The Joke That Is "Social Services"

Doncaster child abuse mum jailed

2010-02-05T23:19:00.003Z

Not just Harringey and Birmingham Social Services are renowned for poor service. Doncaster too has been lambasted by the courts.

Doncaster social services have again been blasted after a judge was told of four years of hell suffered by two girls.

The sisters, now eight and 10, were repeatedly beaten.

Their mother cannot be named and neither can her partner who called the girls "tarts, scruffy idiots" and "little b*****ds". The oldest girl told police he hit her 50 times with his belt buckle.

Social services took the girls off the child protection register six months after they had been deemed at risk.

Judge Jacqueline Davies spoke of a "horrid process of intimidation" on "defenseless little girls". She said: "It is concerning social services placed them on the register in April 2005 and removed them six months later."

The mother, 31, was jailed for 21 months. Her partner, 26, was jailed for three years and three months.

Doncaster social services apologised last month after two boys were tortured last year by brothers, now 11 and 12, who the department knew had violent pasts.

Was it my multi-blogged moan?

2010-01-28T10:54:00.001Z

Was it my multi-blogged moan that un-locked my new blog http://sequels-and-trilogies.blogspot.com/ ?
I know that blogger took the full 20 days to un-lock a blog of a friend of mine. Now his block WAS highly political but there should be no difference.
Perhaps it was my genuine threat to move to wordpress?

Who knows?

Thank You blogger for acting quickly

Bob de Bilde

in reference to: Prequels, Sequels & Trilogies (view on Google Sidewiki)

Bob de Bilde gets his 15 minutes of fame...

2010-01-26T21:25:00.001Z

on IS A C*NT...

http://isacunt.blogspot.com/2010/01/bob-de-bilde.html

Thanks to GOT & the crew

in reference to: Bob De Bilde (view on Google Sidewiki)

My Disgust at Blogger

2010-01-26T13:25:00.004Z

Blogger has marked one of my blogs (Prequels, Sequels & Trilogies) as spam...

It will be deleted within 20 days if I do not lodge a review

WTF Blogger... I am seriously considering moving all my blogs to the more versatile Wordpress !

I am reposting this on ALL my other open blogs using the sidewikibar thingy!!!

in reference to: My Sony Ericsson Sucks: My Disgust at Blogger (view on Google Sidewiki)

Birmingham social services children's director told to 'stop making excuses'

2010-01-26T12:41:00.005Z

The man brought in to fix Birmingham Council's troubled children's services has been told to "stop making excuses" after blaming stress levels for high absence rates among social workers.

Absenteeism has been an ongoing issue in Birmingham social services, with staff signed off ill an average of 24.9 days a year - a significantly higher amount than the national figure.

In an article in TheGuardian last week, the council's director of children's services Colin Tucker (pictured below) attributed this rate to the stress and pressure social workers face, particularly since the number of increased referrals after the Baby P case.
But councillor Len Clark, head of the scrutiny committee that in October deemed Birmingham's child protection "not fit for purpose", disagreed, saying Tucker was failing to address the issue properly.

"Despite Colin's assertions, the scrutiny committee's findings were to the contrary," he said. "Absenteeism has been a persistent problem since before the increase in referrals. We didn't employ Colin to make excuses for this problem, we hired him to fix it."

Speaking to Community Care, Tucker defended his comments. He said a report published this week on sickness and absence within the department showed there had been a "significant decrease" in absenteeism over the last quarter. He could not give exact numbers as Community Care went to press, but said he was hopeful about the results.
"I totally accept that my role is to turn this service around," he said. "There has been a significant decrease in days per head absence and over the next quarter we'll be in a better position to say whether this is a sustainable trend."

The spat comes as the council struggles to recruit the three assistant directors of children's services it agreed to take on alongside Tucker, who became the council's first director of children's services in April 2009.

Clark said this was down to the calibre of candidates. "We found that the quality of the candidates that came forward for interview was not to the standard we required," he said.

"So we have to look again at this issue and maybe change the job description to attract better candidates. I would hope by the late spring we do have those posts filled."

Tucker said the difficulty may lie with the council's troubled past. "Social work is difficult, especially in a local authority under notice of improvement, such as ours," he said.

"But we're holding our nerve and holding out for good quality assistant directors with a track record of high performance. As Birmingham's reputation improves, we hope to attract people of that calibre."

