Real Life Crime and Murder #20

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I still feel like the social worker bears some of the responsibility here along with the wider issues in social work generally - principally she was concerned enough about Bronson’s welfare the first time to call the police but evidently didn’t follow it up to find out they hadn’t gone out to check as she requested which could well have triggered follow up that may have saved poor Bronson.

The police also bear responsibility of course, for not having gone out initially.
 
CabalofBolorneaise said:
I still feel like the social worker bears some of the responsibility here along with the wider issues in social work generally - principally she was concerned enough about Bronson’s welfare the first time to call the police but evidently didn’t follow it up to find out they hadn’t gone out to check as she requested which could well have triggered follow up that may have saved poor Bronson.

The police also bear responsibility of course, for not having gone out initially.
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I truly think the social worker did as much as possible in this situation. She made multiple visits, checked around other houses where they might be and contacted the police who didn't do anything. She might have gone back more often but they are under so much pressure with very little budgets. She's back at work and it won't have been easy for her to know they were dead in there.
 
LouBug19 said:
I truly think the social worker did as much as possible in this situation. She made multiple visits, checked around other houses where they might be and contacted the police who didn't do anything. She might have gone back more often but they are under so much pressure with very little budgets. She's back at work and it won't have been easy for her to know they were dead in there.
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I totally agree. I work in social care so understand what pressure social workers are under and how high thresholds are. I think she did more than lots would have. She repeatedly went back, tried other locations and contacted the police to raise concerns. I’m not sure what else she could have done sadly. Social workers getting no response when they try to visit is something that happens all the time every day. It wouldn’t have necessarily raised alarm bells initially.
 
CabalofBolorneaise said:
I still feel like the social worker bears some of the responsibility here along with the wider issues in social work generally - principally she was concerned enough about Bronson’s welfare the first time to call the police but evidently didn’t follow it up to find out they hadn’t gone out to check as she requested which could well have triggered follow up that may have saved poor Bronson.

The police also bear responsibility of course, for not having gone out initially.
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The social worker did what they are supposed to do(more in fact). Do you realise how many caseloads a sw has? That families like this aren’t known for their compliance and reliability for being at home when appointments arranged
?! The police should have gone to do a welfare check when the social worker raised her concerns, she was relying on them doing their job as she had done hers but they didn’t.

Ultimately though parents are responsible for their children. Where was his mum? No contact with her two year old who was in the care of a 60 year old in poor health for two weeks(and over Christmas too). She was too busy posting memes on Facebook and getting drunk . It’s easy to post on Facebook about how much you miss them once they’ve died in horrific circumstances, but where was she when he was alive?
 
LouBug19 said:
I truly think the social worker did as much as possible in this situation. She made multiple visits, checked around other houses where they might be and contacted the police who didn't do anything. She might have gone back more often but they are under so much pressure with very little budgets. She's back at work and it won't have been easy for her to know they were dead in there.
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I don’t think she needed to go back more often, I’m just shocked that after phoning the police for a welfare check they didn’t ask the police “so was Bronson there?”. It seems like a big failing. Unfortunately when a failing means a child dies, there will be scrutiny of it even if the same failing had no consequence hundreds of times and is overall a representation of the system.
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Gossngiggles said:
The social worker did what they are supposed to do(more in fact). Do you realise how many caseloads a sw has? That families like this aren’t known for their compliance and reliability for being at home when appointments arranged
?! The police should have gone to do a welfare check when the social worker raised her concerns, she was relying on them doing their job as she had done hers but they didn’t.

Ultimately though parents are responsible for their children. Where was his mum? No contact with her two year old who was in the care of a 60 year old in poor health for two weeks(and over Christmas too). She was too busy posting memes on Facebook and getting drunk . It’s easy to post on Facebook about how much you miss them once they’ve died in horrific circumstances, but where was she when he was alive?
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I do realise. But they can have failings and those aren’t acceptable, regardless of how big the caseload is. The root cause is social services being overwhelmed and overworked as it so often is (and those higher up not wanting to change things) but ultimately I stand by that if you request a police welfare check, it should be followed up. If it had been in this case, it would have been realised far earlier that the police hadn’t been out and potentially saved a child’s life. The fact that it didn’t is a failing. The police also failed by not going out.

