Yet Another Child Killed By His Parent/step Father

[anneasquith]

sorry cant do links, but a 4 year old boy killed by his mother and step father, I thought after baby p. agencies were advised to communicate with each other, we are failing these children :(

[emmie]

perhaps they did, but like a lot of people choose to say nothing for fear of being labelled nosy or worse. One of our neighbours children screams a lot, is that a tantrum or what, who is to say, i did report it once to the local police, not sure the outcome. But they have two children now who are up very late sometimes, screaming and running about, you can hear them, other neighbours have mentioned it, but what should one do.

[LazyGun]

Truly dreadful catalogue of abuse, and shocking really that, despite some concerns raised by teachers and others, this still "slipped through the net".

When you look at the missed opportunities;
Broken arm over a year before he was found dead
Black eyes and emaciated looking reports by teachers
stealing sandwiches from classmates and rummaging in bins for food
community paediatrician who classed his as "underweight but not wasted" 3 months before his death.

Alarm bells should have been ringing much more loudly and more action should have been taken.

It raises other issues too; The inhumanity of effectively torturing a child - What possesses someone? The fact - unknown to me until reading the reports - that their was a sibling - was the sibling exempt from such treatment? If so, why? And the sheer indifference of the parents, as exemplified by a text message exchange calmly discussing very nearly drowning the child in a bath.

Being a social worker must be a trying and stressful job, so they have my admiration - but time after time we hear that the system has failed - at some point you also have to question whether the human components of that system have been negligent, lazy or incompetent as well.....

[emmie]

the leader of the social services has been called to resign, at least according to the news this morning, what will that solve, won't bring the boy back. However time and again we see these cases, and lessons are never learned.

[sandyRoe]

Some step-fathers don't like the children their new partner bring to the relationship. One child tortured and killed while another, probably the child of both murderers, was unharmed.
I'm sure 'lessons will be learnt', again.

[emmie]

read down it mentions the sibling and what he tried to do. What a heartbreaking story.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-23224826

[sandyRoe]

From reading that I see that the other child must have been older so couldn't have been the child of both killers.

[emmie]

it doesn't say, i hope he is well cared for in the future.

[naomi24]

I remember reading a report after the death of Baby P concluding that the authorities put too much emphasis on the ‘rights’ of parents and the importance of keeping families together. Too late for him, and for this poor little boy, but it’s high time that strategy was reassessed and the welfare of the child truly made the top priority.

[888sally888]

I hope they rot in hell. That poor kid - is totally heartbreaking.

[emmie]

i agree, however i think the problem lies in that there are not enough trained staff on social services, they have too many cases per person, that the chain of command is often lacking, and that some simply don't use common sense. Surely the school should have brought this to the police, he died weighing a stone and a half, how would no one notice.

[anneasquith]

sadly we must accept not all parents care for their children appropriately.indeed some parents/guardians will torture and kill their children, which makes them very vey evil people,,,,,,,,,,,but there are numerous agencies and the general public who must take responsibility for letting yet another child '' fall through the net'' :(

[Ric.ror]

Did anyone see a programme last night Neighbourhood something or other
A woman from social services went round and warned a couple she would not allow them to keep their baby in the dirty flat they were living in
The couple went to stay with relatives and returned when the flat was clean
We need more women like that - not social workers just out of university ticking boxes
Sorry for rambling but I am upset

[Peter Pedant]

I have not been able to watch the newscasts beyond "a Polish couple have been convicted...."

forced to channel or mute it - does anyone remember Maria Colwell ?

[Peter Pedant]

Anne a lot of the time it is the non-biological 'father' that is initiating the abuse and the mother is not reacting appropriately

as in this case - and also where the super-dad incinerated his step children

[Canary42]

Perhaps it's the constant cuts to the Welfare State which is to blame.

[anneasquith]

i dont care who initiates the abuse, a 4 year ols is dead, killed by his mother and step dad,

[mushroom25]

Sentenced.

this makes grim reading though.

http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/Resources/JCO/Documents/Judgments/r-v-krezolek-and-luczak-sentence.pdf

[ummmm]

30 years....good!

[emmie]

won't bring this poor wee boy back

[ummmm]

Obviously it won't bring him back.