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Baby P proves mother doesn’t always know best
Thursday, 20 November 2008
What damage do you have to inflict on a child — and for how long — to be deemed an unfit mother?
I will never forget the heart-rending image of Baby P, his head roughly shaved, with blood around his ear and chocolate smeared over the sores around his mouth. It is impossible not to cry.
What kind of ‘expert’ could see that woeful little person and not think something was seriously wrong? What pediatrician could examine a crying child and not ‘notice’ that his back and ribs were broken?
I haven't had a child, but I know I could spot a beaten baby better than the lacklustre team in North London who failed Baby P on 78 different occasions. Even when doctors expressed concern, they were over-ruled by social workers claiming that they knew best — and that meant reuniting this child with its mother.
Baby P isn't just the victim of sustained abuse — he died because of political correctness. We seem reluctant — in this case fatally so — to pass judgement on women who couldn't clean out a hamster's cage let alone look after a baby.
This is the true legacy of Sixties thinking — always assume that mum knows best, and always support the underclass. Let's not pass judgement on the fact that their homes contain no furniture other than a telly, a computer, a bed and a sofa. Let's not criticise — as Jamie Oliver so bravely did the other week — mums who don't know how to turn on the cooker, feed their kids takeaways, and eat off the floor. Let's blame it on poverty and deprivation. That's easier than confronting a few unpleasant truths.
Baby P's mum spent hours online every night, chatting to friends, playing poker. Her home was not in a slum, but a decent part of north London. She'd had several children. You can bet she and her friends wore smart casual clothes, and had enough money for booze, fags and recreational drugs.
It's a familiar story. Karen Matthews, currently on trial for kidnapping and imprisoning her own daughter in order to claim a £50,000 reward, had seven children by five different men. Her former boyfriend Craig was convicted earlier this year on 11 counts of possessing child pornography.
The court heard evidence that when Karen was driven to be reunited with her daughter after she'd been missing for 24 days she seemed more interested in the officer's mobile phone ring tone than anything else. That's not a crime, but it does reveal a lot about a particular mindset.
How can social workers go into homes with animal faeces on the floor — and there are small children living there — and think that's acceptable? Another indicator of warped values is the revelation that Baby P was thought safe with a young friend of his mum's — a girl with zero experience of child care.
My eyes were opened to this world when I spent a couple of weeks working in Barnsley General Hospital, for a television series about the NHS. I would ask girls about to give birth if they'd even been to antenatal class. They'd proudly say no, but they knew all the terminology. They wanted an epidural, they didn't want to breast feed. Yet at the same time they hadn't a clue how to sterilise a bottle.
There was a list in code on the office wall of women known to the police and social services — women who would turn up, have their babies, and then disappear, reappearing a year later pregnant by a different man.
It now costs a lot of money to take children into care, which is one reason why local authorities are reluctant to act. Iain Duncan Smith thinks that every time you do this some young mums will just have another baby — undoubtedly true. If single mums had to live together in hostels would that teach them cooking and mothering skills? Why should they automatically receive their own flat? As we dig deep in our pocket to help kids — Children in Need raised a record £20m last Friday — but it was too late for Baby P. We need to become a nation of busybodies, and not feel that a beaten, dying baby is best left to the professionals.
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Comments
22 Comments
im a proud single mum of four under the age of five all of my children share the same father/ ive been brought up all my life havting to scimp and scrape im on benefits im 24 meet all the criterias for people to judge/ let me state i may not have much to give my kids may not have acheived much in life no gcses but!i have a brain and a big heart and my biggest achievement are my children they are my world whithout them i would have nothing people are so quick to judge poverty but remember not everyone chooses to be like this i only whish precious baby p could of had what my children have LOVE! and a lot of it having more money does certainly not make you a better mum remember the saying money does not buy happines !!! rest in peace sweet angel peter xx
Posted by dont judge poverty | 03.12.08, 00:05 GMT
I fully support the Dutch initiative to order compulsory 2 year contraception for mothers who continually prove themselves to be unfit to look after their children. Any baby wilfully conceived during that time is immediately confiscated at birth. Such a law is desperately needed here. When a woman persists in having babies whilst others she has are already at risk or in care she needs to be subjected to harsh penalties.
Damaged children grow up to damage society - the cycle MUST be stopped.
I wonder though if the British Govt has the guts to introduce this much needed measure.
Posted by wendyj | 24.11.08, 09:33 GMT
I totally agree with Janet Street- Porter.
Posted by Kay | 23.11.08, 21:54 GMT
This whole thing has sickened me to the core. I have had sleepless nights, how could this happen?This poor little boy was let down by so many people, how could they sleep at night, I can't. Everytime I see my little baby boy smile I think of baby P and the suffering he must have endured at the hands of those monsters, did he have any happiness in his short life? I hope so. To cry and have no-one care is so heart breaking. Whenever I kiss my beloved children I send one to baby P. I was not your fault beautiful angel, you were just so unlucky, there are so many people who would have loved and cherished you my little angel. xxxxx
Posted by Karen | 22.11.08, 22:57 GMT
Although I am single parent (not by choice, I may add) I am inclined to agree with Janet about some of the comments in this report. I do think in this day and age, girls and women should be more respomsible and take contraception if they feel they are incapable of looking after a child or children.
