How could we have let Sara down so badly?

Sadly, as we write and read these posts, there will be other children out there suffering the same fate. No matter how many inquiries are held nothing ever seems to change and lessons are never learnt.

foxie48

Poor child, how any adult could treat a child in such an inhumane way is totally beyond me, I can't begin to understand cruelty like this. Like others on here I find the failure of social services, school and everyone who came into contact with this child to act to protect her totally reprehensible however, I do know that in many if not most LAs the Social Services department is in total chaos.
Experienced social workers have been leaving in droves, nearly a third of social workers have less than two years service and are frequently given work loads and cases that are well beyond the suitability for their level of experience. At the same time, 67.5% of practitioners included ‘cuts to local services’ among the three biggest challenges facing the profession now and in the immediate future, with 62.2% citing a ‘failure to adequately fund social care". There is so little money available that LAs are cutting vital roles to save money eg a friend has been made redundant as a Director of Commissioning Children's Services for a big LA, she'd been recruited because she'd helped turn around another authority that was failing, is very experienced, highly motivated and totally professional but they've run out of money. I have to admit that she already looks ten years younger and she's seriously considering taking early retirement. If we want good services that protect children we can't afford to lose people like her. Austerity over the years has led to poorer services in lots of areas and I'm worried there are lots more Saras who will pay the price.
www.communitycare.co.uk/2024/03/20/most-social-workers-report-rise-in-number-of-experienced-colleagues-quitting-jobs/

I absolutely agree with you. I know one of those very experienced, knowledgeable and wise social workers. She has now retired due to ill health, largely brought on by the workload which often required 16+ hour days, lack of funding and, most importantly - the lack of concern for the child over the 'rights' of the parents and the preservation of the family structure at all costs, even the safety of a child.

She also looks ten years younger.

I worked for the NHS for 15 years over 20 years ago where the Social Services, Health Visitors, Nurses etc. etc. were based under one roof. I was their clerical assistant, making appointments, typing letters etc. etc. Even then the Social workers needed a social worker for themselves as they were so over worked, they were off sick most of the time now it has got so much worse. So many cuts to the NHS and the children are the ones suffering.

Sarnia

Sadly, as we write and read these posts, there will be other children out there suffering the same fate. No matter how many inquiries are held nothing ever seems to change and lessons are never learnt.

The much maligned DM reported today that 485 children were killed or injured in abuse cases last year. The majority of these we never hear about, quite rightly where children are injured, but thankfully not killed, due to confidentiality. However we only ever hear about a fraction of those children who are killed. Maybe if we heard about them all there would be such a ground swell of anger from the rest of us that something would finally be done!

Social Services and the social workers are fire fighters
There is no prevention.
There is no progress without funding and a consensus on what childhood should be.
We have all heard of policies that are supposed to be colour blind I’d like one that is religion blind too.
Too too much pandering in the name of religion. When are humans gonna grow up?

Retroladywriting

foxie48

Poor child, how any adult could treat a child in such an inhumane way is totally beyond me, I can't begin to understand cruelty like this. Like others on here I find the failure of social services, school and everyone who came into contact with this child to act to protect her totally reprehensible however, I do know that in many if not most LAs the Social Services department is in total chaos.
Experienced social workers have been leaving in droves, nearly a third of social workers have less than two years service and are frequently given work loads and cases that are well beyond the suitability for their level of experience. At the same time, 67.5% of practitioners included ‘cuts to local services’ among the three biggest challenges facing the profession now and in the immediate future, with 62.2% citing a ‘failure to adequately fund social care". There is so little money available that LAs are cutting vital roles to save money eg a friend has been made redundant as a Director of Commissioning Children's Services for a big LA, she'd been recruited because she'd helped turn around another authority that was failing, is very experienced, highly motivated and totally professional but they've run out of money. I have to admit that she already looks ten years younger and she's seriously considering taking early retirement. If we want good services that protect children we can't afford to lose people like her. Austerity over the years has led to poorer services in lots of areas and I'm worried there are lots more Saras who will pay the price.
www.communitycare.co.uk/2024/03/20/most-social-workers-report-rise-in-number-of-experienced-colleagues-quitting-jobs/

I absolutely agree with you. I know one of those very experienced, knowledgeable and wise social workers. She has now retired due to ill health, largely brought on by the workload which often required 16+ hour days, lack of funding and, most importantly - the lack of concern for the child over the 'rights' of the parents and the preservation of the family structure at all costs, even the safety of a child.

She also looks ten years younger.

...the lack of concern for the child over the 'rights' of the parents and the preservation of the family structure at all costs, even the safety of a child,

Yes, social workers frequently get the blame for following this 'edict', apart from any other considerations.

It's one thing to keep a shambling and chaotic family together where it's obvious that the parents love their children but can't get their act together, but quite another when those parents or guardians are known to have been, or are still, abusive or violent.

