The very sad case of Sara Sharif

Iam64 do not say you know nothing about this subject as you clearly do, and you gave some valid opinions and there is nothing wrong in doing that.

Diamond Lily it is correct that sometimes things are done right and sometimes they are not.
S.Workers do have high caseloads but they must be vigilant and work hard to protect vulnerable children.
Some parents will struggle but can make it with a good support worker in place and even the help from the school with parenting classes. The problems being that the funding is not always there to have a support worker for long.

Depending on the school there are safeguarding staff in place and I am sure they do their jobs to the best of their ability, although once again even they can get it wrong.
Lots of questions need to have answers in regard of Sara's case although getting the adults back first is needed.
I do hope the other children they absconded with are all okay. They have all been uprooted and taken away from the routine they know. Perhaps the children will never be brought back.

The main problem is 12 years of austerity. Cameron closed Surestart centres because he said families like his, not the people who really needed them were using them. That was possibly true in Knightsbridge, highly unlikely in Burnley, Blackburn and Accrington.
Alongside this, 20,000 less police officers, experienced sw/managers made redundant, mh/substance misuse teams decimated. Perfect storm - as we all predicted

Iam64

The main problem is 12 years of austerity. Cameron closed Surestart centres because he said families like his, not the people who really needed them were using them. That was possibly true in Knightsbridge, highly unlikely in Burnley, Blackburn and Accrington.
Alongside this, 20,000 less police officers, experienced sw/managers made redundant, mh/substance misuse teams decimated. Perfect storm - as we all predicted

Sadly, that is probably true because it always strikes me that the parents who need guidance are reluctant to get involved with anybody they perceive as being in authority. My own DIL detests Health visitors so sees them as the enemy so I had to move hell and high water to get her to agree to see them when it was obvious her little boy was ASD. Her sisters are all the same and so was her mother. Sadly, adults who have had childhoods which were lacking in the bonding aspects from their parents for whatever reason, can be helped and the cycle of poor parenting can be stopped in its tracks but funding is just not adequate.

The tragedy is how many excellent family centres, with staff groups growing in confidence and expertise are now closed. It will take money and time to rebuild these services.
The new Surestart centres had midwives, health visitors, mh worker, duty social worker on site. And a library for the children at the community school linked to the centre. Blair started these centres of excellence. They did work with hard to reach families. It’s shameful that this resource is gone

Very strange that they would kill her if they wanted to make money by putting her on the marriage market. Also we cant blame the stepmother too much. She is a victim too. She has to do and say exactly what she's told. Yes she might have had a hand in the abuse , but the father did nothing to stop it. Often in repressive patriarchal cultures women turn on women, often to appease their menfolk. Why oh why in our freer society wasn't this child removed to a safe home?
I just wonder if Pakistan will give the perpetrators up.

An awful lot of assumptions there Mantaray. So far very little information is available.

The news is reporting that the other five children have been taken from a relative's home in Pakistan by police. It will be interesting to see if statutory orders are being sought in the UK. The mother is Sara’s brother has said she will seek custody. Dreadful, complex situation for all these children

I saw this in the news too. The children were hidden by the family, their grandfather in fact, who has deliberately held this information from the Pakistani police, even when he was taken into custody and questioned. He denies knowing where the three adults are even now. What a dreadful family. I hope the children are returned to Britain very quickly and the mother of the oldest boy is allowed custody. I find it difficult to comprehend how her two children were ever allowed to be in their father’s care, although the word care is a total anomaly in this context.

The grandfather told the BBC he did not say he had the children because he was never asked!!!!!!!!!
What kind of grandfather would not say the children are safely with me? To get the children back to the U.K might be very difficult.
I agree that the boy probably should be given to his mother but perhaps the other three are happy and well cared for in Pakistan at least they are with relatives.
We have never been told why Sara's birth mother lost custody of her and her brother, there must have been something either true or false that gave the father custody.

