Re: BABY P
 

Of course people know that violence against babies is a bad thing but what is wrong with reinforcing the message?

Re: BABY P
 

Of course there's nothing especially wrong with it. It just will have zero influence on the next sociopath in charge of a baby. Someone upthread indicated 4 kids and 2 women per week are killed by family members. I've no idea if that is right though.

I don't want to offend anyone: you're doing no harm (except to the marine environment), just as no particular harm was done by piling huge numbers of bouquets on Princess Di flower mountains. Pretty much the same mass hysteria.

Re: BABY P
 

Totally agree.

It serves no purpose other than to provide a means for people to publicly empathise with a sad situation. The increase in media coverage & analysis in the satellite and internet era means that we "know" much more about much more, yet are still as impotent as we ever were to change or prevent such tragedies.

For me, all these campaigns are a bit like church - I personally don't get it, but participation seems to make a lot of people feel better about something they can't change.

Re: BABY P
 

Why cant we change it??
Blue was picked as the baby was a boy, the name baby p was done as the babys name began with p, tried to hide his real name in the media but didnt work :unsure:

if we all hide behind our nice safe doors, keep our nice options to ourselfs then debate is not good :confused:
then forums like this wouldnt be about, then we'd be back to years ago, sorry but by debating this subject you are actually helping to keep this to people attention and it good that you have an option, maybe advise the people that organised the ballons of your feeling, but also advise a better route that they can take ;)

Re: BABY P
 

all of this is good stuff.....debate, balloons, sponsored walks, prayers in church......it's great that it will give the poor little mite some purpose to his tiny part in life, however miserable a time he had......but what about afterwards? what about when the balloons have popped and lay sitting in a field or worse, ingested by some poor passing creature, who is now also dead.....who will clear up the mess and who will still care and debate it all in the future......not many intruth! we'll all shut our doors and close our curtains and pretend that we all did our bit; we paid for a balloon afterall! what more could we have done? we said our prays in church and we bought cakes at the local school, made by mothers who actually just care that 'there by the grace of god' it didn't really effect me....me and my family are all okay.....

i bet if in 2 years time, i posted a thread about baby p, most wouldn't know what i was talking about.......'cos by then it will be baby t or baby j etc....

don't get me wrong, i'm all for awareness but awarness don't stop it.......you have to be brave and be counted, stand out in the crowd, notice the kid who's the quiet one, the one who won't join in, got a 'strange' manner about them and report it......you'll be mocked, laughed at, questioned yourself but if your right?......what if your wrong! oh! the shame of it all.........back to just buying the balloon then, done my bit!......

Re: BABY P
 

Where do we send the balloons for the thousands of african babies which die in a similar fashion to? Those of course never get mentioned in the media...

Re: BABY P
 

I CRIED MY HEART OUT FOR THIS BABY. HE WAS SO BEAUTIFULL.
I STILL CAN'T WATCH OR READ ANYTHING ABOUT IT.
I ONLY KNOW THE BASIC STORY. AND THAT IS ALL I WANT TO KNOW.

GOD BLESS YOU BABY P
YOU WERE TOO PRECIOUS FOR THIS WORLD.

I HOPE THOSE RESPONSIBLE DIE A CRUEL. PAINFULL DEATH.
I WISH I COULD GET MY HANDS ON THEM FOR 2 MINUTES.
I PRAY THIS NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN

I HAD TO GET THAT OFF MY CHEST. IT IS ALL BUILT UP INSIDE AND NO WHERE TO GO.

GOD BLESS YOU BABY P XXXXXXXX

Re: BABY P
 

Is parental abuse a significant cause of death among African babies? It's not obvious to me that it would be a bigger problem than starvation, disease or war.

Re: BABY P
 

Excuse me but did i not say ALL abused children deserve to be heard........and what is live aid and comic relief etc all in aid of i ask you. I feel the situation in Africa is always at the very forefront of the media, and also rightly so.

Re: BABY P
 

This really is a very odd post, has it somehow strayed over here from the BNP thread?

Re: BABY P
 

Very good point......i was wondering that myself!!!!:)

Re: BABY P
 

I found the news shocking, devasting and revolting but unfortunately this crime still goes on. When I used to work for Social Workers some of the case notes I used to have to type up made my blood boil and in some cases the social workers had their hands tied with human rights crap etc. It was very hard for some of these social workers to protect these children as they were up against stupid rules and regulations. The law needs to take a firm hand and make changes that give social workers more power and allow the good ones to do their job. Even children that they did manage to take away from parents were encouraged to still keep contact with their parents allbeit supervised. The law needs to punish these sick human beings harshly and not keep letting them get away with murder.:curse:

Instead of sending balloons in remembrance every social worker and police officer should protest and make a stand so other babies and children can be protected but unfortunately in the real world it won't happen and more devasting situations will occur again unless things change. And another thread will be posted in remembrance for another babyxyz or child, this is the harsh reality and the cruel world we live in.

I would rather see lessons learnt once and for all and a change in the law that will undoubtedly protect any baby/child that might be in danger, as a mark of respect then a balloon ceremony that will in time be forgotten.

I don't usually like to get into heated debates but this one is just too close to my heart:(

Re: BABY P
 

Here in the UK my job is a curriculum manager for courses aimed at support staff that work in in primary and secondary schools. As part of the training we offer child protection and safeguarding. At present, and I work for one of the largest councils in the UK, the training for safeguarding is required to take place every three years, and as a result many staff 'slip through the loop'. It is not a compulsory part of the qualifications we offer, however I have made it a compulsory part of the training for all of my learners, which are now in excess of 400 per year.
You may wonder why I say all this...
As many of the previous posts have highlighted, cases like baby P happen because human beings are expected to make a judgement. I believe they can only do this if they are properly trained and yes, it doesn't take much of a 'judgement' when one is faced with a child that is so obviously suffering, but when you combine this with context and circumstance it is not always that straightforward. In my line of work I have discussed child protection with many different child protection officers in the police and social work. I have come across some who I believe would make and have made very sound judgements about individual cases, and I have equally come across those that I feel have made poor decisions. It all comes down to the fact that we are human and capable of making errors. The only way forward is for sound legislation, a well trained and resourced system in place to enforce that legislation, and a well trained and resourced team of staff at ground level. At the end of the day it comes down to money as so many things do...

Re: BABY P
 

Which is a crying shame and in my opinion plays with victims lives and these tradegies crop time and time again

Re: BABY P
 

Which is a crying shame and in my opinion plays with victims lives and these tradegies crop time and time again

Absolutely.
I work with some people who are passionate about preventing another 'baby p', and they work very hard to ensure they follow best practice. Unfortuntely their efforts are often hampered by a lack of resources. With regard to training in schools, they have to target their efforts at schools in special measures that have a high staff turnover as they do not have enough money to cover all schools. We have almost 600 schools in our borough, a lot of staff to train and keep up to date and it is a crying shame that lack of appropriate training in this vital area comes down to money.

I do agree with some of the other posts in that it is very important to raise awareness. The more people that are informed, the less likely a situation is 'missed', 'overlooked' or 'ignored'. One can only hope that this time lessons really will be learned from the death of this poor, poor child and the government wakes up to the fact that it needs to throw some serious money at the whole area of social work and review the legislation that so often ties their hands.