Baby P

[NorthernSoul]

I wasn't entirely sure were this topic belonged so if this is the wrong section I apologise.

The Baby P story is, understandably, a touchy one, but are newspapers, particularly The Sun, over reacting?

It is, obviously, a terrible set of circumstances but is the media jumping all over this just to boost sales, how often are stories like this missed? How often do things like this happen? Should those involved (I'm sure a newspaper would use the word "responsible") lose their jobs?

Your most skeptical thoughts please.

[Mongrel]

Should those involved (I'm sure a newspaper would use the word "responsible") lose their jobs?

If it's anything like normal then the social workers are probably not to blame. Overworked, underpaid and conflicting or confusing diktats from the higher ups (who have probably never done the job themselves) that directly oppose nationwide policy.

(Here and here for other stories of target led public service nonsense)

[Croydon Bob]

The whole subject is a minefield. Leave children with their parents? Take them away from their parents? Just like Sun journalists I know nothing like enough to comment. Unlike Sun journalists I therefore won't comment.

[Trinoc]

If it's anything like normal then the social workers are probably not to blame. Overworked, underpaid and conflicting or confusing diktats from the higher ups (who have probably never done the job themselves) that directly oppose nationwide policy.

If there is anything good to come out of this mess, it seems to be that the social workers (and police) made sure their objections were on the record before the tragedy happened, so that they can't get blamed for the whole fiasco as in previous cases.

[Pebble]

On this one I am firmly on the side of the social workers. The police cannot predict crime, we don't criticise the police for not preventing murder.

Injuries in children are common, assumptions that this is perpetrated by parents would be unjustified, rightly so.

Is it not time to grow up and accept that there are nasty people in the world, and that sometimes picking up the pieces after the event is the way to go?

[Mongrel]

If there is anything good to come out of this mess, it seems to be that the social workers (and police) made sure their objections were on the record before the tragedy happened, so that they can't get blamed for the whole fiasco as in previous cases.

Unfortunately my cynical side says they'll pick a couple of people on the lowest rung of the ladder and throw them to the wolves in full public view, run an investigation that'll take 4 years to complete whilst the people running the departments get shuffled sideways (with a nice severance package) to a position out of the public eye.

[skbuncks]

In a case like this we cannot rely upon the media for an accurate portrayal of the events leading up to Baby Ps death.
It is very easy to lay the blame at the feet of the social workers involved but we are not in possession of all the facts. Until the facts are laid bare I cannot point a finger of blame at anyone for not nipping this in the bub.
If it was to arise that someone in social services was negligent, then yes, they should lose their job. If there is a crime matching up to this aforesaid negligence then they should be prosecuted.

skb

[modman]

On this one I am firmly on the side of the social workers. The police cannot predict crime, we don't criticise the police for not preventing murder.

Its good to see this kind of attitude some where, if you listened to the media you would think that it was all the social wrokers fault and the parents did nothing!

[newatheist]

another example is the mccanne case, they media went about amking villains and heroes of everyone. there was a headline everyday but the actual events had progressed very little.

sorry if i sound cruel, i did not care about madelline mccanne at the time, my sympathy was for those parents who were looking for their child for years without result and without any media attention, people who were ignored because their child didn't have as cute a face as maddelline mccane.

in the end there is no point crying about baby p, because there are countless other such cases and many even worse.

[modman]

another example is the mccanne case, they media went about amking villains and heroes of everyone. there was a headline everyday but the actual events had progressed very little.

sorry if i sound cruel, i did not care about madelline mccanne at the time, my sympathy was for those parents who were looking for their child for years without result and without any media attention, people who were ignored because their child didn't have as cute a face as maddelline mccane.

in the end there is no point crying about baby p, because there are countless other such cases and many even worse.

I whole heartedly agree, i may sound like a bastard but every time somthing like baby p happens they blame social services and there is a reform of the system and it happens again, so maybe there is nothing wrong with the system but with the society it works in??

A perfect example: in the shannon Mathews case, they were blaming social services the other day cos a mother kidnapped her own daughter for financial gain!! That is nothing more than a social acceptability of excessive greed and a disrespect for the law in society, nothing to do with social services!!

[tiswas]

Best thing to do is avoid the Gutter Press, which I do often.8)

[Edinburgh-Skeptics]

As a society we constantly need people to blame and so scapegoats are constantly created. That a parent could kidnap or kill their child is not in keeping with our idea of a civilised society and so the blame must rest on the shoulders of those we assume are there to protect. And they are there to protect, my favourite line so far has been "The police cannot predict crime". This is all too true, as is the case with social services and child abuse.

I, and many people I know, suffered some sort of physical abuse as a child, I was lucky, it never progressed beyond a rarther harsh belting (literally with a belt) but I know others who suffered much worse. Should I blame social services? The fact they were called in and investigated but did nothing, it was not their fault. They were presented with an image that claimed no violence ever took place and so acted accordingly. If they do not prosecute and a child is harmed they are called lazy and accused of not doing their job, however if they intervene and take a child away from the parents and abuse hasn't taken place or cannot be prooved then they are called heavy handed.

There is a reason I no longer refer to this country as "Great" Britain. The idea of laying blame is a constant act of the uneducated (Though not exclusively). Take the second World War, ask someone today and they will call Hitler pure evil and we were right to get involved. Until Hitler started invading one too many areas we supported him and congratulated him on building up his economy and country which we ourselves had helped to destroy with the criminal act of the Treaty of Versaille. Look at the English/ Scotland divide. The ammount of times I've recieved abuse for being English due to some out dated feud that if you actually looked at was six of one and half a dozen of the other, both sides as guilty.

People have an in built need to lay blame, usually at the feet of authority, otherwise we may feel guilty at ourselves when we realise that at times we are the ones to blame, the public ourselves.