Recently in child abuse Category

Last night's episode of the BBC series Protecting Our Children seemed to provoke an even more positive online reaction than the first - even winning over some of the first film's critics.

In particular, there was huge praise on Twitter and our live debate for the empathetic and calm-headed approach of social worker Annie (pictured) - seen supporting young couple Shaun and Marva during their fourth pregnancy - and her manager Arthur.

There was animated discussion, and some amusement, at the sight of Annie flanked by two burly security guards during home visits. (The security guards, like the social workers, were employed by Bristol Council for all the viewers who asked last night).

There was debate around the role of adult services in child protection cases, to support parents with mental health and substance misuse problems - as we saw last night. And of course there was the all-important question of whether the series will improve the public perception of social work. (Most viewers said they were hopeful but not quite convinced yet.)

Here's a quick round-up of views, thoughts and reflections from the web (more to follow soon):

@VjLupton (via Twitter)
Even more sure I'm doing right by getting my degree after #protectingourchildren amazing people making a difference.

@CathyAshley Family Rights Group (via Twitter)
Very moving #protectingourchildren. Sympathetic portrayal of all involved. Complete respect for social worker & her manager.

@mwilliamsthomas (via Twitter)
Half way through prog- very impressed so far - Annie a credit to the profession @ComCareChildren #protectingourchildren"

@mrspentleton (via Twitter)
#protectingourchildren. Massive respect 2 the SW. Massive respect 2 the foster carer. Everyone should watch this. Pay attention media!

@SteveDonnan (via Twitter)
Social workers get such a bad rap, I think they do an incredibly difficult and dangerous job. Takes great strength #protectingourchildren

@BASW_UK British Association of Social Workers (via Twitter)
Social worker showing great resilience & empathy, lets hope her other 14 cases are not as challenging!

And you can replay our debate from last night here: 

As if taking on your first social work case wasn't nerve-wracking enough, imagine doing it in front a BBC film crew and, a year later, having your practice scrutinised by people all over the country. Susanne, the NQSW seen on the BBC's Protecting Our Children, has her say here and reacts to viewers' comments.

"I'm quite relieved that my episode has now gone out.

After many months of filming (you can see the changes in the weather), attending the official BBC screening and doing pre-publicity press interviews, I can now reflect on the experience.

"Most of the commentary I've seen across Twitter, various blogs and the Community Care pages has been positive about what we were trying to achieve with Mike and Tiffany - the couple whose care of three-year-old Toby was in question. 

"It's interesting to see how black and white views have been and that a lot of people are sympathetic to Mike and Tiffany's situation, as well as to what I and my managers were looking to achieve for Toby. 

"I've also seen a lot of commentary from professionals about the various steps and interventions they think should have been attempted with Tiffany in particular.

"While I can't go into detail about their family life, beyond what you see in the programmes, I would like to reassure the social work community that there were many strategies attempted with the family before Tiffany makes her decision about adoption. This did not happen quickly without many opportunities for reflection. As I am on the community team I only take cases that would have seen around three months worth of work from my colleagues in duty.

"There were also several comments about what my caseloads might be. So for those who are still curious, Toby was my first major case, allocated on my second day. During the months I was filmed I was dealing with between 11 and 17 other cases. 

"Now I am looking forward to watching my colleagues in episodes 2 and 3."

Social work play Shallow Slumber is disturbing, ugly and unmissable writes Drew Clode

Community Care has three pairs of free tickets to Shallow Slumber up for grabs - enter now

Social work is a complicated beast constantly questioning its identity, its place in the hierarchies (witness the birth struggles of The College of Social Work), and sometimes its very existence. Since it abandoned the use of `client' it has failed even to come up with a term to define the people it works with and alongside (`customer'? `user'? `citizen'?). Sometimes it fails to make it absolutely clear that it wants to exist as a separate, independent profession at all.

The extraordinary amount of good that it does, and has done, has persistently been either ignored by the wider world, or patronised by politicians who, even while praising the `caring professions' for their work have been sharpening knives to reduce their influence, their number, their pay, or all three. The last 20 years has seen it retrench, retrench, retrench until it barely seems a shadow of its former self.

Social work centre stage

The profession has hung like a ghost around many of social worker/playwright Chris Lee's earlier plays. Notably in the Water Harvest and the more complicated The Ash Boy, he has drawn from client and profession alike to explore the darkest side of human relationships, the manipulation of identity and personality through some of the crudest power games that comprise social work's daily bread and butter.

Now, in Shallow Slumber* he has brought social work centre stage for the first time in all its nervous, self-conscious, awkward uncertainties - an earlier manifestation in The Humming Bird (1996) was more peripheral. However unmissable the play is - and it is unmissable - it is an ugly, disturbing experience.

Metronomic precision

Through social worker Moira and `crack whore' Dawn he tells, in his customary flashback style, the story of the death of Baby Amy (as the media would no doubt `dub' the victim), as well as the story of the relationship between professional and client. It ebbs and flows with near metronomic precision. First Dawn implores, Moira controls: then Moira falters, a harsher Dawn manipulates.

Mora tries to explain what drew her to social work, and is then ruthlessly taken apart by a Dawn who, despite her harshness, slips amid her invective to reveal the softer, `loster' child within. Even the author can't help sending Moira up in the scene where she `presents' for her first social work job.

What turns out to be her last one is summed up in Dawn's accusation hurled at Moira that all her training and listening and reflecting and empowerment are nothing more than devices "to stop you caring beyond five o'clock. None of it is real." All Moira can answer is: "It can never be the same as friendship." So what's it all about? Finally: "They knew I was scum. They wanted me to be scum. And here I am, scum."
Moira: "You'll get tired of thinking like this."
Dawn: "So are you trying to redeem me?"