Social workers know when they go into the job that a mistake or a failing can cost a life. So do police officers. They accept that as part of the job role, the same way a nurse or doctor does. Deflecting it all with “they were under loads of pressure” helps nobody and doesn’t help prevent it happening in future.

The parents are responsible here too (though how responsible the Dad is for this specifically will depend on his cause of death) but that equally doesn’t absolve social services.
 
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CabalofBolorneaise said:
I don’t think she needed to go back more often, I’m just shocked that after phoning the police for a welfare check they didn’t ask the police “so was Bronson there?”. It seems like a big failing. Unfortunately when a failing means a child dies, there will be scrutiny of it even if the same failing had no consequence hundreds of times and is overall a representation of the system.
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I do realise. But they can have failings and those aren’t acceptable, regardless of how big the caseload is. The root cause is social services being overwhelmed and overworked as it so often is (and those higher up not wanting to change things) but ultimately I stand by that if you request a police welfare check, it should be followed up. If it had been in this case, it would have been realised far earlier that the police hadn’t been out and potentially saved a child’s life. The fact that it didn’t is a failing. The police also failed by not going out.

Social workers know when they go into the job that a mistake or a failing can cost a life. So do police officers. They accept that as part of the job role, the same way a nurse or doctor does. Deflecting it all with “they were under loads of pressure” helps nobody and doesn’t help prevent it happening in future.

The parents are responsible here too (though how responsible the Dad is for this specifically will depend on his cause of death) but that equally doesn’t absolve social services.
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Just because a welfare check is requested it doesn’t mean it happens. I work in a role where we request them sometimes when we have concerns and now it is very much - we will if we feel there is a concern/have the capacity. She may well have been told when she requested it that the police weren’t going out. Unless they had sufficient concern for welfare - I.e. real concerns they could be in their dead - the police would only knock at the door and maybe speak to some neighbours etc anyway.
 
CabalofBolorneaise said:
I don’t think she needed to go back more often, I’m just shocked that after phoning the police for a welfare check they didn’t ask the police “so was Bronson there?”. It seems like a big failing. Unfortunately when a failing means a child dies, there will be scrutiny of it even if the same failing had no consequence hundreds of times and is overall a representation of the system.
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I do realise. But they can have failings and those aren’t acceptable, regardless of how big the caseload is. The root cause is social services being overwhelmed and overworked as it so often is (and those higher up not wanting to change things) but ultimately I stand by that if you request a police welfare check, it should be followed up. If it had been in this case, it would have been realised far earlier that the police hadn’t been out and potentially saved a child’s life. The fact that it didn’t is a failing. The police also failed by not going out.

Social workers know when they go into the job that a mistake or a failing can cost a life. So do police officers. They accept that as part of the job role, the same way a nurse or doctor does. Deflecting it all with “they were under loads of pressure” helps nobody and doesn’t help prevent it happening in future.

The parents are responsible here too (though how responsible the Dad is for this specifically will depend on his cause of death) but that equally doesn’t absolve social services.
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It states she phoned the police for a welfare check and more than likely they didn't turn up or just chapped the door and left. The police are under pressure too and they take about 3 days to turn up for a bulgary never-mind conducting welfare checks. They won't break down the door unless they know someone is in there. The only way that will stop this happening in the future is funding being put into social care. The blame lies with the government.
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Boogs said:
I totally agree. I work in social care so understand what pressure social workers are under and how high thresholds are. I think she did more than lots would have. She repeatedly went back, tried other locations and contacted the police to raise concerns. I’m not sure what else she could have done sadly. Social workers getting no response when they try to visit is something that happens all the time every day. It wouldn’t have necessarily raised alarm bells initially.
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I honestly salute social workers, I know some get bad press (for good reason sometimes) but there are some amazing people who do everything with limited funding and help.
 
