April 2012
2 posts
Vernon Quaintance trial
http://www.thisiscroydontoday.co.uk/Croydon-circumcision-campaigner-caught-child-porn/story-15866127-detail/story.html
Vernon Quaintance has been convicted. He was head of the Gilgal Society a group which supported the practice of male circumcision.
www.norm-uk.org is a group which campaigns against the practice of male circumcision and their website provides a wide range of information about...
Phil Frampton: article about his childhood
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2129073/Phil-understood-mother-abandoned-Only-unearthed-doomed-love-bigotry-decision.html
This article, by journalist Eileen Fairweather, describes Phil’s search for information about his birth mother and the brutal circumstances in which he was separated from her care.
March 2012
1 post
My comment regarding the proposed drastic...
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/28/03/2012/118112/fear-over-plans-to-slaughter-child-protection-guidance.htm
It seems that the Committee responsible for the revision of Working Together guidance has reduced this document from 390 pages and a number of supplements to just 60 pages and rumour has it that it may even be further reduced to just 10 pages. The release of the consultation...
February 2012
1 post
Protecting Our Children
http://www.cypnow.co.uk/news/1115564/bbc-social-work-film-prompts-calls-early-police-support/
This is a summary of an article written by Mark Williams Thomas and myself in criticism of the BBC documentary about social work.
December 2011
1 post
CEOP advice link for young people: with short film
http://ceop.police.uk/missing/Young-people/My-Choice/
November 2011
5 posts
LETTER IN GUARDIAN 15th NOVEMBER 2011
• Your article (Nurse jailed for killing baby by force-feeding through jug, 12 November) noted that, although Diamond was taken to see doctors, she was not on the “at risk” register. Diamond was born mid-2009, more than a year after the child protection register had been abolished – so there was no register for her name to be on. After April 2008, vulnerable and abused children no...
Child migrants website - Scottish children sent to...
http://content.iriss.org.uk/goldenbridge/exhibition/think.html
This website traces the history of the child migrants from scotland children’s homes to Canada.
on of Children
Children were migrated to Canada between 1869 and 1939
Small numbers were migrated before and after these dates
100,000 children were migrated to Canada from the United Kingdom
10,000 of these came from Scotland
...
SERIOUS CASE REVIEW CHILD W ' DIAMOND'
Diamond died age 10 months in the London Borough of Waltham Forest in March 2010.
Her mother had force fed her and was found guilty of causing or allowing the death of her daughter in October 2011. The Review clearly exposed that the child protection enquiries had been subsumed as part of the core assessment process which had an impact on the quality of the child protection investigation and...
Stuart Syvret loses appeal.Please contact your MP
Stuart lost his appeal yesterday and he has asked that UK campaigners should contact their MPs to request their support of John Hemming’s early day motion.
Two main websites for Jersey care leavers ;
http://ricosorda.blogspot.com/
http://voiceforchildren.blogspot.com/
EARLY DAY MOTION
Mr. Hemmings EDM. (2370)
“That this House notes the imprisonment of Stuart Syvret;...
IMPRISONMENT OF STUART SYVRET IN JERSEY
Stuart Syvret, former Senator in Jersey was jailed for ten weeks on Wednesday 2nd November 2011.
He has always supported the survivors in Jersey and has spent many years exposing the exploitation of children on the island. Messages of support should be sent to:
Stuart Syvret (K Wing) HMP La Moye Rue Baal St Brelade JE38HQ
October 2011
3 posts
US child protection policy and increase in child...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/world-us-canada-15288865
This is an excellent link to a series of short dvds about child abuse in the US.
Conrtibutions from paediatricians, police and other professionals highlight failures in policy from which the UK must learn
Children used in drug trials: link to programme
It was on RTE Prime Time Thu 6. Oct 2011 Infant Drug Trials in Mother & Baby Homes and the Institutions. RTE Player. http://www.rte.ie/player/#!v=1115764
Prime Time - 6th October 2011
The founding principle of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic was a promise to “cherish all children of the nation equally”. One wonders what the executed leaders of that rebellion would...
