Baby Starves To Death In Skegness

johnny.5 | 20:12 Wed 17th Jan 2024 | News

40 Answers

social worker calls at house 3 times before finding baby curled up next to his dead father who had died of a heart attack so sad . but why blame the social worker ? who it seams trid to do their job

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barry1010

Why should the police have gone on the first visit? It was a routine, pre-booked appointment, the sort of visit she'd be doing dozens of times a week.

jourdain2

barry - I meant on the first time the social worker went to them, not her first visit to the house.

barry1010

Oh! Got you, apologies

barry1010

This is the typical procedure for missed appointments. Flags aren't normally raised until the third consecutive missed visit - it is an extremely common occurrence. A long read but sheds a light for those interested

https://gloucestershirechildcare.proceduresonline.com/p_failure_acc.html

All councils have a very similar procedure

youngmafbog

Plod should have gone round, it is not the SW fault in this case.

Simple as that. We no longer have a Police Force though just a farce.

naomi24

I agree. The police should have followed it up. Dreadful case. Just awful.

Redhelen72

such a no fault tragedy in my opinion

choux

The irony of that picture of Bronson wearing a Children In Need top :(

andres

Apart from the mother were there no relatives .

Unless they lived miles away you would think they would have wanted to see the little boy.

barry1010

Thousands of these appointments are missed every year. It is over the top to expect the police to force entry on the first or second missed visit unless there other warning flags.

naomi24

//[the baby] was classed as vulnerable and subject to checks at least once a month by children’s services. A social worker visited their home on 2 January, after contacting the father on 27 December. But she received no reply and, after making inquiries at other addresses where the child might be, contacted the police. She returned to the house unannounced two days later and contacted the police again as there was still no response.//

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/jan/17/bronson-battersby-two-year-old-boy-died-of-starvation-curled-up-next-to-dead-father

The police were informed twice. They should have followed it up.

Lie-in King

This was an awful tragedy, so very sad. I do think the police should have been more responsive to the social worker's report in the first instance.

Countrylover

Noone is to blame for what happened but the police should have acted far more speedily imho opinion.

Countrylover

I feel so sorry for the Social Worke she did all she was allowed to do. The system is at fault. Especially as the family were on their register. We can't blame the mother if we don't know her circumstances.

JACKSON-REACHER

The social worker had contact with the father on the 27th Dec.

Police were contacted on the 2nd Jan.

The bodies were discovered on the 9th Jan (presumably by the landlady).

furrypusscat

Mother left family home 6 months earlier with 2 other young children but didn't take 2 year old as there was no stair bannister so left with father. She still had his Christmas present so where was she over Christmas and immediately after and why hadn't she made contact prior to 9th January when bodies were found.

Surely she has to take some responsibility and blame not Social Services. Obviously there were some issues with the family as SS's had been involved with them. Maybe there were some visiting restrictions as she hadn't seen him since November.

Terrible tragedy whatever the circumstances.

naomi24

The social worker visited the house on 2 January and when she got no response. contacted the police on the same day.

Countrylover

We've just witnessed a situation where medics couldn't get into a house, called the police who came straight away. That is what should have happened. Unfortunately in the situation I talk of the person concerned was dead on the settee.