by Ray JonesSomething does seem to be badly wrong. I was inclined to think that the fury following the death of Baby P was just a media-fuelled panic. After all, we know that about one child a week dies through abuse or neglect from their carers. This mainly goes unreported. We will never be able across all the agencies and the community to prevent all of these tragedies, which are much fewer in the UK than elsewhere.
But the stories which continue to emerge indicate that in some places vulnerable children are very unsafe and without much hope of protection.
I still think that the tabloids were out of order with their personalised vilification of workers who spend their professional lives protecting children. Indeed I think even more now that the vindictiveness and vitriol landing on individual workers has been grossly unfair when we learn about the circumstances in which they are working.
Why in some places has it become so bad? Firstly, cabinet and mayorial government in councils means that directors of children's services no longer openly and publicly advise and brief all councillors. Instead discussion and debate by a small number of councillors, usually from just one political group, takes place unseen and unheard by other councillors, the local press and the public. The majority of councillors and the local community therefore are uninformed about issues within services until a major tragedy occurs.
Secondly, the government-required focus on joining up services and community leadership, which is sensible, can get out of balance and lead to a lack of attention to sharp-end responsibilities like child protection. Top managers lose touch as they focus on less specific cross-cutting agendas and general community well-being.
Thirdly, the managers themselves may be recruited with no experience and expertise in the services they lead. They then have little competence in understanding what is happening in practice, and indeed may be unseen and unseeing.
Fourthly, there can be an organisational culture of bullying and intimidation, leaving workers feeling insecure and intimidated.
It does not have to be like this. In many places it is not like this. But we are now finding that this disastrous picture is not as unusual as we might have expected. This needs to be urgently addressed, and next week I reflect on what should be done.
Dr. Ray Jones is professor of social work at Kingston University and St Georges, University of London and formerly director of social services in Wiltshire.
I still think that the tabloids were out of order with their personalised vilification of workers who spend their professional lives protecting children. Indeed I think even more now that the vindictiveness and vitriol landing on individual workers has been grossly unfair when we learn about the circumstances in which they are working.
Why in some places has it become so bad? Firstly, cabinet and mayorial government in councils means that directors of children's services no longer openly and publicly advise and brief all councillors. Instead discussion and debate by a small number of councillors, usually from just one political group, takes place unseen and unheard by other councillors, the local press and the public. The majority of councillors and the local community therefore are uninformed about issues within services until a major tragedy occurs.
Secondly, the government-required focus on joining up services and community leadership, which is sensible, can get out of balance and lead to a lack of attention to sharp-end responsibilities like child protection. Top managers lose touch as they focus on less specific cross-cutting agendas and general community well-being.
Thirdly, the managers themselves may be recruited with no experience and expertise in the services they lead. They then have little competence in understanding what is happening in practice, and indeed may be unseen and unseeing.
Fourthly, there can be an organisational culture of bullying and intimidation, leaving workers feeling insecure and intimidated.
It does not have to be like this. In many places it is not like this. But we are now finding that this disastrous picture is not as unusual as we might have expected. This needs to be urgently addressed, and next week I reflect on what should be done.
Dr. Ray Jones is professor of social work at Kingston University and St Georges, University of London and formerly director of social services in Wiltshire.
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