Phil Frampton writes about the need for a return...
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/07/10/2011/117581/larger-childrens-homes-would-help-keep-siblings-together.htm
September 2011
6 posts
Interviewing children - good practice in Sweden
The link is to an article in Community Care that was published in the magazine on the 8th September. I write about the child protection excellent system in Sweden and other parts of Scandanavia and provide a critique of the UK systems of child abuse investigation as they are currently implemented.
...
Pembrokeshire child abuse Inquiry report August...
‘Joint investigation into the handling and management of the allegations of professional abuse and the arrangements for safeguardng and protecting children in education services in Pembrokeshire County Council’ August 2011.
This report examined 25 cases of alleged professional abuse of children within the education services between 2007-11 following the conviction in 2009 of a...
MASH:Multi Agency Safeguarding Hubs: Devon
National Foundation for Educational Research NFER has a website detailing publications concerning the pilot for the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hubs. This model implemented in Devon is a very welcome return to rigorous child protection protocols and procedures. Referral leads to an immediate and thorough multi agency assessment of the required response so that joint investigation of significant...
Harry Keeble's new book - police child protection...
Harry Keeble (pseudonym) is a currently serving police officer who worked in child protection in London. He wrote Baby X about his work protecting children in Haringey and Hackney and now has a new book. He writes vividly about the realities of the work and how he worked with social workers and other professionals on the most complex cases of child abuse. I strongly recommend both books.
Keeble H...
Phil Frampton on Woman's Hour
See link below for Phil Frampton’s contribution to Woman’s Hour about the need to return to bringing back orphanages and the importance of keeping siblings together in the care system. He promotes the children’s home model as is in place in Germany. This model ensures children from the same family stay together and provides stability. The British model of foster care makes this...
Oranges and Sunshine : film about child migrants/...
Oranges and Sunshine is a brilliant film directed by Jim Loach based on the book Empty Cradles by Margaret Humphreys (Corgi: 1994 -reprinted 2011). As a Nottingham social worker, she discovered in 1986 that a woman had been sent on a boat to Australia at the age of 4. This was the beginning of her extensive and persistent investigations concerning up to 150,000 children who were deported from...
August 2011
2 posts
Database delay highlighted on newsnight programme
Mark Williams-Thomas stresses the need for a national paedophile database to identify and rescue victims of child sexual abuse. Statistics from Interpol suggest that the UK is way behind other Europaen countries in tracking child victims from online images.
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/9532058.stm
BBC programme Tuesday 10.30pm
Click on any of these to see the trailer for a BBC programme by Roger Cook on Derek Slade - a perpetrator
who was convicted last year of crimes against children
http://youtu.be/6iQEDtaEvpc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iQEDtaEvpc&feature=player_embedded
July 2011
2 posts
Dr Sarah Nelson of Edinburgh University writes a...
Amy Winehouse, towering talent:
No mystery about her demons
By Sarah Nelson
Strange: though she wrote, performed and recorded most in her late teens and early 20s, young people were not Amy Winehouse’s main fans. Nor are they likely to feel her death the hardest.
Not so strange perhaps given her voice of a wild mama with 50 years of knowing world-weariness, and a jazz idiom unfamiliar or unloved...
Child protection reporting strengthens a failing...
Myriam Djick
30th June 2011
Article on the Press Gazette website
This online comment is about my article in the Press Gazette magazine today.
It is generally thought that the media give social workers a negative image yet my experience of the media has been positive and it has been the way in which many forms of serious child abuse and crimes against children have been exposed.
The Munro...
April 2011
1 post
Ofsted report
www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications/100224
This report from Ofsted is entitled ’ the voice of the child. learning lessons from serious case reviews’. It is a study of 67 SCRs carried out between April and September 2010. All the lessons are familiar and have been proven again and again through research of previous serious case reviews. There is nothing new in this report but it is worth...
