Naive Social Workers and another Child dies.

[modeller]

Again and again we hear of the failure of our Social Services I sometimes wonder if the do-gooders are running this country. They accept the word of the parents that everything is fine. What is it, are they naive or just incompetent ?

[Ankou]

quite a global statement really. what about all the children who have been removed from their abusive families by the ss and placed into safe care, and thus spared further abuses?

its like saying aog's posts are the sole representation of the whole of answerbank.

[sara3]

heaven forbid, Ankou!

I think we never hear about the good work Social Workers do. I suspect they have a massive case load, and the answer is to train more social workers.. but who would do it? it's evidently a massive responsibility, and you run the risk of being "outed" publicly if something goes wrong.

[Ankou]

...and entering into the most appalling premises where you are likely to be abused verbally and physically by the parents, experience traumatic circumstances and having to make on the spot life changing decisions that will affect families and a child#s future. as well as adhering to goverment, statutory and local authority rules and requirements.....

[Rosetta]

Its a broccoli job, you are damned if you do and damned if you dont

[cherrychapstick]

I wouldn't say they are scapegoats ,they target people who don't need them thus they have no time to see the ones who do need them ,if you ask for help they don't want to know !! say they can't help

[ghetto poet]

its a shame social services never get the credit for all the lives they save and only get the blame when another kid dies. social workers should be respected.

[Rosetta]

lol, I see the filter is still working even now. That was s h i t e job

[cherrychapstick]

Really....................

[modeller]

I believe they are overworked and understaffed but are they the right people for the job in the first place or if they are is their training at fault. To go to a house ten times and never speak directly to the child . A child who had been removed from the school 6 months before. Did no one have the common sense to insist on going into the house and seeing what was going on. I understand they may not have the power to do so because of the parents human rights. If that is the case the do-gooders have a lot to answer for.

[Rosetta]

children are removed from the educational system for a number of reasons and that has deemed to be a right of the parents. the downside is that this can be twisted how is this sorted is a massive question

[Sandy-Wroe]

Social workers have one of the most stressful jobs this side of the armed services. They have a heavy case load which means they can't give the time or attention that many cases clearly need.
Yet they probably get it right 99% of the time.
They're neither naive or incompetent. The entire profession is overworked and under funded.

[VHG]

There are always people like modeller who find it easy to sit behind a computer and *** people off but they have no experince of doing the job themselves.

I bet most social workers are overworked, too many cases, visiting the worst familes in the country, getting mentally and phyically abused, and then getting told by modeler that they are either naive or incompetent.

Maybe modeller should try to do the job for 6 months and see how "easy" it is.

[flip_flop]

Mrs Justice King said;

“It is beyond belief that in 2008 in a bustling, energetic and modern city like Birmingham, a child of seven was withdrawn from school and thereafter kept in squalid conditions for a period of five months before finally dying of starvation… No professional person, whether teacher or social worker, saw the children after Feb 2008 and no one tried to see them.”

Whilst we can accept that social workers, by and large, do a very good job (after all, nobody goes into a job to do a bad job), can we also accept that the social workers in this particular case are guilty of gross negligence?

[sara3]

do we know what reasons were given for taking the child out of school? if they believed she had moved or was out of the country, perhaps there was no cause for suspicion.

[anotheoldgit]

Nice to see I still get a mention in dispatches (this time courtesy of Ankou) even though I have made no comment.

Well not being a shivering coward, I will now put my slant on it.

I think this case was a typical example of what we have become to expect in this PC age.

Police officers, School Authorities as well as Social Workers, have to be very careful these days, especially when dealing with the Ethnic Minorities, they constantly have to approach things treading on egg shells.I presume this was the case in this latest despicable Child killing.

Why else did the authorities, hover on the doorstep of the house, having been refused entrance, even after numerous visits. One would have thought in the circumstances the police could have obtained a warrant to enter the house.

But then, would they then have been accused of harassment?

[Seadragon]

I don't think that is the case Oldgit. It's not about the authorities 'treading on egg-shells' but more about the lack of communication between those authorities. The fact that social work is a difficult and stressful job as mentioned by above posters, there is a shortage of social workers and a reliance on agency employees. Social services are overloaded and maybe the Police could have done more after being refused entry. The case would have passed from authority to authority with no real urgency attached to. What about the neighbours who suspected mistreatment but didn't do much about it?

Handsworth is a mixed race community, infact the school Khyra attended 'Grove School' I once did work experience for a week there. You may find that alot of those - Police, agency employees, teachers, health care workers and staff would be of an ethnic background.

And yeh maybe the PC age of the Personal Computer does play a part!!!!!!

[modeller]

VHG How much time have you spent with children and parents that enables you to criticise those of us who want to hold the authorities to account ?
I have spent 20 years !