Report slams Birmingham Social Services

2010-01-26T11:35:00.004Z

A recent published report (05 October 2009) has heavily criticised Birmingham City Council's Social Services department. Video Editor Phil Vinter highlights the report's major conclusions. There are interviews with the report's author and an irate Khalid Mahmood MP for Perry Barr, who was previously a local councillor.

Baby P and the Death Toll Keeps Rising. 52 + Named Children Now Dead from Social Services Failures

2010-01-25T16:37:00.003Z

I wanted to do an update as the shocking numbers grow on children dying from Social Services failures. With the numbers rising let us not forget that doesn’t include the children that are dying IN social services care and the DCSF report shows that Children placed in care are three time more likely to die than others and a DCSF report showed that 800 children have died in care in the last ten years which is on average 2 a week so where does this leave children in need of protection who are then placed in care and should be safe from harm and neglect?.

PLEASE NOTE, THESE FIGURES WILL BE UPDATED EVERYTIME WE RECIEVE OR FIND INFORMATION ON A CHILD MURDERED. ALL INVOLVE SOCIAL SERVICES FAILURES AND ALMOST EVERYONE INCLUDED NSPCC FAILURES TOO. THERE ARE STILL AT LEAST A FURTHER 40 NAMES TO ADD TO THIS LIST SO BARE WITH ME AS I AM SEEKING THEIR AGES AT DEATH

Baby P - Haringey

Tyra Henry - 21 mnths old - murdered by her dad - her brother Tyrone whose injuries – including fractures of thighs and skull, retinal haemorrhages, and brain damage causing fits – had left the boy blind and with a learning difficulty

Maria Caldwell - Social Services, NSPCC and Police did nothing = Maria Colwell died on 6th January 1973, aged 7

Jasmin Beckford, NSPCC, Social Services failures = Jasmine had been locked in a small bedroom with body-building weights tied to her broken legs to stop her moving. Emaciated and deformed, she weighed just 23 pounds. She had 40 injuries to her face and body – her ribs were also broken and she had ulcers, burns and cuts to her leg.

28 June 1944, Dennis O’Neill = Foster care abuse complaints ignored by Social Services - he died from the abuse

Carly Taylor - her childminder wrote directly to the Director of Social Services, having failed to persuade the senior social worker that Carly was in danger after neighbours and relatives were ignored by social services

Stephen Meurs (1975)

Heidi Koseda (1984),

Jasmine Lorrington was 4 when she died in Brent on 5th July 1984.

20-month old Martin Nicoll67 injuries

8-yr-old Victoria Climbié kettle of boiling water tipped over her head. Her toes were struck with a hammer. She was beaten with a bicycle chain, belt buckle and had cigarettes stubbed out on her body. She lived in a freezing bath. On 25th February 2000 Victoria died of hypothermia and multiple organ failure, with 128 horrific injuries to her body, after suffering months of horrific abuse and neglect in a tiny flat in Tottenham, London.

Lauren Wright aged 6 was found dead on 6th May 2000 after suffering a fatal blow to the stomach from her stepmother, which caused her digestive system to collapsed

In January 2002 Ainlee Labonte/Walker, of Plaistow, east London, aged two years and 7 months, was starved, punched, scalded, burnt and tortured to death by her parents. She had 64 scars, scalds and bruises on her body, including cigarette burns. The inquiry identified a “lack of communication” between agencies.

John Gray, police failures just 21-months old, suffered more than 200 injuries before he died. John suffered a series of beatings from his mother’s partner. He had more then 200 injuries to 92 parts of his body. His liver had been ruptured, he had a fractured arm, broken ribs and injuries to his testicles. police ignored natural fathers complaints

Tiffany Wright aged 3 was found dead in September 2007 in an insect-infested room in the Sheffield pub run by her mother and stepfather.A review into her death found social services never visited the pub despite a midwife’s fears that their children were left alone in unfit conditions.

Bristol have been criticised for information sharing and assessment failings in the case of a 10-year-old girl who died following years of neglect. A serious case review into the care received by “Child A”, who died from a heart attack after falling into a bath of scalding hot water, said professionals failed to grasp the level of neglect endured by her and her seven siblings. Though the children were placed on the child protection register from May 2003 to January 2004, they received no other systematic assessment of their needs, while professionals treated significant risk indicators in isolation, failing to build up a picture of the family situation.

