The case of a two-year old who was stabbed to death by her mother reported today is the third case of child death in appalling circumstances that has been reported over the past fortnight.
Earlier this week, Haringey council came under press scrutiny as they announced a serious case review into the death of a 17-month old baby.
The Haringey case came days after two people were found guilty of the murder of four-year-old Leticia Wright in Huddersfield.
Social workers visited Leticia five weeks before her death for one-and-a half hours after concerned neighbours called anonymously. But her file was closed after she had been registered with a local nursery.
Kirklees Safeguarding Children Board said a review of the case conducted by an independent professional concluded that Leticia’s death “could not have been forseen” by any of the people in the local authority who dealt with her or her mother.
The news of three child deaths – two of which are being subjected to a serious case review – rightly seem three too many.
But overall, statistics reveal the number of serious case reviews carried out by councils when a child dies is even higher than media reports would suggest.
A parliamentary answer earlier this year revealed that 78 serious case reviews were carried out in 2003-4, and in 2004-5 there were 82 cases.
Children’s minister Beverley Hughes, who gave the information from the child protection database, which is maintained by the Commission for Social Care Inspection, said that data for 2005-6 was not yet available.
But while professionals usually claim the number of child deaths is “stable" the sheer number of the reviews suggested by Hughes’ answer begs the question: why do only a handful of these cases – as of late – reach the eye of the national media?
I would argue the media has a duty to report on all such cases including those where councils are exonerated such as the recent case of Joe Geeling - as well as those where failing authorities need to be exposed.
It should also report the undoubtedly numerous cases where children do not happen to be very young and photogenic.
Comments (1)
It is alarming and tragic that any child should lose their lives in this way. Who on earth could dispute that? It does concern me though that we tend to seek a person to blame. Obviously sometimes mistakes are made and those responsible should be made accountable if professionally they have failed. However we have to accept that nobody can predict the future. It is impossible to do so. Only risk can be measured. Circumstances can escalate within days, situations can worsen and outlandish things can happend days after relative calm. Not everything can be predicted only anticipated.
Posted by Jane | August 23, 2007 7:53 AM
Posted on August 23, 2007 07:53