from home, a young 19yr old mother has been fould guilty of killing her 7 week old baby,

.

 

Black and white i know....

 

was she?

[955i]

Or perhaps the very people that your good lady is trying help suck up more money and resource.

 

Don't think you can blame this on govt cuts, the same comments about funding were being made under new communism.

 

Not doubting your GF works hard by the way.

 

No, the reason she has masses more cases than she should have is that government cuts are causing redundancies in her council and they are not being replaced so their workload is being spread among the people that are left.

[keg]

Was she what?

[digger]

My six month old daughter is teething and can drive me or the wife mad when one of us trys to settle her. So we do what sane people do ~ take a deep breath, take turns in soothing her or pop her in the buggy and take her out. I cannot fathom out how people could harm a child, especially a tiny tot. Its not as if its intentional that they cry. Hope they are both sterilised

[pimpkiller]

because some people are idiots and cant be trusted to operate a spoon, or most likely go right ahead and make a child not thinking what it will actually involve.

 

Got my first on the way

[keg]

My six month old daughter is teething and can drive me or the wife mad when one of us trys to settle her. So we do what sane people do ~ take a deep breath, take turns in soothing her or pop her in the buggy and take her out. I cannot fathom out how people could harm a child, especially a tiny tot. Its not as if its intentional that they cry. Hope they are both sterilised

 

Same as we did when she was a newborn, now 7 and the apple of my eye.

 

Congratulations Pimpkiller, when is he/she due?

[pimpkiller]

she should be coming in a month or two Im actually finding it annoying how there isnt any real info or support from the NHS and can understand how some people can be overwhelmed. Theres only a month or so to go and we havnt had any info on where to go or what to expect, bit silly really.

[four-wheel-drive]

People say get social services or charities involved the thing that stops people is the stories you here about people doing that and having there children taken away and never getting them back I am talking about normal people who get stressed out not people with drug or drink problems .

[Mrs Sweepy]

she should be coming in a month or two Im actually finding it annoying how there isnt any real info or support from the NHS and can understand how some people can be overwhelmed. Theres only a month or so to go and we havnt had any info on where to go or what to expect, bit silly really.

It will be hard.stressful,tearful,hair pulling,worrying and damn right scary for most parts of your lives( that info they dont print in leafets )

But the little person that bring you all this stress, their love and you own for that child, will out weigh any of this.

If you dont understand what i mean now, hun

Then you will in a few months time.

Enjoy your little one, Your going to make a great dad

xxxxSuzy

[NickS]

Ever heard of post natal depression? It is why there is a legal distinction between murder and infanticide since it is recognised that in some cases, the depression can really get that bad. I have no idea whether this is the situation in this case but whatever the reason, it is a tragedy.

 

Nick

[NickS]

she should be coming in a month or two Im actually finding it annoying how there isnt any real info or support from the NHS and can understand how some people can be overwhelmed. Theres only a month or so to go and we havnt had any info on where to go or what to expect, bit silly really.

 

Congratulations! A word of advice - however prepared for parenthood you may think you are, (new) life is full of surprises. I have always said that until you have children, you do not know what real worry is. Your outlook completely changes and the things you think are so important become trivial in comparison to their needs. It is the most wonderful thing, even when they drive you crazy, so cherish every moment

 

Nick

[Lord Geordie]

When I was bringing up My Son, I asked for help from social services and have to say I have a LOT to thank them for. I found it hard to adjust emotionally finding out My lad had so many health issues. Add to that a LONG term relationship went south when we got the prognosis and I was struggling to juggle the emotions in my head. I approached Social services who arranged a meeting and subsequent respite for Me and offered a listening ear and a shoulder.

 

I have to say they were fantastic and supportive. I couldn't fault them.

 

I can't believe my little chap turns 18 this year :blink:

 

We have been on our tod now for 16 years.

[SakoQuad]

I blame social services. Too many scandals - and they seem to be a law unto themselves. Nobody trusts them. The parents probably thought if they asked for help, the child would be taken away from them and put up for adoption. Unfortunately stuff like this happens all the time. Fundamental lack of trust. The social care system is broken.

 

Sadly most of these cases are never reported - because it is unlawful to report on them! Christopher Booker at the Telegraph is one of the few journalists who does report these (within the law).

 

http://www.telegraph...istopherbooker/

 

For example:

 

http://www.telegraph...ts-parents.html

 

Yup undoubtedly they gather every morning over a cup of coffee or two, pulling names out of a hat, of people they then victimise by taking their children off of them for no good reason at all. They won't take any notice of senior managers, doctors, lawyers, police or even the courts or judges but will just set about causing as much misery as possible 'cos that's what they get up in the morning for, it just really makes them happy! When they aren't ripping children from the arms of loving, kind and simply great parents they are wilfully ignoring the psychopaths, drug addict, child abusing, lousy, neglectful mad and murderous parents that any fool could see should have their children removed at birth then be forcibly sterilised.

 

Makes you think doesn't it?

[aris]

I have no doubt they have done some good work. But there has been a scandal too many, and a lot of people just dont trust them. Keep in mind that the scandals are just what we hear about. Most of what goes on is done under a veil of legally sanctioned secrecy, with no public scrutiny.

 

 

[SakoQuad]

Sometimes they are guilty as charged as well, there are useless numpties in every walk of life but no-one seems to slag off whole professions when one turns up elsewhere - you will never hear of the many thousands of children who are saved from neglect, cruelty or death though - it doesn't sell papers.

 

Whenever there has been a "scandal" I look for the presence of Health Visitors, doctors, teachers in the case and I can tell you that in many of them these other professionals have also been present and are as guilty as any of the Social Workers in their failure to protect a child. The difference is that the Social Worker is headlined and publicly gutted whilst the others might make a small paragraph on an inside page, if at all, when / if they are disciplined and sacked. It's a process that newspapers have followed since the Maria Colwell scandal in the very early 1970's.

 

There is a hugely exaggerated belief in the powers of Social Workers also perpetrated by those reporters who too often are lazy and sloppy in their research of facts but never let that get in the way of a story.

 

Social Workers have some pretty onerous responsibilities but very limited real power. That real power, and the decision making, is held by the Courts and Judges who actually make the legal orders and to whom Social Workers have to answer and I can promise you that they rarely get an easy ride in those Courts and don't take that accountability lightly.

[aris]

You don't read about much to do with social workers at all - because it is not lawful to publish. The fact remains though at there is a lack of trust - and I suspect that lack of trust is worse in the lower ends of the socio-economic spectrum.

[SakoQuad]

It's not lawful to publish information that identifies minors, nothing stops anyone publishing stories about Social Workers including what they do day in day out except good news doesn't sell papers.and the number of really bad events are, thank God, not as common as it sometimes might feel. Any restrictions there may be are those of the Courts, proceedings in which are widely reported, if there is a story someone reckons is worth reporting.

 

I can't deny there is a lack of trust. 40+ years of public vilification and selective reporting (combined with enough incidents of genuinely bad practice) have certainly ensured that and it won't change now. That mistrust is pretty evenly distributed between lower and middle socio-economic strata I think - the middle classes are if anything rather more averse to anyone from Social Services taking an interest in anything they do! The higher classes rarely have anything to do with them of course.

 

Whatever the thoughts about SW's though it is an appalling tragedy whenever a child is injured or killed by it's parents and there are usually people, professionals, neighbours or family who probably could have and should have taken steps that would have prevented it. Sadly in this country too often people think they shouldn't interfere when they most certainly should.