Police and social services failed to visit seven-year-old Khyra Ishaq in the four months before she apparently starved to death, despite an initial “welfare check” on the family

An inquiry into the care of a seven-year-old girl who was shot dead while staying with a convicted crack dealer has uncovered a catalogue of failures by social services, children’s guardians and immigration officials.Toni-Ann Byfield was under protection of Birmingham City Council. Police believe Toni-Ann was murdered to prevent her from identifying Mr Byfield’s killer.

A coroner accused social workers of a “gross, total and complete” failure to protect a 13-month-old girl who died in squalor. Sophie Casey’s grandparents, a neighbour and a hospital had warned them about her mother’s neglect and the one-armed heroin addict who lived with them.

A baby girl murdered by her sadistic father could have survived if health and social workers had taken action over signs of illtreatment, a damning report said yesterday. Jessica Randall was just 54 days old when she died. Her brief life was dominated by systematic and horrific abuse at the hands of her 33-year-old father Andrew, who was jailed for her murder.A report found that both social workers and hospital staff failed to classify her as a child “at risk”, even though concerns over her safety were raised a number of times.Jessica was seen on ten separate occasions by up to 30 healthcare professionals, including doctors, health visitors and nurses.

April 26, 2005, Kimberley Baker died,” he said. “She should by that time have been a thriving, lively 11-month-old girl and she was not. “She was a pitiful, seriously emaciated mite, dehydrated and starved with severe ulcerations to her buttocks. “Her weight was that of a six-week-old baby. Her skin fell loosely around her. Photographs of her are truly shocking. “Her chance of a decent life or any life in this world had been snuffed out by the appalling negligence of you two. Despite the concerns over Kimberley the health worker did not go upstairs to see the baby.

Social workers and police were accused of disastrous failures that led to the murder of a month-old baby. Luigi Askew was left at the mercy of his violent father Duncan Mills, who had a prison record and a history of assaulting girlfriends. A social worker and a health visitor called at the baby’s home the day before he was beaten to death by his father last May. They reported the child was “developing well”.

Vivian Gamor, 29, murdered Antoine, 10, and suffocating Kenniece, three, in Hackney, east London. Judge criticised a council after it allowed a mentally ill woman access to her children before she killed them.

Sophie Merry, three, had a ruptured intestine and 170 bruises

Chelsea Pickering, 11 months, died after neglect

Kimberley Carlile, four, died after being starved and beaten by her stepfather, Nigel Hall. Greenwich social workers were allowed only to peep through a glass panel at the top of a bedroom door. The inquiry recommended that responses be made immediately to any referral suggestive of child abuse.

Doreen Mason, 16 months, died after her mother and boyfriend bruised and burnt her and broke her leg but failed to have her injuries treated. The inquiry said her social worker was inexperienced and unsupervised and that Southwark social services had a “siege mentality”.

Leanne White, three, was beaten to death by her stepfather, Colin Sleate. An inquiry said Nottinghamshire social services had not responded properly to warnings from her grandmother and neighbours.

Chelsea Brown, two, was battered to death by her father, Robert Brown. Her Derbyshire social worker visited 27 times in the 10 weeks before her death. A paediatrician said some of her injuries had “no plausible explanation”. That should have triggered a case conference and police involvement.

Delayno Mullings-Sewell and his two-year-old brother, Romario,Manchester social services staff faced questions

Ryan Hawkins, 4, and stabbed his 14-year-old daughter Donna more than a dozen times. Kirklees council ignored daughters who told them their dad was violent and Christopher Hawkins murdered his son and stabbed his daughter

Alisha Allen aged 5 months, A CATALOGUE of errors by care staff contributed to the death of five-month-old Alisha Allen, a report has found. The helpless youngster died from serious head injuries in January 2007.

Baby A” 10 months old - died last December in Doncaster

Amy Howson aged 16 months died from over 40 injuries including her spine being snapped by her dad James Howson 25

Alfie Goddard aged 3 months old, murdered by his father Craig Goddard, 25, in May

UPDATED

Aaron Gilbert 13-month-old = Swansea Social Services failed to act on child abuse allegations that led to Aaron being murdered in 2005 and who was subjected to a torrent of abuse from Andrew Lloyd, aged 23

Toni Dales, three, died in February 1992.
Toni died from repeated blows to the head despite reports by nursery teachers of unexplained bruising and a plea for help from her mother. No case conference had been called by social workers, who were under pressure. Her case had been formally closed a month before her death.