I’m relieved these children are found. We don’t have any clear information about how or when the two older children ended up in the care of their father.
I expect the four younger children are British nationals. Let’s hope all five will be brought to the UK to allow necessary investigations to be completed

The grandfather told the BBC he did not say he had the children because he was never asked!!!!!!!!!

So that was lying by omission and obstructing police enquiries in both countries.

Afraid I wouldn’t trust that grandad as far as I could throw him he was obviously lying and knows exactly where they are I would think

So the children have been handed back to the grandfather !!!

What a family? How could those children be back with the grandfather, he same over as awful. No anger at what has happened to his granddaughter. That poor little girl, what she must have gone through, what are the others going through?

I also was very surprised to see that those children have been put back with the grandfather. As they must be British children, I’m unsure why the British have not asked for them to be returned to Britain. I’m going to cross my fingers and hope that the British authorities have requested their return.

I’ve just checked the latest news on line. It refers to Court hearings, one in a jurisdiction with power to make interim decisions. The children are in a government child care facility according to what I read.

Thanks for that update Iam. It sounds rather more satisfactory than as rumoured, the children were with their grandfather. I hope they’re returned to Britain soon.

Are they British nationals?
Who, and where, is their mother?
This appears to be a family run by the men: the father, grandfather and uncle and they seem to have no respect for the law.

maddyone

I also was very surprised to see that those children have been put back with the grandfather. As they must be British children, I’m unsure why the British have not asked for them to be returned to Britain. I’m going to cross my fingers and hope that the British authorities have requested their return.

I understand the UK does not have an extradition treaty with Pakistan. Incredible though that may seem, and given the numbers of people from there who choose to live here.

eazybee

Are they British nationals?
Who, and where, is their mother?
This appears to be a family run by the men: the father, grandfather and uncle and they seem to have no respect for the law.

The mother of Sara and her brother is a Polish woman, who is separated or divorced from their father (I am not sure which) He has custody of them (I don't know whether that is a legality or an informal agreement) There is a stepmother, and several children of hers by the father, and an uncle lived with the family in Britain. The entire family fled to the grandfather in Pakistan, when Sara died.

Thank you, Elegran.
I wondered if Sara's mother had married the father to gain British nationality, or possibly vice versa.
This is the sort of family where it is very difficult for social services, and school, to gain access, and the Polish mother's attitude seems very strange, to say the least.

eazybee

Thank you, Elegran.
I wondered if Sara's mother had married the father to gain British nationality, or possibly vice versa.
This is the sort of family where it is very difficult for social services, and school, to gain access, and the Polish mother's attitude seems very strange, to say the least.

Perhaps it's not her attitude, perhaps it's more likely that what you mentioned in your earlier post is the case here.

It has been reported that both the police and Social Services have been involved with this family on many occasions before Sara died. This indicates that the family were a cause for concern. The two older children, Sara and her thirteen year old brother, were the children of the Polish woman who has been mentioned. No one seems to know why these two children were living with their father rather than their mother, but perhaps their mother was sick, or had mental health issues. We don’t know. However she has told us in interview that her ex husband was very violent during their marriage and so perhaps he took the children by force and silenced her with violence. We don’t know. He then had a further four children with the step mother. We do know that Sara had many historic injuries when she died but we have not been told how she died. It seems unlikely to have been an accident as the step mother has claimed, due to the history of police and Social Services involvement, the historic abuse suffered by little Sara, and the alleged violence by the father, not to mention the lies readily told by the grandfather.
In my humble opinion these children need to be returned to Britain as quickly as possible. We may not have an extradition agreement with Pakistan, but the children would not be being extradited, they have committed no crime, they would simply be being returned to the country of their birth, which is responsible for them.

The make up poor little Sara was wearing smacked 'grooming ' to me. What a sad tale which we will never hear the truth of I'm sure. Another missed opportunity to save a small innocent child. RIP Sara

BBC News app - apparently the three adults who fled to Pakistan are returning to UK.