Can you imagine the headlines if the police had kicked on the dad's door and it turned out they'd gone to visit someone over Christmas???

People can complain (rightly) about social work services but it does my head in when estranged families start saying that social work should have done more.

Families need to help each other.
 
Social workers are damned if they do, damned if they don't. I do feel as a collective organisation social services gets things wrong far more than they should but being aware of the underfunding, understaffing issues I do understand how it happens.

I just wish things were better. Nobody with the authority to improve things really gives a tit, it just gets worse year upon year while the rich get richer.
 
Gossngiggles said:
This popped up in my newsfeed today and while not a crime, we did talk about it when it happened. That poor little boy.

Something that stood out to me was that his body was formally identified by a detective rather than his mum or other family member. Is there a reason they couldn’t do it or would be a be a choice they made?

news.sky.com

Bronson Battersby: Boy, 2, found dead next to father's body died of dehydration, coroner rules

Police were called to the home of Bronson Battersby and his father Kenneth after their neighbour reported not seeing the father for several days "and there was a smell coming from the flat", an inquest heard.
news.sky.com news.sky.com

I did look his mum up on Facebook again today, kind of wish I hadn’t.
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Grim isn't it?
 
I’ve posted before about my experiences with social services, suffice it to say it was the dedication and care shown by a social worker that saved my life, and kept my family together. Yes, mistakes were made along the way and proposed work with my kids wasn’t done but this was due to the fact they are so overworked they have to prioritise the kids who are immediately known at risk/being harmed. I can’t stop thinking about the poor SW involved with Bronson, it says in the article she found the bodies when police eventually broke in because of the smell. She had repeatedly asked for welfare checks that weren’t done and even if she did all in her power at the time she will always question why she didn’t do more. At the end of the day, the SW tried harder to see that little boy than his own mother so if anyone is in line for blame it should be her. Imagine not seeing or hearing from your little one for all that time over the Christmas/New Year period and not kicking up a huge fuss?
 
CabalofBolorneaise said:
I still feel like the social worker bears some of the responsibility here along with the wider issues in social work generally - principally she was concerned enough about Bronson’s welfare the first time to call the police but evidently didn’t follow it up to find out they hadn’t gone out to check as she requested which could well have triggered follow up that may have saved poor Bronson.

The police also bear responsibility of course, for not having gone out initially.
Click to expand...

The police are at fault here not the SW. The SW requested a welfare check with good reason and the police didn’t follow it up.
I actually think the SW should be praised for good practice & the police’s response in general to welfare check requests by professionals should be under scrutiny.
 
I’ve just watched this on bbc and it’s so shocking! Really worth the watch. Poor guy
 

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Glaschelle said:
Can you imagine the headlines if the police had kicked on the dad's door and it turned out they'd gone to visit someone over Christmas???

People can complain (rightly) about social work services but it does my head in when estranged families start saying that social work should have done more.

Families need to help each other.
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Police force entry into houses for reasons that are later found to be incorrect/untrue/mistaken literally near daily and it very, very rarely makes headlines - certainly in the situation of a vulnerable child being unable to be located and it turning out the father had gone away without telling SS as he was meant to I seriously doubt it would have.
 
Apologies if this has been posted today, I’ve just seen it on Facebook. Nothing shocks me much these days, but this is one of the worst things I’ve read in a long time. Poor children.

Link doesn’t work, screenshots posted:
 

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Curious...

https://www.12ft.io/https://www.dai...n-former-RAF-serviceman-shot-outside-gym.html

Ex RAF, and ex Prison officer and only 33...

" At the time of the shooting, Detective Supt Gareth Willis - Lancs Constabulary's head of major crime - said: 'While we do at this stage believe that Lenny was the intended target of this shooting what we do not know yet is why he was targeted. "
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pommynoir said:
Apologies if this has been posted today, I’ve just seen it on Facebook. Nothing shocks me much these days, but this is one of the worst things I’ve read in a long time. Poor children.

Link doesn’t work, screenshots posted:
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Good, I'm glad he got done.
 
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