Shirley Woodcock 1982 3 years Blow or blows to the head

Lucie Gates 1979 2 years Burned to death mother

Maria Mehmedagi 1978 11 months Massive head injury and killed by father

Malcolm Page 1979 aged 14 months old

Stephen Menheniott Jan 1976 19 months old

David Naseby Died aged 4 months

Gavin Mabey aged 2 yrs 5 months

Neil Howlett Died aged 2 yrs 1 month

Darynn Clarke Died aged 3 yrs 1 month

Claire Haddon 1979 Died aged 14 months Extreme violence -

1973 Graham Bagnall Died aged 2 years old (Shropshire)

1978 Karen Spencer Died aged 1 year 4 months (Derbyshire)

Birmingham hospital claims council owes £500,000 in bed blocking row

2010-01-21T15:39:00.003Z

A Birmingham hospital claims council owes £500,000 in bed blocking row

Birmingham’s biggest NHS hospital is taking on the city council in a bitter row over alleged unpaid debts.

University Hospitals Foundation Trust claims it is owed £500,000 to cover patients who are well enough to be sent home but cannot be discharged because the council’s social services and housing departments have failed to provide suitable care packages for the mainly frail elderly patients.

Under the Community Care Delayed Discharges Act, councils must pay hospitals £100 a day for every patient occupying a bed unnecessarily.

It seems that Birmingham’s other NHS Trusts are also talking to the council about alleged unpaid debts.

In a statement, University Hospitals said: “If the council, as per its contractual arrangements, cannot provide appropriate facilities into which the patients can be discharged, the patient will not be transferred and will remain in hospital.

“In such cases of delayed transfer, the council has an agreement with UHB to fund continuing hospital care.

‘‘As a result of this agreement, the council owes UHB approximately £500,000 for the care of such patients.”

The dispute highlights a growing row over bed blocking, which is rapidly leaping up the political agenda.

Audit Commission inspectors recently awarded Birmingham a ‘red flag’ for failing to address an unacceptably high number of delayed hospital discharges.

The Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) found that 150 patients were blocking beds in city hospitals.

The red flag, denoting poor performance, seemed to suggest that Birmingham might be slipping back eight years when more than 300 mainly elderly patients were marooned for weeks on end in city hospitals.

The then Labour-run city council was severely criticised by the Government and ordered to take action.

33 + named Children that have Died from Social Services Failures inc Haringey Baby P

2009-11-04T16:33:00.004Z

This article date has been updated to prepare for new names that will be added to the list

Social services failures are so regular it is a daily occurance and children do die and they will continue dying because social workers, the police, the government and people like the NSPCC do not listen and are often part of the failures despite having millions of pounds to protect children.

These are just a few of social services failures that have ended up in the death of young children.

Baby P - Haringey

Maria Caldwell - Social Services, NSPCC and Police did nothing = Maria Colwell died on 6th January 1973, aged 7

28 June 1944, Dennis O’Neill = Foster care abuse complaints ignored by Social Services - he died from the abuse

Stephen Meurs (1975)

Heidi Koseda (1984),

Jasmine Lorrington was 4 when she died in Brent on 5th July 1984.

20-month old Martin Nicoll 67 injuries

Lauren Wright aged 6 was found dead on 6th May 2000 after suffering a fatal blow to the stomach from her stepmother, which caused her digestive system to collapsed

John Gray, police failures just 21-months old, suffered more than 200 injuries before he died. John suffered a series of beatings from his mother’s partner. He had more then 200 injuries to 92 parts of his body. His liver had been ruptured, he had a fractured arm, broken ribs and injuries to his testicles. police ignored natural fathers complaints

Police and social services failed to visit seven-year-old Khyra Ishaq in the four months before she apparently starved to death, despite an initial “welfare check” on the family

Tyrell Rowe 19-months old, died in hospital on 17 October from brain damage after being repeatedly punched in the face. Hackney Council social services had been supervising the baby, but had not examined him during that period.Judge Anthony Morris criticised the council for not making public an internal investigation into the death. ‘Lack of protection’ “I find it regrettable because the purpose of such an investigation must be how such failures occurred and to prevent them happening again,” he said. “I am disappointed by the apparent lack of protection given to Tyrell by the social services department.”

A baby girl murdered by her sadistic father could have survived if health and social workers had taken action over signs of illtreatment, a damning report said yesterday. Jessica Randall was just 54 days old when she died. Her brief life was dominated by systematic and horrific abuse at the hands of her 33-year-old father Andrew, who was jailed for her murder.A report found that both social workers and hospital staff failed to classify her as a child “at risk”, even though concerns over her safety were raised a number of times.Jessica was seen on ten separate occasions by up to 30 healthcare professionals, including doctors, health visitors and nurses.