Unravelling intentions

We know from the outset that the case has destroyed both of them. Only towards the end is the full horror of the child's death laid bare, while in between is a starkly staged, intensely worded, bleakly lit, unravelling of all those good intentions that make up the profession. That, and the dark, ambiguous uncertainties that haunt relationships with the people the profession serves.

Is Moira sometimes more caricature than character? Slightly, but sometimes it's hard to tell that from an authorial tongue-in-cheek. Is Dawn a bit more articulate than your average `crack whore'? You'll never know until you've met one. Those are finer details which arise only after the full impact of the drama has been fully ingested.

The author, Chris Lee, was once rung by a friend making a boring call to arrange something mundane - a tennis match; an evening in a pub. Picking up the phone he said in a characteristic flat monotone: "I'm sorry. One of my clients has just been murdered. Can I call you back?". That same tone of a raging calm stuck inside a controlled despair reverberates through every phrase in this play.

Superbly acted by Alexandra Gilbreath (Moira) and Amy Cudden - two actors who, like the author, deserve and will almost certainly achieve greater success - it's for everyone who's ever thought deeply about social work, its origins, its present and its future. If you can't see it once, see it twice!

* Shallow Slumber by Chris Lee, directed by Mary Nighy, is showing until February 18 at the Soho Theatre, box office 020 7478 0100

Drew Clode is policy/press adviser for the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and is writing in a personal capacity

If you missed the Today programme this morning, have a listen here for an interesting discussion about the recent news on vitamin D deficiency - now accepted as a growing problem in Britain and, doctors say, a possible contributing factor to Sudden Infant Deaths. 

Doctors and solicitors describe to the programme how vitamin D deficiency and the child bone disease rickets could lead to miscarriages of justice involving allegations of child abuse. And two senior pathologists tell the BBC historic cases should be reviewed to examine whether the condition played a role.

Picture credit: ZoeLouisePhotography

Morning all, here's a quick round-up of interesting things on the world wide web:

Children exposed to family violence show the same pattern of activity in their brains as soldiers exposed to combat, according to a study in the scientific journal Current Biology.

A report by the chief inspector of prisons has criticised Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre for repeatedly detaining expectant mothers, the Guardian reports.

And have a look at this creative 'A-Z of homelessness' artwork by homeless young people from The Connection, designed to prevent and raise awareness of homelessness.

Picture credit: dierk schaefer

One in every four babies in Britain is at risk of abuse because their home life is violent or their parents have mental health or drug problems, according to research by the NSPCC.

The charity found over 198,000 UK babies (168,000 of whom live in England) could be at risk of harm or neglect because their families have complex, and often unmet, needs.

The biggest risk factor was found to be parental mental health problems, affecting 144,000 babies. More than 93,000 babies live with a parent who has alcohol problems, while 50,000 babies are growing up in homes where a parent has used drugs in the past year.

The new figures were released today as part of an NSPCC campaign, All Babies Count, to highlight the vulnerability of babies and their need for better and earlier support.

Chris Cuthbert, NSPCC head of strategy and development for children under one, said: "Babies under one are particularly vulnerable to the impact of early trauma and neglect - we know half of serious case reviews relate to this age group and two thirds of SCRs into child deaths or abuse involve one or more of these risk factors.

by Vilma Watt

Harry* was five when he was removed from a neglectful home and arrived with us in a temporary placement. He had never sat at a table to eat, had no set bed time, no set bath time. In fact, no routine, full stop. Bed time at 8pm would bring chaos by 11pm.

He was labelled as having "emotional behavioural difficulties". Translated, this meant any decision or instruction he felt unable to comply with would be met with a perplexed look followed by a contortion of the face, glazed eyes and then, bang, the explosion. It was either flight or fight. When it was flight, he would run as if possessed. If it was fight, shin pads would have been useful. Yet when it was over there was a stillness followed by a period of tenderness and vulnerability.

Both the school and the other parents were understanding and we went about getting a Camhs referral. But I was told that therapy was only an option for children once in a permanent placement.

I felt I had failed him. I knew the care proceedings would be protracted and we "temporarily" cared for Harry for two years until he was adopted. We are still in touch. His mum told me that she was labelled a "bulldog" as she fought for the therapy and support he needed. He had been excluded from the playground because of his difficulties with others. So she went to her MP and said it was an abuse of his human rights. The school soon found him one-to-one support during playtimes.

I think not providing therapy for emotionally disturbed children in temporary foster care is a human rights issue too.

*Not his real name

Vilma Watt is a foster mother and former solicitor in family law. She represents The Fostering Network in Kingston upon Thames, London

An actor from the long-running ITV soap Coronation Street has been arrested on suspicion of a sexual offence concerning a young girl, according to reports this morning.

Michael Le Vell, who plays mechanic Kevin Webster in the soap, is said to have "strenuously" denied the allegation. He was arrested on 30 September and bailed until 16 November.

In other news: The BBC reports that Birmingham's safeguarding children services are improving, despite facing another serious case review, according to a watchdog chairman.

And a serious case review has been launched into the murder of a six-month-old child, Ollie McBride, in Preston.

Picture credit: Rex Features

The number of people convicted of sex offences on under 16s in England and Wales has risen by nearly 60% in six years, according to figures obtained by the BBC.

A Freedom of Information request sent to the Ministry of Justice by the broadcaster found that 1,363 people were convicted in 2005, compared with 2,135 in 2010.

Child protection experts have said the increase is likely to be due to raised awareness and better detecting of the crime. But they also warned that the number of convictions is still relatively low, considering the scale of child abuse.

Lisa Harker, head of strategy and development at the NSPCC, told the BBC that police were notified of over 23,000 sexual offences against children in England and Wales last year, while recent research suggested one in 20 secondary school children had been sexually abused.