Posted by Anne | 22.11.08, 19:26 GMT
Yes there is poverty in the U.K but previous generations lived in the same state and still cared for their children above everything. the vast majority of poor people still do.
The key to this seems to be... why oh why if you don't feel you can cope with a child, do you ever get pregnant in the first place? If you know you can't afford it, or if you know you're going to find it a hindrance to your life, why not just use contraception? It isn't rocket science.
Posted by RobD | 22.11.08, 15:57 GMT
I agree with Janet. I taught for over thirty years in Cornwall and the emergence of an underclass impacted on every area of school life. Karen Matthews types sprang up all over the place and soon became a growing minority. I was glad to retire because they made life so stressful.
Aggressive timewasters, they would march into school and take out their angst on anyone who happened along. What made it worse was the supine way management invariably appeased them, quizzing teachers in the wake of some trumped up complaint.
These feckless parents took no responsibility for anything, living on benefits and scrapping with neighbours for a pastime. Meanwhile the government kept reinforcing their rights while putting pressure on schools to re-instate their delinquent children on appeal. School/home contracts were introduced in a belated attempt to redress the balance but by then it was all too late. It will take decades of strong medicine to correct this dire situation.
Posted by Ros, Cornwall | 21.11.08, 23:09 GMT
It seems to be the same old story these days. If you refuse to work, drink or abuse drugs and abuse your children, the (labour) government throw money at you like its going out of fashion. Its seems like the " hug a hoodie" brigade have taken over Britain. " Its not thuggery, its rage. Its not crime, its poverty"
In my opinion its ********. As my mum would say " if ye couldne treat yer weans right you would have the cruelty at yer door in two minutes and they would be taken aff ye". This is a lady who had five children, three jobs, but still managed to love and clothe them and treat them with nothing but love and kindness despite recieving no help from the government.
Im a nurse who works for the NHS and although my speciality is not peadiatrics, It does not take a genius to spot an abused child.
Posted by Angela | 21.11.08, 18:14 GMT
i feel very sad and angry at this type of mums,why do u born childrens when u cant look after them. .my heart goes uot for baby p.love you and rest in heavan.
Posted by jan | 21.11.08, 16:49 GMT
I agree with this article 100%. We need to become busy bodies again. We need to be critical of a mothers care and we need to drop the political correctness. It may save a childs life.
Posted by Sharon | 21.11.08, 16:48 GMT
I agree completely with what Jane has stated. All at risk children should be closely monitored, and the social services should have listened to the gran and the caretaker. Poor baby P, how he must have suffered. May the monsters who committed this heinous crime against this defenseless baby suffer a thousand deaths and may they be made to feel agony and suffering for the rest of their miserable lives....RIP Baby P.
Posted by Alisha Mootoo | 21.11.08, 13:21 GMT
i totally agree with everything in this article
Posted by sharon | 20.11.08, 23:32 GMT
Is there any chance we could, just for once, not blame this on single mothers? Some women who have been left to bring up their kids on their own work hard to provide them a decent upbringing. In fact it might surprise you to know that a fair few of them can cook and don't beat or imprison their children.
Posted by Jo | 20.11.08, 23:26 GMT
rip baby boy,
were all thinking of you down here.
Posted by Jodie | 20.11.08, 19:22 GMT
I think that this is completely terrible; how a human being could do this to an innocent little child - it's heartbreaking.
Posted by XxX | 20.11.08, 19:17 GMT
"We need to become a nation of busybodies" - yes, a world of busybodies not afraid of being politically incorrect, not afraid of trouble. We need whistle-blowers! My heart aches, for as a mother of a toddler who just turned two, I simply cannot imagine how anyone could inflict any harm on defenseless little beings.
Posted by Sue Lin | 20.11.08, 18:45 GMT
This country is becoming more and more leniant to crimes like this and sooner or later this will become an everyday story we see in the newspaper, we have got to come down hard on these people and NOW not when the next case comes up or the one after that.
Posted by Emily | 20.11.08, 16:22 GMT
What a good article by Janet Street Porter, saying what needs to be said about this horrific case - for pointing out the negligence not only of his terrible and manipulative mother but of the social services who should have protected him from them.
Thank you - maybe someone in authority will listen.
Posted by Lucie | 20.11.08, 14:15 GMT
I am disgusted at the way these poor children are been let down time after time by the people who are supposed to be protecting them.All we get is lessons will be learnt from this and have they learnt any? NO.
Posted by STEPHANIE | 20.11.08, 14:00 GMT
I think this is discusting, I've been thinking about this poor little boy for days after i watched the panorama programme which was so disturbing it made me cry. This country is run by pen pushers and targets, which obviously don't save lives. How could anyone have not taken that little boy into safety, nobody wants to get involved anymore. The people who inflictid this tourture are getting more protection than this little boy ever did. The whole child protection procedures have to be looked at and the police and nhs should have more powers to overule social services. I'ts not just about single mums, its about our society as a whole. if someone is unfit to look after children then they should be sterelised and not allowed to have more children. reports from others should be taken seriously as these people know how to fool people.
Posted by katie | 20.11.08, 11:28 GMT
22 Comments