Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
'Safety net' failed tortured baby
WHAT is the use of a children's protection register if it fails to protect our most vulnerable fellow citizens?
The BBC carries the story of the conviction of two men for the murder of a baby boy on Haringey Council's Child Protection Register. And the reaction, including from Lord Laming, the Children's Minister, the MP Lynne Featherstone, Sharon Shoesmith (Haringey Council), the police and others.
Another case like Victoria Climbie, possibly worse. Our council, again. Our councillors, our taxes and our responsibility too ...
The BBC carries the story of the conviction of two men for the murder of a baby boy on Haringey Council's Child Protection Register. And the reaction, including from Lord Laming, the Children's Minister, the MP Lynne Featherstone, Sharon Shoesmith (Haringey Council), the police and others.
Another case like Victoria Climbie, possibly worse. Our council, again. Our councillors, our taxes and our responsibility too ...
Tags for Forum Posts: Baby P, Climbie, Council, Haringey, Victoria, child, protection, register
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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FOR THE first time in 15 months, a politician has come forward to apologise for Haringey Council's performance in this case. The BBC reports that Liz Santry, the Cabinet Member for Children, has said they are truly sorry. Without the huge media attention yesterday, one wonders if anyone at the political level would ever take any kind of responsibility for what has happened.
In Councillor Santry's apology (see link), there may be a clue as to what went wrong in the first place:
"For the past 15 months in Haringey, there has been a huge amount of anguish and endless discussion about what we might have done to save this little boy. [emphasis added]."
One wonders if there were lots of reports, meetings and case conferences while baby P was on the At Risk Register? Was there possibly endless discussion about what to do in this case when baby P was suffering? Meetings and discussion can never be a substitute for action. Discussion is good, but discussion that is endless suggests a lack of leadership, an absence of knowing what is the right thing to do.
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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Ah but intially the official line was No link to the Victoria Climbie case
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Permalink Reply by irith on
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Regrettably I haven't lived in Harringay for 4 years, but I was there when the Victoria Climbie death happened. At the time the council's way of dealing with it was to make the Councillor whose responsibility was children's services to step down and become a deputy (I'm not sure of the exact bureaucratic titles, but this is the gist of it) and the then 'deputy' became the councillor with main responsibility. They could then say that the person responsible had been removed. The new 'head' then went on to become mayor. Talk about 'rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic'. Back then Harringay council put all the blame on the newly graduated caseworker. It was about her 2nd year in the job. My husband and I at one stage had a meeting with social services about fostering or adopting. We found the social workers so apalling we decided we couldn't bear to have to deal with them. One had NO listening skills and literally interrupted every single sentence we uttered. They told us Haringey has a policy of no long term fostering, so when they get around to removing children from dangerous situations their goal is to place them back quickly, not to give the child stability and a chance to recover. But of course what this boils down to is votes. Since when did any councillor seek votes on child protection issues? How many children have to be tortured and die before we march in the streets?
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