Two men were found guilty of the death of a 17 month-old boy, who had suffered so much physical abuse throughout his short life. The boy was known to social workers, and was known to be at risk, but didn’t take any action. The boy’s death, which could have been prevented, have understandably sparked public outrage.
Yet this was not an unusual case. The boy, and his abusers, lived in Haringey, the same London borough that failed to prevent the death of Victoria Climbie eight years ago. The local council is back in the spotlight yet again for the wrong reasons.
The Laming Inquiry, which was held in the wake of Victoria’s death, made many recommendations on how to improve child protection services. Clearly, as a result of current events, lessons still hadn’t been learned. While local politicians, police and doctors blame each other, any attempt to prevent a similar tragedy in the borough, and the rest of the country is being hampered.