Vivian Gamor, 29, murdered Antoine, 10, and suffocating Kenniece, three, in Hackney, east London. Judge criticised a council after it allowed a mentally ill woman access to her children before she killed them.

Sophie Merry, three, had a ruptured intestine and 170 bruises

Chelsea Pickering, 11 months, died after neglect

Delayno Mullings-Sewell and his two-year-old brother, Romario,Manchester social services staff faced questions

This is just the tip of the iceberg on children that have died as a result of Social Services failures and it is imperitive the public stay outraged and demand changes and every time they see social services failures the public must speak up because you never know when it will happen to a child you know

Number of children who have died in Birmingham social services care rises to 19

2009-10-18T16:41:00.002+01:00

BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL bosses have admitted 19 children have died of abuse or neglect in Birmingham in the past five years – with 16 known to social workers.

A further three youngsters suffered ‘serious injury that could have resulted in death’.

Previously Birmingham City Council had only admitted to 15 child deaths since 2004 but it issued the grim new figures after an investigation by a local newspaper

The shock news comes days after its child protection services were officially branded “not fit for purpose” in a council scrutiny report.

The inquiry was prompted after the department was labelled inadequate by Ofsted inspectors last December.

The sad new statistics show that the council, Britain’s biggest local authority, has initiated 22 Serious Case Reviews (SCR) since January 2004. Eighteen related to deaths, including two siblings who died between 2006/07.

A council spokesman confirmed that of the 19 deaths a staggering 16 were known to social workers and in some cases other agencies including West Midlands Police, local health trusts and probation.

The other three children out of the 22 cases did not die but suffered serious injury.

The shocking death toll means Birmingham City Council has by far the worst ever record for suspicious child deaths in the country.

The authority was put in special measures by the Government in January. It was one of only four authorities – including Doncaster and Haringey where Baby P died – to be judged to have inadequate children’s services last year by Ofsted.

Doncaster has had seven child deaths in the past five years. A Government team is now running its child protection services while Birmingham has been given until February to improve or face its department being taken over.

Tony Howell, Strategic Director for Children Young People and Families, is at the helm of the shamed child protection service and earns between £138,000 and £153,000 a year.

Joke Of The Month!

2009-06-01T16:28:00.001+01:00

Q: How many Social Workers does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Ten. (One to call an electrician and nine to turn a blind eye to the affair)!

Joke of the month

2009-04-01T16:26:00.002+01:00

Q: What's the difference between a social worker and a photo of a social worker in the window?

A: One is a pain in the arse, the other is an arse in the pane!

Year for Birmingham City Council to improve Children's Services

2009-02-01T15:18:00.000Z

Birmingham City Council has been given a year to improve its children's services after 15 children died through abuse or neglect since 2005.

Children's Minister Beverley Hughes said she was "very concerned" after Ofsted inspectors said four out of five cases were inadequately dealt with.

She said she might use her "statutory powers to direct a solution" if the council did not make enough progress.

The council said it welcomed the government's help.

In a letter to council leader Mike Whitby, Ms Hughes said she recognised the council had taken action to address its weaknesses. But she said government action was needed to ensure progress was made "swiftly and decisively".

Two new assistant directors have been sent to the department and an external monitoring team has been put in place which will send monthly reports back to the minister.

A review of the department will be held in six and then 12 months' time, she said.

Ms Hughes added: "I am keen to see swift improvements in Birmingham and for children, young people and families to receive the service they deserve.

"I have decided to underpin the improvement measures and progress I expect, with an improvement notice.

"This will give Birmingham City Council 12 months to demonstrate robust and sustained progress, with a review after six months."

Duty of care

The government-appointed monitoring team will provide monthly reports on the council's progress.

Tony Howell, Birmingham City Council's director for children, young people and families, said: "I am very pleased with the response from government and welcome the support they are making available.

"The elements of the package are built around areas of support we asked the department for towards the tail-end of last year."

The council said then it was the largest local authority in Europe, catering for 250,000 children and teenagers, and that the number of deaths had not increased annually.

Birmingham Perry Barr MP Khalid Mahmood, who raised the inquiry in the House of Commons earlier this week, told the BBC: "In a large city like Birmingham they need to serve all of our citizens irrespective of size," he said.

He added he was "absolutely flabbergasted" the council would not say exactly how many of the 15 children who died were already known to social services and called for the council to be open.