Predictably his mother Sarah has blamed social services for not preventing Bronson's death. She said "If social services had done their job Bronson would still be alive. We have to be able to rely on social workers to keep our children safe."
But when you look at the details of the case, I wonder what else social services could have done.
A Skegness social worker paying her usual weekly visit on January 2 couldn't get any answer and alerted the police, who did nothing. Two days later a repeat visit also went unanswered and again the police were alerted but did nothing. The social worker finally entered the property on January 9 using the landlord's key. And discovered the two bodies.
So the police are obviously at fault for failing to visit the property.
And what about the mother's responsibility? Why wasn't she in the house when Kenneth died and her son needed her? It seems she had rowed with Kenneth and was living temporarily somewhere else. Yet she knew Kenneth had had one heart attack and could have another, meaning he might be unable to look after Bronson.
She blames Social Services for Bronson's death, but as I see it the social worker did what she could to get into the house while the police ignored her. And Sarah herself was absent.
So as I say, I think once again social workers are being unfairly blamed for a tragic death.
Update on January 18: A revealing interview with Sarah here
Update on January 19: Bronson's sister Melanie Battersby told the BBC she believed social services and the police "did what they could within the powers they had and the information they were given"
I agree. I don't think that is fair at all.
ReplyDeleteIn truth, there is a limit to what social services can do.
For me, I think it's bizarre that none of the family called up or checked on the both of them. It's easy to cast blame on some abstract concept of the 'state'; but much more difficult to say that maybe parents & family should have had a more proactive duty and responsibility. Why didn't anyone call up to see if everything was ok? Or even a whatsapp message asking 'how is baby tonight? everything good. stay warm' ... etc.
Also, as you say, a tragedy. Something things in life are just that.
Liam: As you say, it's odd that nobody called Kenneth to see how he and Bronson were getting on. There's a lot more to this than what we've heard so far.
DeletePrompted by your blog post I looked up the case. I have little to add to what you say.
ReplyDeleteQuestion One: Why was the child under social services care in the first place? Clearly all wasn't well.
That mother? What a MOTHER leaving her child behind! To say I am livid is an understatement. And that woman has the nerve to point the finger at social services? As you say: Where was SHE? But then the guilty are always good at deflecting.
As an aside: I have only known one social worker in my life. About twenty five years or so ago. She was the mother of one of my son's then friends. They were primary school age. So we saw quite a bit of each other, visiting each other's houses. One shocker, and it's stayed with me to this day, that when it came to her job (by then in a managerial position) she was as hard as nails. I literally couldn't believe my ears. It took me some time to understand that people who, maybe when young and full of ideals going into social services as a "vocation", have to grow a very thick skin indeed to cope with other humans' misery on a daily basis.
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Ursula: Yes, it's very odd that the mother seems to have just abandoned her son and left him in the father's care. Indeed, why did Bronson come to the attention of social services in the first place? And I'm sure that's true about growing a thick skin when faced every day with human misery.
DeleteWhat a horrifying story. It seems as though everyone is at fault. The mother, who didn't seem overly anxious to have contact with her 2 year old for weeks? The social worker, for not following up with the police. And of course, the police for not doing their job. When I was not able to get ahold of my mother and my daughter phoned the police, they were there within 10 minutes. It's called a 'welfare (wellness) check' here and is quite common. I've never heard of police ignoring the request.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: I gather the social worker alerted the police but the police chose to do nothing. It's quite extraordinary that they ignored her.
DeleteIn that situation, a chaplain would not be allowed to enter the home because there must always be consent from the client. I suspect that social workers are bound by a similar code so the social worker here broke the rules in order to establish what was happening and she paid dearly for going way above the call of duty.
ReplyDeleteSocial workers are under resourced, under supported and work with the worst of humanity. A two year old is too needy to be kept alive by anyone who isn't in attendance 24/ 7, impossible for a social worker
Kylie: I believe the social worker wasn't allowed to try and enter the house, which was why she alerted the police. Eventually she had no option but to enter the house with the landlord's key. Like Australia social workers in the UK are also under resourced and under supported.
DeleteAnonymous Fly. The mother says she and her partner fell out, they decided that the boy would be best off with his father as her place had unsafe stairs and that the last time she saw the boy was in November, as the partner did not want her to visit. But not to call at Christmas? Not to see how the little boy was? Distinctly odd. She, of all people, should have raised an alert.
ReplyDeleteFly: As you say, distinctly odd that the mother wasn't regularly checking that Bronson was well and his father was coping okay.
DeleteMost everyone is at fault here, and especially the police for not making a welfare check.
ReplyDeleteJoanne: The police were shockingly indifferent.
DeleteTerrible tragedy. Plenty of blame to go around. Another
ReplyDeleteexample of a child being the one to pay the price for the parents mistakes.
Paula: Indeed, and what a terrible price it was.
DeleteIt sounds to me like the mother had mental challenges or possibly addiction issues. As they were in the sphere of social services, I am surprised more frequent checking on the domestic situation was not instigated especially with the dad in ill health. There is loads more to this story and I feel we can't really judge any of the unfortunates.
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www: I agree, there's a lot more to this story that hasn't been reported. We still don't know why Bronson was known to social services in the first place.
DeleteMary says "They can only do so much. They have huge case loads and can't be everywhere all the time. But here in the US people seem to think that they get paid extra for taking kids away from parents which is crazy to me."
ReplyDeleteMary: They get paid extra for taking kids from their parents? Where do these nutty ideas come from? As you say, social workers have huge workloads and they struggle to keep up with demand.
DeleteNick, I avoid to comment on those tragic stories because I do not like when people start to suppose this or that as it happens in the comments. Mother may be mentally sick , why she left her child, how did she dare , her partner not in good health. People seem to need those stories to fill their life ,.would they help when noticing problems in a neighbour family ? Probably not , but will have an opinion when a teagedy happens.
ReplyDeleteHannah
PS:So acting before would be wiser and better than filling the headlines after.
Hannah: I was mainly saying that social workers seem to be unfairly vilified. Of course people gossip about these stories and probably get it all wrong (including me) because they don't have the full facts, but that's the price of free speech!
DeleteNick, I do not have a very good opinion about social workers. They very often look at small problems like an untidy flat etc.and avoid to look at the real problems. How a father with health problems and his little son of two were not helped daily and looked after. Just not understandable . This should be the task of social workers. It has nothing to do with the other family members who seemed not to care. If social institutions exist they have to do their work.
ReplyDeleteHannah
Hannah: They should have been more closely monitored, I agree. But local councils are very short of cash right now after constant cuts in government funding, and that may be why the monitoring was inadequate.
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