How could we have let Sara down so badly?

This is how I feel too Curleywhirly I m sure I would do something if I heard anything worrying
I ve done it for a dog and I m damned sure I d do it for a child
They can’t have been silent attacks, the brutality was enormous
We must all make sure we are vigilant at all times

Today is a day to remember brown-eyed Sara with the dancing eyes who smiled for the cameras in her school photograph even as her headscarf hid the bruises and wounds inflicted at home.

She deserved better.

I think her age was significant. At 9 years she was marriageable according to Muslim beliefs. Perhaps she was being coerced into a marriage which having mixed with other children she knew it was wrong.

The details that are known about the extent of abuse these two subjected Sara to are horrific. We can only imagine the pain and terror this little girl lived with. Systematic physical and emotional abuse, to levels it’s hard to comprehend.
It’s also hard to comprehend how Children’s Services could complete an investigation into reports of facial bruising and the demeanour showed by `Sara when questioned, in six days.

I may be wrong but I wonder whether the ‘investigation’ focussed only on the current facial bruising, rather than taking a wider view of the long-standing concerns about the history of domestic abuse, including towards the children. I read that social workers were concerned about his attitude to them, always a red flag.

I recognise that parents have the right to home school. That some parents do this well, that some children don’t thrive in a traditional school environment. However, Children’s Services will be well aware of attempts by abusive parents to avoid authorities by home schooling. These families are dangerous to children. I don’t have accurate timescales but the decision to home school came soon after what must have been a superficial investigation into facial bruising. That was crucial. Sara was never seen alive again, other than by neughbours in the garden.
It may also be relevant that school described Sara as lively, confident, always smiling. Maybe that lulled people into false security. One of the factors influencing the family court when her father was given Residence, was Sara’s expressed wish to live with him.

I’m not defending poor practice but - social workers with experience are rare. It’s just wrong that a sw degree after 3 years and at age 21 plus is supposed to equip a young person to investigate complex safeguarding situations.

Stansgran, there is no evidence to support your assumption,

I agree with both your last two posts, Iam.

FGT Sara was taken out of school by the parents so she didn’t even have the respite of getting out of the house during the day.

It’s totally appalling. I’m horrified at how easy it is to just take a child out of school and do ‘home schooling’ especially when in this case this child was the subject of so much concern. No one seems to have raised an eyebrow .I know how stretched teacher and social workers are and how high the bar has to be for intervention but there were so many red flags here. Were there some unjustifiable concerns about appearing anti Islamic ? This has happened on other cases. I struggle to find the words to describe how tragic this case is and how many more times we will have to hear ‘never again’ ‘ lessons learned ‘ and so on.

Well it would involve us as a society having really difficult conversations and I think as a society we would rather let children be at risk than do that.
The conversations involve;
Home schooling (safeguarding nightmare)
High risk of abuse in families with a step parent present
Sone red flags around culture in particular the males interaction with female social workers etc.

That photo of a 9 year old girl ‘prettied up’ with so much make up (in the green dress) disturbed me.
What was that all about?

Plus an MP has said there may have been ‘cultural reluctance’ by some in authority to push harder against the father.

Well I’m not surprised if this were partly the case. Remember that poor male teacher in Batley? A baying mob at the school gates? He was hounded out of his job and is still in hiding today.

I’ve been reading the WApp messages between Sara’s stepmother and her sister. I wish I hadn’t.

What father gets up at 1:30am and goes into his 10 year old daughter’s room and “beats the crap out of her”?

Evil personified. All 3 of them.

marymary62 I'm afraid there are many children from all sorts of families who disappear under the radar by means of "home schooling". My neighbour home schools her son, she does a great job and he's a much happier child now but if he were beaten every day and locked in a basement, no one would know because there are absolutely no checks made on his well being. I think it's utter madness that there is no monitoring of children who are home schooled.

The MP said “cultural sensitivities may have played a part”.
Not reluctance.

Yes foxie48 “Local authorities in the UK are not required to routinely monitor the quality of home education, but they can make informal checks”

No good enough is it?

It's not just cultural sensitivities, if we focus on just that, we will fail. It shouldnt be ignored and I am not the slightest bit worried about talking about it but the other factors are important. And there are probably others I have missed.

We should follow the French and ban the hijab, at least for school age children. It sets them apart. And in Sara’s case, hid the bruises.

3nanny6

Yes Petal 53 it was disgusting to hear how that little child suffered. It is a shame they got locked up in prison far too good for them, if they were let out I would be the first in the queue with my metal pole and cricket bat hopefully with others and give them what that gave that poor defenceless child let deserve to rot for what they done.

I shouldn’t really think like this but I am. I hope this father and his wife get their comeuppance while in prison. I hope they will queue up and give them a really good hiding and that they don’t have a days peace. I just cannot believe that something like this could happen to this little girl without the neighbours knowing that beatings were taking place. They must have heard this little girls screams. The school knew, the police knew, social services knew…….this little girl was let down by everybody. She was on record even before she was born! .

I disagree, I don't think it sets children apart. I see the children of different cultural backgrounds come home from the local primary chatting together and it's normal to encounter in our hospitals and places of work to encounter women who happen to wear a headscarf!

I definitely agree about being aware of possible reluctance to tackle parents if abuse is suspected, but not to then take it further and starting to then draw all kinds of assumptions because of a faith is to start on becoming racist needs challenging.

Poor little Alfie Steele suffered www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/26/alfie-steele-more-than-60-calls-made-to-police-and-social-services-before-murder

and we need to bear in mind that domestic violence by men against women and children crosses cultures and remains a serious problem.

(I was addressing remarks about banning the headscarf in schools and related cultural matters)

A young homeschooled boy died from scurvy in Wales a few years ago, the same conclusion was reached about the need for monitoring of children being homeschooled. Nobody in authority had seen him for years before he died. I doubt any lessons were learned. It probably needs national legislation.

If there are crimes that need the death penalty this should be one. Regardless of the cultural and religious diversionary claptrap. Murder is murder. It is criminals who commit murder not muslims, pakistanis or asians etc. The problem we have is we don't have an ultimate deterrent for pre-determined; pre planned malicious violent crime that is carried out with "cold" intent. Cases should also refer to previous crimes.

Is there evidence that the death penalty reduces violent crime. Has that happened in the American states which permit it for example.

I looked it up Galaxy as interested

"No, the death penalty does not reduce violent crime in the United States:
Studies: Multiple studies have found no link between the death penalty and murder rates. A 2012 report by the National Research Council found that states with the death penalty have similar murder rates to states without it."

As people have said what will happen to them in prison - ....

Prisons have a duty of care to their inmates, without prejudice, and regardless of their crimes.

I wasn't thinking of physical attacks MissA but shunning and disgust for what done.

Yes I thought that was the case. I am not really interested in what happens to those guilty of her murder, I am interested in safeguarding children.