Stronger Safeguards" For Children Being Taught At Home

[naomi24]

//Questions need to be answered over the murder of 10-year-old Sara Sharif, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said, as ministers prepare "stronger safeguards" for children being taught at home.

Sara's father and stepmother were found guilty of her murder on Wednesday, in a case Sir Keir described as "awful".

It comes as the government said it would introduce a new duty so that parents need local authority consent to home-school children if the child is subject to a protection plan.

Speaking earlier, Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children's Commissioner for England, said it was "madness" that the law currently allows parents to take a child out of school, even if concerns had already been raised.//

 

Not before time.

[New Judge]

“Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said, as ministers prepare "stronger safeguards" for children being taught at home."

Well since there are no safeguards for them whatsoever at present, any that are proposed must be better.

“The new proposals would include a child identifier, to act like an NHS number, with a requirement for every council to have multi-agency child safeguarding teams.”

Councils already have armies of people supposedly tackling child abuse. It would have made no difference to this tragic child’s demise. Teachers reported their concerns to the social services before she was withdrawn from school. An investigation was opened but closed again six days later, without anybody seeing the parents or the child.

It doesn’t matter how many “child identifiers” she might have had or how many “multi-agencies” were involved, the outcome would have been the same. There is no will in this country to tackle problems which people of cultures which are at odds with those here create by adhering  to them. We mustn’t tackle “culturally sensitive” issues in case anybody gets upset. If that means seeing a ten year old girl die having suffered fractures and refractures, puncture wounds and abrasions, burns, blisters and bite marks, that’s the price to be paid for the rip-roaring success that is “multiculturalism.”  

[ynnafymmi]

No problems Naomi.Lessons will be"learnt"by the cops,the social workers,the school teachers etc....except these"lessons"wont be learnt and next time(as it always has been)a wee kiddie is murdered by their bloodthirsty parents,the authorities will be saying the same thing"lessons will be learnt"..it would be a joke if it wasnt so tragic.

[ToraToraTora]

yep bang on judge, the social services would rather this sort of thing happen than upset muslims. Social workers is one of those jobs that is full of trobiscites with no common sense terrified of upsetting alien "culture". If it was an indigenous white family they'd trake the kids away if the dad has the wrong opinion of something on twitface.

[jackthehat]

I didn't know that wasn't already the case....

Of course more stringent safeguards need to be put in place for those children who are less 'visible' in society. It's bonkers that this doesn't happen already.

[New Judge]

But the PM is missing the point.

Concerns were raised about this poor child when she was still attending school. A case was opened and closed. Nobody saw the child or the parents.

She had already been badly abused whilst still at school. Sod all was done about it.

[barry1010]

Sadly young children of all colours and religious/ethnic backgrounds are being murdered and abused by their parents, like Finley Boden, Dwelaniyah Robinson and far too many more.

Social Services are pilloried for removing children from their parents, pilloried if they don't. The courts are too keen to keep children with the family, abusive adults know how to work the system.

As for home schooling, that needs far more regulation and supervision, but how?

[chelle7272]

Home schooling needs regulation, it currently has none at all which I find abolutely astounding, and horrifying. Not only for safeguarding but for education. 

[sandyRoe]

Even apart from the dreadful abuse of children, shouldn't 'home schooling ' be a cause of concern?

There's more to learn at school than the lessons.

[New Judge]

"As for home schooling, that needs far more regulation and supervision, but how?"

By removing the provision for it entirely from the statute.

The Education Act says:

"The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education.... either by regular attendance at school or otherwise."

Those final two words should be removed. It is ludicrous that the country's education authorities go to enormous lengths to define syllabuses and standards and check on achievement when all a parent has to say is "I'll teach him myself."

No risk of prosecution for the child's non-attendance; no checks on how well the child is being educated; in fact no checks whether he is being educated at all.

It's utterly preposterous and would be laughable if it was not so serious. It would also considerably reduce the chances of events such as those being discussed here from occuring.

[davebro3]

//a case Sir Keir described as "awful".//

Not one for hypebole is he. Waste of space.

[fender62]

nothing is going to change sadly otherwise it would have with the other murdered children in the past, cultural sensitivities resources, social services staff living in fear of reprisals, we have seen mob rule works earlier in the summer when twi children were taken, they were given back, there is no law and order in the real sense, less you use hurty words.