17 February 2022

Diary of a Corbynista

Child Protection Proposals

by Don Urquhart

10 to 16 February

Corbynista in Shaw Sheet 311 covered Child Protection and inspired plenty of strong feelings.

Who’s on the right track?

Greek Chic:

Focussed public funding could make a difference here. 

To reduce infanticide I think reinstating funding for health visitors who create relationships with parents in the home before and during the first years. An abused or neglected child would be monitored more closely and social workers could be alerted. Home Start was successful but lost funding.  Reintroducing support for parents that bring the child into society earlier would be beneficial. Reports from grandparents and other family members need to be investigated.

Teenage knife crime increases every year, youth clubs, specialist youth support, training and sports facilities could make a difference. Knife crime decreased in Scotland with targeted intervention.

Domestic abuse reports to the police need follow ups to check that all members of the family are safe.  And schools play a part too but need specialist support as teachers are not able to do much on their own.

Sussex:

So my view is bring in somebody of the calibre of the PE vaccine tsar lady with a team of the same calibre who know the subject, make it a royal commission and act on their findings ….. controversial but that is what I would do.

Sunlounger:

IMHO, we need to replace the current shower running the country and rein in their MSM fan club.

 Who will replace them? For me, anyone will do that is left of the ultra-right mafia working out of number 10 Downing Street.

 Whichever party or coalition takes over has to base its manifesto on hope and fairness, two words that do not exist in the Tory Party’s vocabulary.

 If the days of the privileged placing the proletariat in a perpetual state of fear and gloom continue, IMHO one of two things will happen, a) the UK descends into a “Norsefire” fascist government with a beaten proletariat or b) the proletariat rises, and we see a repeat of the October Revolution. Brexit was a misplaced cry for help in the unfair UK. Ironically it is making the UK even less fair for the majority of those who voted for it.

 Everyone anti-Tory should band together, bury the hatchet and change the UK. But, unfortunately, I don’t think that this will happen either.

I see no appetite for change in any opposition sector, so I don’t think anything will change, and it will never get fixed.

I don’t think anything will change until the UK regains (if ever) a collective sense of civic responsibility.

 “Do unto others …” is history. The current mantras seem to be “I’m alright Jack.” and “What’s in it for me?”

 I think that most Tory MPs don’t care about the underprivileged under 18’s. These people can’t vote, and sadly, they know that their parents are more likely to vote Tory than for another party. The Tories have visceral campaigning in the bag and appeal because of their large quota of posh boy accents.

 Underfunding education and social services has paid dividends to the Tories. My fear is that it has been so successful that change is impossible.

Sussex

Nah not buying it…govt agenda should always be:

1) Protect the defenceless in our community

2) Safeguard the full interest of the full populace and nation and world

3) Use the wealth generated in 2 to further 1 and 2

4) Leave this extreme left and right wing crap out of the equation – aka marginalise the a**holes

Corbynista:

The British Association of Social Workers represents the people at the sharp end of efforts to protect children and vulnerable adults.

Distressingly they seem to confront similar management failings as the good guys in the police force.

Unscrupulous managers threatened staff who do not comply with unsafe instructions with the sack, over 11% of social workers have been threatened explicitly or through veiled threats with disciplinary action for complaining about unsafe situations.

Nevertheless they have come up with a plan to improve matters:

• Adequate PPE and risk assessments are a basic minimum requirement of social workers reporting to work.
• Mental health support must be urgently ramped up.
• Employers must anticipate and plan for a surge in workload.
• Parity for agency staff must be implemented immediately.
• Take a holistic view of policy and a permanent end to austerity measures.
• Strike a balance between on- and offline support.

I would suggest that they haven’t missed much.  But it’s hard to see their proposals getting any traction without some heavy project management and funding as proposed by Sussex above.