Preston Davey, another baby P.

Getting back to this case, there is no reason ( as yet) to believe that SS ignored evidence that the two men should not have been allowed to adopt. One was a teacher. Maybe there were some red flags that were ignored but we haven’t been given info on that. Obviously the focus is on what happened in the 4 months Preston was with them and the chain of events involving several hospital visits. But to think it’s as simple as because they were gay is simply not enough and in fact does all children in need a disservice.

I've no doubts at all that issues will come to light as the case is investigated more.
They always do, but lessons will be learned, as per usual.

Whatever sentence the court hands down I'm sure it will be (unnofficially) supplemented by The New Prisoners Welcome Committee.

God help these two men.

Tuliptree

Getting back to this case, there is no reason ( as yet) to believe that SS ignored evidence that the two men should not have been allowed to adopt. One was a teacher. Maybe there were some red flags that were ignored but we haven’t been given info on that. Obviously the focus is on what happened in the 4 months Preston was with them and the chain of events involving several hospital visits. But to think it’s as simple as because they were gay is simply not enough and in fact does all children in need a disservice.

I think we need to put the fact that they are gay to one side. The bare bones of this case is the sheer brutality on Preston. My concern is that several hospital visits with 40 trauma related injuries did not alert anyone to the plight this poor child was in. As a medical professional or just an average human being, would a human bite mark on a baby's buttock not ring deafening alarm bells? Preston could not have inflicted that on himself, so who did? Start investigating. Too often the can is kicked further down the road, the buck passed to someone else. What saddens me most is that there are other Preston's out there. Will anyone help them?

Prisons have a duty of care to protect people, so I'm doubtful of that.
I can but live in hope.

I agree Sarnia - the gay issue could actually be a harmful diversion. The other diversion is the emphasis on social workers alone when it’s surely the health / social services interface that should be the focus.

MissAdventure

Prisons have a duty of care to protect people, so I'm doubtful of that.
I can but live in hope.

It is a duty in which they frequently fail.

Photographs of all these tortured and murdered children haunt me.
And always will.

Recently ,I reported a woman in McDonald's for abusing her children -it was captured on CCTV .
The staff told me that it happens all too frequently and makes them feel upset and depressed .

It's not the first time that I've witnessed and reported abuse .
One mother threatened to throw her small son off the train .
Another abandoned her toddler in her pushchair on a packed train .

I hope that there's a place in heaven for these children and that their torturers have long and very rough sentences.

Preston was placed by an agency called Adoption Now. Having looked at their website there are lots of appealing little children being advertised on there. Only too easy for the perverts and unscrupulous to be drawn to it. I wonder about the sense of having these vulnerable little children’s photos on the internet. Or are they posed by models? I don’t like it. It’s wrong.

Tuliptree

I agree Sarnia - the gay issue could actually be a harmful diversion. The other diversion is the emphasis on social workers alone when it’s surely the health / social services interface that should be the focus.

I agree - this separation is a problem both in children's services and also in the care of disabled and elderly.

But, going back a stage, I do have a concern that the outsourcing of adoption services might be a problem as regards policing the actions of these private providers. Clearly they missed something rather vital here, and, without in any way suggesting single sex couples should be barred from adopting, the agency's imperative to be inclusive could in theory have skewed their thinking.

From my own professional experience I know that the outsourcing to private agencies/facilities of elderly care had a hugely detrimental effect on the quality and accountability.

There may be others here with child services experience who could comment or put me right. Something was seriously amiss in the placement process in this case. I appreciate that no-one has a crystal ball, but it is hard not to wonder how the poor child was placed with this couple.

Children's photos on adoption websites! I find that alarming.

I looked up Adoption Now and apparently it’s not a private company. It’s a Regional Adoption Agency which handles adoptions for a range of local authorities in the NW. So I expect it was set up to save money. But with all regional set ups, local ties can be lost and the bigger a unit, the more impersonal it can become.

As for the photos, words fail me.

Apparently in a police interview the murderer said to the police he would ‘fight them until the day I die’. Thank god the police saw it through and he was convicted.

