Star Hobson

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-59637683

No sooner had we had the awful case of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes we have another case The sentences tomorrow will hopefully be life for both, but I think the mother will get off a fair bit lighter as she's being portrayed as someone easily led by her older girlfriend with a low IQ.

 

Stopped reading after looking at the picture.

 

I'm sick and tired of listening to all these services say "we've put more robust measures in place" or "we've learned a lot through this tragedy".

 

Tragic story , hope the killers rot in hell . Shocking that the complaints were never acted on .

 

I totally agree with what you say, but I just want to add that one of mates is a senior social worker. At present due to lack of funding, lack of new recruits to replace those leaving in large numbers. Case loads are totally unmanageable, means things get missed and the required time isn't being spent on each individual child and their situation.

Like so many things at the minute, it's a mess. I've got a little girl and every time these things happen it makes me hug her extra tight. Shouldn't be happening in a country like ours, but it is doing with regularity.

 

So am I but I wish they'd come out publicly and state the truth. Chronic and constant underfunding means we miss things and make mistakes. Underfunding on welfare in general means that we have a much higher workload because of all the issues that brings and frankly if the conservative government had taken money off the likes of Amazon and their wealthy voters and donors instead of off the poor and vital services then more time and resources would be available to better investigate cases like these.

 

Get what your saying about funding etc but these kids were on the radar with family begging for action and dismissed . Bruises ignored , child not listened to , cases closed instead of being left on the books stating lack of resources .
If it’s resources then cases should not be closed or dismissed they should remain on the radar citing resources .
All the lessons from the past have been ignored in these cases rather than something not catered for from past enquiries , taking fathers and mothers words against evidence of family and marks etc ,
The little girl could hardly walk on one social workers visit because of a broken leg and wasn’t followed up on .
I know they have big case loads and a lot are overworked but there should be something to highlight this rather than just close the case for the social workers sake as well .

 

The current situation within social is dire. There is a tsunami of concern in the sector. There is some fantastic people working in the sector, a sector where salaries are even lower than the NHS. Social Workers have complex cases and growing. In some local authorities case loads have increased from ave of 14 to nearly 30. Sickness has tripled (non covid), experienced Social workers are being replaced by young newly qualified with no experience and scars of the job. It’s a scary situation and unfortunately, we will see many more awful issues like Arthur and Star. Sad but that is the reality at the moment.

 

The real culprits in such cases are those who abuse the innocent children who they are supposed to care for. They are generally very manipulative with their charges and social services. I am not in favour of capital punishment but I hope these women (if that is what they are) have a really horrible time in prison for a very long time.

 

Some parts of society and certain members of the media believe its easy to remove a child from their parents. It's not, though I'm not going to support legislation to make easier. Issues like violence against children should be a police matter. Social workers are there to help broken or struggling families. They shouldn't be given the role of priest and hitman. Families won't trust them and then system breaks down further.
The police are already stretched and most are fresh faced and undertrained. It's the perfect storm, what happens when you underfund, fail to legislate, and have no clear cohesive strategy.

 

The best thing about Blairs govt was the introduction of Surestart centes in areas of social need. We need them back ASAP, it won't stop cases like these necessarily but it will free up SWs from other cases as families that are struggling were getting more support.

 

100% correct

 

Nice to see the district's Tory MP wade in with a statement stating that the system is not fit for purpose, therefore council leadership should resign.
Under no circumstances should any responsibility be accepted by the party in government and their relentless cutbacks.
Bankrupt the service, watch it fail, express horror at the outcome and blame the service.

 

50% cut in funding since these lovely people got in; yet the rich get richer.

 

Having no allegiance to any political party and having worked in the sector for 30+ years, its easy to blame the current establishment, however, that is like blaming the mechanic trying to fix a written off vehicle. The Labour government prior to this is as much responsible.

 

Whilst not disagreeing with you on cuts etc and the devastating impact this has had on the sector the fact is these children were on the radar and the Manchester , Bradford and West Midlands have acknowledged and apologised.
Thes cuts are savage and a disgrace but we have to acknowledge that for a great many people getting Brexit done was far more important than the cuts to this and other vital departments by a shyster and his cronies .
Having said that Children have been removed from their parents for a lot less so the social workers can’t hide behind that and as you say the police should have taken action and that’s my point after the Baby P and Victoria C cases this was highlighted in the reports and supposedly lessons learned but yet here we are again .
I know it’s almost impossible to save all the at risk children but vital warning signs were there and in the Baby Starr case the S W disregarded the families pleas and even taunted them when they asked to care for the child with I quote” that’s not happening “
The SW in question mentioned I her report that the child was depressed and has bruises but never thought to questioned why the child was in pain and limping on one visit .
These cases have all one thing in common and that’s the individuals failed to see obvious warning signs .
Until we bring individuals to answer these charges nothing will change as we’ve seen over the years . There’s just certain people shouldn’t be in certain jobs or careers and they need to be removed choose how low the resources and that’s in any of our essential services be it Police or whatever and until they are removed we will have the status quo .
We have had some activity as far as the Police goes with individuals removed or gaoled but some as in the Stephen Port Fiasco have been rewarded and this is not right imo .

 

https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co...sentencing-star-hobson-trial-brockhill-smith/

Sentencing coming at quarter past two.

 

See my post on Surestart centres.

 

I'm not sure children do get removed for much less. I keep thinking back to a little lad I came across, was with foster carers and the judge ordered he couldn't be adopted. His mother missed opportunities to visit him at the carers for very spurious reasons. His back story was every bit as horrible as some of these Thatcher coming to light. The threshold is a lot higher than most people will think. There are a shortage of foster carers for a start, when you remove children you have to place them somewhere.

 

Not every Child removed has been in the same dire consequences I’m sure of that , some Children have been removed from loving parent/s but just couldn’t look after them for one reason or another . No excuse for not enquiring why a child is limping and bruised from an at risk Parent and imo especially after Baby P should have been routinely checked .