General Chat

And this is progress? All the training and meetings, conferences etc etc don't seem to do any good, these tragedies still happen and if things don't change somehow we will still be reading about children being abused and murdered in years to come.

Lizx

maggie ...............



this was back in the mid-60s .............. before there was any kind of "must report". It was all on us, the teachers.

Plus, it was a Grammar School, as Cheshire refused to go Comprehensive for as long as they could.

So every girl in that school had passed the 11-plus ..................

we weren't dealing with possible educational problems, but possible abuse or no care.


I remember one girl ................. at the age of 14, she had been written off by most of the teachers ................. not because of education problems, she was actually bright.

But she had a boyfriend, had had one since she was 12, got as daring in ignoring the uniform as one could in those days, paid no attention in class, etc etc


All the teachers thought she was just killing time until she could leave school without incurring a penalty for her parents ................ paying no interest to any subject.

For some reason, I managed to capture her attention with some topic in biology, and she worked brilliantly for me .............. then she gradually began to talk to me


she lived with her grandmother, who was poorly, her father was home only occasionally, mother not in evidence for years ......................... the boyfriend paid her attention.


but no-one else was interested.



I left soon afterwards ............... but I do sometimes wonder how she turned out.

Not just the UK :-(

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/sa-coroner-mark-johns-hears-24th-day-of-evidence-in-the-chloe-valentine-abuse-and-neglect-inquest/story-fni6uo1m-1227229866722#itm=newscomau%7Chome%7Cnca-homepage-masthead-feature%7C4%7Cheading%7Chomepage%7Chomepage&itmt=1424418192478#itm=newscomau%7Chome%7Cnca-homepage-masthead-feature%7C4%7Cheading%7Chomepage%7Chomepage&itmt=1424418192724

I know many Social Workers are good people but there seem to be too many who are useless at their job and do not do what is needed to keep children and others safe.

Lizx

My grandson had one useless s/w and we found out last week she was agency and she was not renewed. Saving now a few more children from harm

I just wanted to say that sometimes people say they don't want to make a report because 'I don't have any proof'

nobody should ever worry about that ... it isn't our job to get proof or even evidence

If somebody has some reason to think a child is being harmed, that is good enough reason to report it, whatever that reason is, whether it is bruises or behaviour ... and it is the job of the social services or the police to find whether there is evidence of the child being harmed.

Erring on the side of the child is never a bad thing.

JoonieCloonie - an excellent comment.

Since I haven't followed the original case, I can't comment on that but can report a half heard conversation.

A young woman had worked in some form of work experience placement with SS. One case obviously involved child neglect or cruelty. She had challenged the social worker as to why the child hadn't been removed. Her own comment to her companion was that she got the impression that it wouldn't happen until the child was seriously injured, by which time it could be too late.

Even when concerns are raised by outsiders, the wheels turn exceedingly slowly. Our daughter aged about 12 told me her school friend had said her parents had hit her. It may have seemed wrong to her because we used other ways to discipline.

I phoned the school child protection officer who should have recoded it and notified SS. I got the impression he thought the girl was attention seeking. It took 2 years before the child was removed and that was only because the Head saw her father lash out at the girl while outside the school!

On the other hand a younger child with special needs claimed his step-father had caused a bruise. The SF had to move out will it was investigated. As it happens the SF was exonerated ( sp). The child had banged himself while climbing on furniture but lied because he thought he'd be told off.