This case is so awful. Depraved monsters.

Just read the report in DM. It is unbelievably horrific what that poor baby suffered. His poor grandmother who was unable to look after him due to ill health is understandably distraught and hates the monsters who did these terrible things with a passion. I don’t know if the social workers didn’t do their job because of fears of being called homophobic but their one focus should have been on his care whoever was involved. How do they live with themselves? So many red flags.

GrannyGravy13

Beyond words and comprehension.

This depraved, hideous individual was a teacher FFS 🤬🤬🤬

Yes he was a teacher, impossible as it seems. So much evil bottled up inside him, it makes you shudder.

If you saw the pathetic way he broke down when arrested, I've seen the same before, and yes, another teacher! It was the head teacher of a school, a big lump of a man, who had been chasing a female pupil. When he was arrested he literally fell to the ground and started wailing like a baby. The Police couldn't get him up on his feet. So it seems a very similar type of person, utterly pathetic.

Galaxy makes the point earlier that it would be unusual to find no evidence of previous interest or active paedophilia . I’m sure the police team searched but these men can be good at hiding in plain sight.

I absence of multi agency working is shocking. I read the independent reviewing officer carried out the review alone in the home of the prospective adopters. I’d have expected the former foster mother, Preston’s local authority social worker, the adoption agency social worker and health visitor. That’s how a more complete picture is gathered. He would have had a cafcass court appointed Children’s Guardian until the final care order was made and care plan for adoption approved by the court. Children’s Guardians used to attend reviews but Cafcass changed that,

I share the concerns about photographs of children on sites, almost like advertising them and just wrong

Tuliptree

I looked up Adoption Now and apparently it’s not a private company. It’s a Regional Adoption Agency which handles adoptions for a range of local authorities in the NW. So I expect it was set up to save money. But with all regional set ups, local ties can be lost and the bigger a unit, the more impersonal it can become.

Thank you for that information. It seems that this is a not-for-profit organisation. But it does not have an OfSted inspection report which is puzzling

There are of course lots of private and voluntary agencies in other areas. Looking up on OfSted there are loads of them. My concern about the use of these agencies is the fragmentation that results, as with all privatisation or outsourcing. You've only got to look at the railways and water and electrify etc. When elderly care services were in house with the local authority there was so much better quality control and proper staff training. As a social worker I could be secure in what I was proposing for a client and could walk into the office of the service just round the corner if a problem arose.

It is utterly wrong advertising these very vulnerable little children with photos. Quite outrageous actually. Why not just a brief resume, then if genuinely interested, photos could be supplied offline. They are not a product to be sold. These agencies should be shamed and forced to reevaluate their practices or immediate closure. Amy Sheperdson and Helen Magee the social workers should face immediate disciplinary procedures for incompetence.

Absolutely agree Lucky. It’s incredibly depressing isn’t it?

I’m with you Lucky. Our town had several small residential care settings for older children and many foster carers. We worked closely with other agencies to ensure relevant info shared. We also developed good working relationships. Privatisation was disastrous. We had more children placed out of borough, some foster carers left to work for private agencies who paid more (understandably)

These private companies are in it for profit not for the benefit of these poor children. Another one adopted, more money in the bank. However, I feel sure that there are a Lot more children being taken into care and adopted than was previously. Possibly due to family breakdowns or drugs. Perhaps ex social workers would agree?

Things seem to have changed a lot. When I worked in an educational setting, any issues around safeguarding were taken very seriously and investigated thoroughly.

Silvershadow

These private companies are in it for profit not for the benefit of these poor children. Another one adopted, more money in the bank. However, I feel sure that there are a Lot more children being taken into care and adopted than was previously. Possibly due to family breakdowns or drugs. Perhaps ex social workers would agree?

Things seem to have changed a lot. When I worked in an educational setting, any issues around safeguarding were taken very seriously and investigated thoroughly.

Adoptions have been decreasing since 2015 from over 5.000 to about 3,000

But numbers of looked after children increased by about 20% in last 10 years.

Why do you think that is? Family breakdown or immigration issues?