Just when you thought that no Social Services Department in the land could possibly sink any lower than the pathetic example to be found in Hackney; up steps Doncaster Social Services, who in a mad last minute dash for the finishing line has spectacularly beaten all comers to claim the undisputed crown for the most incompetent Social Services with the highest child mortality rate on their watch. Well done Doncaster Social services you have truly claimed your place at the very nadir of childcare excellence.
Of course, for most of us, the tragic deaths that occurred under very noses of the Doncaster Social Services are sadly not entirely unexpected; in recent times we have had to endure the tragic and heartbreaking details to emerge, first from the Victoria Columbie case and then much more recently, from the shocking case of “Baby P” in Hackney. After both cases, I’m sure that many of us were hoping that the heart rending stories that emerged would never again be repeated but secretly, in our heart of hearts, I believe that we all knew that they would be.
In the case of Doncaster Social Services, it transpires that 3 month old Alfie Goddard, 16 month old Amy Howson and up to six others all died even though in the case of the 2 children named above, the Social Services were pre-warned about possible dangers and harm about to befall them and yet failed to act effectively. Apparently, in the case of the other children, urgent reviews are in place; which is suggestive of Doncaster Social Services involvement (and failure) in these cases as well.
No doubt we will be treated to the details in due course and each poor victim will probably receive a suitable epithet such as Baby “A”, Baby “C”, Baby “T”, etc, but quite honestly, for any case under Doncaster Social Services, they might as well just give the poor unfortunate the pseudonym of Baby “D— as in D for Deceased, because this is obviously what happens to any poor child depending on Doncaster Social Services for aid or protection.
Of course, there has been much speculation already as to where the blame lies; Social Workers are blaming heavy workloads and bad management…and not surprisingly, the management will now hold a series of internal enquiries which will, no doubt, absolve them of all blame, whilst pointing the finger at some”fall guy” Social Worker.
The truth though, is that both Management and Social Workers in Doncaster Social Services are to blame in equal measure; if Doncaster is anything like many Social Services across the land then:
- The Upper Management, contrary to all reasonable expectations, have generally been brought in from fields other than Social Work or Child Protection, when all common sense says that incumbents should have been in these fields all their careers and have worked their way up over the course of many years. Hence, they’re just “bluffing their way” and taking a huge salary and generous pension benefits for doing so, whilst crossing their fingers that nothing goes wrong, so that they can hold on to their “cushy” jobs.
- The Social Workers are a bunch of ineffectual “noncy”, commie, liberal, pinko, no-goods, who’s lack of comprehension of how the real world works, stems from their belief that everything that they read in their pathetic books on relationships and childcare is factual and the very last word on the subject.
If anything, it is actually this last fact that is probably the major contributing factor, to not only people’s very low opinion of Social Workers in general, but to their complete ineffectiveness in saving children in genuine danger.
Until this changes and we get some decent, down to earth candidates, who might not have read a whole library of useless “noncy” books, but are blessed with an ample measure of common sense, then sadly, the pathetic failure of Doncaster Social Services is set to be repeated again and again across the land.