A message from John Coleman, Assistant Director Children and Families
Dear colleagues,
I received this from John Coleman, Assistant Director Children and Families and thought it would be useful to share with you. I echo his observations and reflections and thank you for your continued support and curiosity in working with children and young people to promote their safety.
Chris Baird,
Interim Assistant Director Education Services
"Hello all,
I know you will all be as sad and touched by the awful abuse experienced by Arthur Labinjo-Hughes in Solihull and Star Hobson in Bradford at the hands of their parents and step parents. These situations have led to extensive comments about social work and considerable blaming in the media. Our local MP for Stratford and the Secretary of State for Education Nadhim Zahawi were very clear that individual social workers being abused will not be tolerated.
More balanced and helpful commentary focusses on systemic issues in society about poverty and the pandemic, which make is harder to keep children safe, particularly with the small number of parents who abuse their children and do everything possible to mask this. Particularly through the pandemic when the usual structures to support practitioners from all agencies to get close to children were eroded.
When children get killed like this, we have to keep our heads. Stay proportionate and not enter the anxiety reaction that can follow. This can lead to making the situation worse if our service becomes overloaded. We also have to remember the majority of parents, want to change to support and care for their children. A very small number of parents, do not and we have to stay curious and open to the possibility of worse scenarios. Through curiosity, strengths-based approaches, good supervision and manageable caseloads we manage risk and we protect children.
Social Workers and other agencies still save children every day. We need to remind ourselves of all the good things we do every day that keep children safe and help families make meaningful change.
John Coleman,
Assistant Director Children and Families"