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.

[sandyRoe]

Would it not be the duty of teachers to pass their concerns to the social services?

[ummmm]

Yes but I would think they would first consult the parents. If the parents came up with a plausible excuse...

Could you imagine how many calls to social services would be made if each time a child acted in a concerning manner they bypassed the parents and went straight to SS?

[viv38]

The biggest tragedy of all is that this little mite couldn't say, help me, my parents are slowly killing me. This is what makes the abuse of innocents so vile, because they quite simply can't fight back and have to accept their terrible fate. What I wish for this child's vile parents isn't printable here, but first of all they should both be neutered.

[sandyRoe]

This little boy was stealing food, eating from bins, and occassionally coming to school covered in bruises. A teacher might think, whatever excuse the parents came up with, that it would be necessary to report it.

[ummmm]

It is beyond comprehension.

[anneasquith]

i did read this................ a teacher had concerns , and she noted in a book ?

[Octavius]

The school did act, the head teacher contacted the poor lads GP directly and he was prescribed nutritional tablets, an education welfare officer and the school nurse also visited his mother, but it seems schools have little influence over social services and the action was ineffective.

There seems to be a monthly catalogue of incidents leading up to his death, and its staggering that a liar could convince professionals that these were natural events, despite the emerging and consistently regular incidents.

A friend of mone was reported to social servoces by her ex partner, after weeks of upsetting interviews and assessments, they determined the report was indeed malicious intent by her ex partner (who is not even the childrens father), but even that does not appear to have happened here.

[ummmm]

The school do have a certain influence with social services.

[anneasquith]

thank you octavius, a very interesting piece of information, which goes back to my point, some agencies let this child down,

[Octavius]

Maybe Ummm, maybe not. They can report the situation, and then it goes to the CAF (Common Assesment Forum) which doesn't really involve teachers.

[andy-hughes]

My wife used to be Head of an inner-city school and she had numerous instances of physical and sexual abuse of children in her care.

When she contacted Social Services, their mantra was always 'keep the family together ...' which SS (No irony intended!) would continue to do even though there was massive evidence of abuse and neglect.

if that system is still in place, we will continue to have children murdered by their parents / families while people know, but are powerless to help.

[lynbrown]

Today the papers/online news are showing all the occasions when it was noted that the boy had injuries. Yet no-one took the decision to remove him from the home. I know others are saying the SWs cant win - they make mistakes too. But surely its best to err on the side of safety. I also blame the absent fathers in many of these cases. If they stuck around the area where their child lived, they would see if there was ill treatment. It would also act as a deterrent to the step fathers who are so cruel to these children. Lets hope their fellow prisoners are fully aware of the terrible crimes committed and manage to make their lives hell.

[anneasquith]

andy, I have friends who are social workers, and yes the policy has always been to keep families together with support from social work, that support may be weekly visits, but how many children are not being identified as at risk, obviously not this wee boy, :( I agree re the absent father, I wonder how long it had been since the biological father had seen or had any contact with his son ?

[jackthehat]

Mr Pelka was interviewed on TV last week at his home in Poland.
He and the boys mother split up when the lad was 18months old. He has a good job working as a welder and said that he had not been allowed to see the boy (by the mother) for some time.

He also said that if she hadn't wanted the boy, if she had just contacted Mr Pelka, he would have gladly taken his son into his home with his other children.

It was heartbreaking to watch.

[jackthehat]

*last night, I mean...

[anneasquith]

well I am in no way blaming mr, pelka, but two and a half years is a long time not to see his son, and if his wife said he could not see his son, surely he could have used the legal system to gain access .

[jackthehat]

He was in Poland........

And if the boys mother could yank the British 'Authorities' around, I doubt whether Mr Pelka would have fared any better.

[anneasquith]

I know he lives in Poland. but he could have applied to the courts to have access.................but this tragedy is not about the father........