My own family experienced this. My late BIL fostered children, one of whom had been abused by his father. Supervised visits between father and son were allowed, and then one day, social services deemed it desirable to allow unsupervised visits (to my BIL's dismay). It ended badly.

Absolutely agree about lack of adequate resources as people have described in detail.

I agree. Why the pressing need to keep families together? I used to pray that my father would die. There were no social services then as I recall. We would have been thrilled if they had removed him from the home. When I was very small, about 5, me and my sister went to the police station and told them that 'our dad keeps hitting our mom'. The sergeant said 'Go home girls there's nothing we can do'. Sometimes these days I feel it's more about targets and political correctness than those poor children.

Granmarderby10

Social Services and the social workers are fire fighters
There is no prevention.
There is no progress without funding and a consensus on what childhood should be.
We have all heard of policies that are supposed to be colour blind I’d like one that is religion blind too.
Too too much pandering in the name of religion. When are humans gonna grow up?

Well said and sadly I agree.

How many more children need to be fatally injured or messed up for the rest of their lives before the whole broken system is reviewed properly.

I believe, alongside too many cases, too few staff, not great pay, the other issue is once it was made mandatory to have a degree many existing non-degree, but extremely experienced social workers were sidelined.

Like so many of our public services lack of investment in staff has led to vacancies in most local authorities across the UK.

Wyllow3

Absolutely agree about lack of adequate resources as people have described in detail.

Absolutely.

I stand by my OP.
We are all to blame. We don’t have individual responsibility of course, but our society has developed so that all the people who had anything to do with Sara failed her.

The school failed badly (and I’m an ex teacher.) Describing a beaten and abused child as happy beggars belief. Of course she was happier at school, it was her only safe space. You need to look below the smiles at school. They knew she was regularly bruised. They knew she started wearing a headscarf. They knew she was removed from school. They knew her case was closed by SS and so they should have been making a lot of noise about that. They reported some bruises but not others. Why? Frankly as a teacher, if my school refused to act, I’d have reported the family to the NSPCC.

Social Services - I have no words except fail, fail, fail. No excuses.

Police - again no words. They knew how violent the man was, and that five children lived with him. Why no action?

The Judiciary and Family Court - the placement of a child with a man who was known to be violent beggars belief.

They should ALL half their heads in shame.
But no doubt they’ll be eating turkey and having a comfortable time this Christmas.

Spare a thought for Sara and her siblings this Christmas and if you have any belief, light a candle.

I share the concerns of others regarding home schooling. Of course, in most cases, it is done with the best of intentions, but sometimes with the worst intentions.
No agency is responsible for home schooled children, so no checks are carried out regarding the health, development, and well-being, quite apart from progress in learning.
I was present at a meeting in which a feisty social worker told parents who were talking about home schooling that he forbade it and would take them to court if they attempted it.
He was absolutely right in his views on the fitness of this family to do this, but, I suspect completely wrong in saying that he had powers to stop it.
Fortunately, the " threat" worked, and the children remained in school .

I am also a retired teacher and agree with everything you say! That poor child. Knowing the history social services have a lot to answer for I feel the school should have pursued this more as well as they had concerns. Also the neighbour heard screams and thought something was 'a bit off' So many people let that little girl down! 😭😡. Why was she allowed to be 'home schooled' and drop off radar???? If so given the history there should have been regular welfare checks!😠. Sick of hearing 'lessons will be learned' they obviously are not!!! The system and others let that little girl down.... The father,stepmum and uncle will get their karma in prison, of that I have no doubt!

What on earth happened to Multi Agency Information Sharing. It was a big thing after Victoria Climbie and the basis of Every Child Matters.

Heads should roll.

Forgot to add previously:

What about Homeschooling? A lot of home schooled children slip through the net.

It’s not regulated by the Education Department (I’m prepared to be corrected on this).

Social services no longer have the money to fund more Social workers. Currently Social workers have double the case loads they can manage. So tragedies like this will continue to happen. There's also an acute shortage of Foster carers to remove children to.
I know of one primary child living with an alcoholic relative, who told teachers that they had nothing to eat at home. Child was very thin, dirty and unkempt. School put in a referral to SS which was never followed up. The head, bless her, makes sure the child has breakfast, fruit and a hot lunch every day at school. All she could do, and there are probably hundreds of other children like this, slipping through the net.