February 2011
3 posts
BBC programme - children's rights lecture
ww.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ymf57
Richard Dimbleby lecture by Michael Morpurgo children’s author on the subject of children’s rights
This will be online for a further 6 days
Munro : Interim report: some initial comments
Why focus the review on abuse within families? Where are the systems for investigating serious crimes against children such as child trafficking for sexual exploitation, domestic exploitation, illegal adoption trade, illegal organ trade and children supplied to abuse networks ? Child abuse within families is understood and the systems for addressing this are well researched, tried and...
Jersey Care Leavers Press release as Council of...
PRESS RELEASE FROM JERSEY CARE LEAVERS ASSOCIATION TUESDAY 1ST FEBRUARY 2011 It is with the utmost dismay that we hear today that the Council of Ministers has reneged on a promise made in 2008 to hold a full Committee of Enquiry into the Historical Abuse enquiry. This really has to be the final straw for us, and the anger felt towards the Council of Ministers over this decision is beyond...
January 2011
1 post
Response to the Munro questions Jan 2011
link to article in Community Care
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2011/01/06/116054/experts-criticise-gap-in-munro-social-worker-questions.htm
The keywords within the review questions which I am seeking, and not finding, are Section 47 joint investigation, significant harm, strategy meeting , child protection conference and child protection register. Without child protection policies,...
December 2010
1 post
Child protection and the media debate
I contributed to a very interesting debate about child protection and the media organised by the University of West of England, Faculty of Business and Law and the Family, Gender and Equality Unit on 10th December 2010. Chaired by Professor Saville Kushner, Professor of Public Education UWE with presentations by Eileen Fairweather (journalist), Ben Leapman (Deputy News Editor The Sunday...
November 2010
3 posts
BASPCAN Meeting/Seminar December 6th
Lessons from the NHS Safeguarding
Improvement Team Peer Reviews
BASPCAN Greater London Branch Evening Seminar
Monday 6th December 2010
17.30 – 19.45
Institute of Child Health, Guildford Street, London
Guest Speaker
ALAN BEDFORD
Alan Bedford is Safeguarding Improvement Director for NHS London and chairs the Safeguarding Improvement Team (SIT) and has been assessing NHS services across...
Phil Frampton new website
Phil Frampton author of ‘Golly in the Cupboard’ - an account of his childhood in Barnardo’s care - has developed his website to include his television programme ‘Bring Back the Orphanage’. This programme explores the Kinderhaus in Germany as a model for child care.
www.philframpton.co.uk
Two television programmes
This link is to Newsnight on 23rd November concerning child sexual exploitation. The link will be up for one week only
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mk25
Also: Tonight (November 24th) at 10pm on Sky Crime & Investigation Channel
Damilola: Death of a 10 Year OldWe take an in-depth look at the tragic murder of Damilola Taylor and howhis case finally was brought to justice. Former Met...
October 2010
1 post
Afternoon Play
Every Child Matters is an excellent play about a social worker who has been suspended following a child care crisis. It was broadcast on Radio 4 on October 15th and is available to listen again to until Friday. Click here for the iPlayer.
September 2010
2 posts
Safeguarding/ Protecting
Michael Gove is cited in a Community Care article as recommending a shift from the word Safeguarding to Child Protection. This will be very welcome. But will the change of language be accompanied with a restoration of the child protection register, joint investigation work with police, specialist child protection social workers and the structures to enable proactive child protection investigation...
NSPCC closure (Surrey) update
Elmbridge Guardian 31.08.2010
Leatherhead centre closure will impact sexually-abused children, it is claimed: Paul Teed
A criminal justice board chairman said he is concerned therapy services in Surrey will not be able to adequately support sexually abused children after the NSPCC closes its Leatherhead centre.
Ben Byrne, chairman of the victim and witness group of Surrey’s criminal justice...
August 2010
6 posts
PhD Protecting Children
I have now completed my PhD ‘Protecting Children - a critical contribution to policy and practice development’. The PhD was by Prior Output and included 6 of my prior publications. There is a 10,000 word supporting statement which addresses 6 key themes;
A child rights approach including hearing the voices of children, adult survivors of abuse and professionals.
Prevention and...