eazybee

We have not let Sara down; it is the Authorities and most notably, the Social Services Team who spent six days 'examining her case'after the teacher reported bruising, then closed the case. I don't normally blame Social Services because i know the pressure they are under, and how manipulative some parents can be but in this case they were negligent and the child died because of it.
Sara had a case history dating from before birth; she had lived with her mother, removed to live in care, then given into the 'care' of her father, a man with a history of violence. When bruising was reported was this child even seen and medically examined? If so, previous injuries would have been identified. The past history of her father would be on file, and the point of the 'paperless office' is that documentation is available on line immediately, not hidden in files on dusty top shelves.
But the case was closed; soon the father removed her from school for 'home schooling' something else which can conceal a multitude of sins. No check was made, and he was allowed the last few weeks of Sara's life to abuse her at will with the collusion of his wife and brother.
I believe the ideology of the Social Services is also to blame. Support the family, no matter what; don't break the family bond. At case conferences, nothing like as appalling as this, the needs of the mother, or father, seem to take precedence over those of the child, and excuse after excuse is proffered in defence.
The case was supposedly discussed over six days; why were examinations and investigations not carried out.?When the family moved from a flat to another area, were the records not received by the school? Did the social worker not make contact? I have been contacted by social workers from hundreds of miles away, to fill the school in on a new child's background; some visit personally to check information has been received and the staff are aware.

Already excuses are coming: lack of staff, senior workers pulled back, lack of money, when it rests with the incompetence of social services and their skewed focus. .
I know this is a rant, and I am sorry, but I am so angry that this abuse was allowed to go unchecked when all the signs were there. But no-one bothered to follow it up.

Absolutely right in all you say here.
Two things struck me listening to a British primary teacher of many years,now working in Germany.
A. home schooling is not permitted there, at all. Remember my family telling me this, along with,
B. Smacking is also against the Law. Children in school are taught this also.
Two things that may have helped. Certainly should be looked into.

The NSPCC reports as follows as I was asking myself, how come we don't hear about more about cases like Sara

"In the last five years there was an average of 52 child deaths a year by assault or undetermined intent a year in the UK.

Children under the age of one are the most likely age group to be killed by another person
followed by 16- to 24-year-olds.

Child homicides are most commonly caused by the child’s parent or step-parent.

learning.nspcc.org.uk/media/ujzmp53v/issues-consider-looking-child-abuse-statistics.pdf

Who keeps an eye on those under one age group that predominate.

Grandmagrotbags

What on earth happened to Multi Agency Information Sharing. It was a big thing after Victoria Climbie and the basis of Every Child Matters.

Heads should roll.

Exactly. Back in the day when I taught real concerns for a child were followed up PDQ. I totally understand how much pressure all the agencies are under but once a red flag is raised action is surely urgent.
So angry that this horrific case should have been averted way before.
No solace whatsoever but in prison they will find even career criminals find abuse of children heinous and will show it,

I agree with Jean@home. What the hell were the neighbours doing when all this was going on ! Don’t tell me they heard nothing

Quite apart from any safeguarding issues, TBH I’ve always wondered how anyone is allowed to home-school, without any checks as to whether the parents are at all competent to do so.

Can we firstly identify that it was the parents who let her down? Too often we jump in and cast blame on the authorities who are understaffed, ill trained in safeguarding and also frightened to enter certain homes to deal with issues.
As a retired teacher and the mother of a professional social worker I recognise these issues. Covid and lockdown did not help neither does the lack of inspection of children being home schooled. The father was a monster, no doubt, but he was clever, manipulative and believable. Hence the judge giving him custody.
We all have a duty of care to each other as friends, neighbours, families. We can ALL do better in keeping an eye on each other

How can people who work in safeguarding be ill trained in it???

Personal experience:

Austerity and cuts to social services has led to over-work and under provivision

During Covid no one monitored newborns or toddlers

Calls to social services are not appreciated, even if they intervene family members who alerted them in the first place are not only ignored but given no feedback or recognition

Manipulative people find the statutary services easy to manipulate- especially if they use the victim card which isn't questioned

Family courts are a shambles and not fit for purpose. Cafass hold all the cards and judges listen only to their recommendations, and to no one else.

People lose faith in social services and so conceal information because they don't know if it will be used against them

No one acts in the interests of the child

Home schooling is un-regulated. Once a child is off-roll no one checks (in my previous LA it was a once a year form) and is often used as a cover for abuse and neglect

These lessons I have learned from bitter experience. It is horrific when cases like this come to light but this is only the tip of the ice-berg.

No one cares about the kids anymore and no amount of handwringing will change that.

About children being home schooled and new regulations to be brought in because of these events:

".......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.

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

“About 111,700 children were in home education in England on census day in autumn 2024, according to government data.

Dame Rachel said the bill should introduce a register of all children being educated at home, which does not currently exist

(The article also refers to future plans for a Children's Wellbeing Bill)
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgn8lp30ydo

Let's face it. This country has become so 'WOKE' that practically everyone is afraid to take any action which might result in them being accused of being racist.
Far too many people are eager to jump on the wagon and join in the accusations and damnations often when they have no knowledge of the facts... and far too many people are ready to whip up an outcry when they too don't know the truth.
So the real villains get away with murder.
Isn't it time we got rid of 'Wokeness'?