Abused children and No Recourse to Public Funds
It has been drawn to my attention that, in some authorities, referrals of child abuse where the family have No Recourse to Public Funds are being rejected and no service provided. This is against the law. Section 47 applies to all children. Children have a right to protection from harm. If a social worker does not fulfil thier statutory duty under Section 47 then they are failing in their role...
The coalition and child protection
I await Eileen Munro’s first report with interest in September. The Coalition and BASW are united in promoting the Hackney model of ‘reclaiming social work’. I am not convinced at all about this model and am very concerned at it being swiftly promoted countrywide. If anyone has concerns about the Hackney model please do email me. I would like to learn from you more about the...
College of Social Work
I did apply for the College of Social Work to be a member of the Interim Committee.
They had 170 applicants and wrote very politely to inform me that I had been rejected - and didn’t even make the shortlist!
NSPCC close frontline service in Surrey.
The Surrey NSPCC Centre in Leatherhead is set for closure. It is the only centre in Surrey to support and offer therapy to children who have been sexually abused and to child witnesses who give evidence in court either as victims themselves or as witnesses. The project is called the After Sexual Abuse Project and the staff there are a highly professional and dedicated team with many years of...
Excellent play
The play Buried Alive presents a story of generational child abuse. The acting is excellent and the script brilliantly written. The play is at The Rose Theatre Bankside. 56 Park Street SE1 9AS. Box office 0207 261 9565. It is on until the 29th August.
I strongly recommend this play.
April 2010
2 posts
Nevres Kemal to stand as councillor in Haringey
Nevres Kemal is standing as a Lib Dem councillor in the Haringey elections and hopes to draw attention to children’s issues.
http://www.tottenham-today.co.uk/tn/news.cfm?id=11463&headline=Baby%20P%20whistleblower%20vows%20to%20bring%20change%20to%20Haringey
Get your MP to sign this EDM about children in...
EDM 1224 - YARL’S WOOD IMMIGRATION REMOVAL CENTRE 30.03.2010 “That this House notes that two of the Government’s most senior professional advisers, the Children’s Commissioner for England and Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons, have stated unequivocally that Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre, near Bedford, is `no place for a child’; further...
March 2010
3 posts
NSPCC campaign to change law is unnecessary
On 8th March the NSPCC issued a press release campaigning for a change in the law
To amend the Children Act 2004 to introduce a statutory duty to ensure that when any child who is the subject of an investigation under section 47 of the Children Act 1989; or a child protection plan agreed by the Local Safeguarding Children Board is visited by his or her key worker, the child shall if practicable...
Lisa Arthurworrey is now a registered social...
After ten years of struggle and hardship, Lisa Arthurworrey, Haringey social worker for Victoria Climbié, is a registered social worker. Some level of justice has been achieved following her experience of at least nine different legal processes prior to the GSCC hearings. Conditions attached to her registration including requirements of supervision and training are mainly what should be expected...
Link to ASPECT - trade union representing social...
http://www.aspect.org.uk/socialcare/ Roger Kline has represented a number of social workers who have contacted Liz for advice. They have received excellent representation and it is strongly recommended for social workers who are not in a trade union to join Aspect and obtain high quality advice and representation.
February 2010
5 posts
Comment on Khyra Ishaq case on channel 4 news...
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/uk/aposalarm+bells+should+have+rungapos/3562067
NSPCC cut back services
Link to Guardian article about the NSPCC change of direction and this includes the withdrawal of funding to London’s only safe house for children which will shortly close down.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/feb/14/nspcc-closures-redundancies-restructuring
Comment on NSPCC statistics
An NSPCC Freedom of Information request to police forces in England and Wales informs us that more than 21,000 sex offences against children were recorded last year – the equivalent of 60 each day. One in seven children were under 10, girls six times more likely to be victims than boys and four times as many children knew the sex offender than those where a stranger was responsible. These...
A new Haringey case
Andrew Gilligan February 20th Sunday Telegraph reports another child tragedy in Haringey where a child survived serious injuries .
Second Baby P case ‘buried’ by Haringey Council Haringey Council allowed a second “Baby Peter” case to occur more than a year after the first, then “buried” it, it can be revealed.
...