Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I didn't know whether this should be world events of community. Today has been a bittersweet day. The child death case I have been working on finally hit the press. Some LPers wonder why I get grumpy and have a sense of anger sometimes - well here is why (only open if you have a strong stomach): <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7727772.stm" target="_blank">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/eng...7772.stm</a> But the good news is the bill that I have been working on to establish Social Work Practices for foster children became law today. The Queen has granted royal assent!!!! I couldn't help but think of schoolhouse rocks! I feel a sense of real relief!
Originally Posted By SoThisIsLove I won't open the link, Dave, but congratulations of your efforts on safeguarding the innocent foster children of Great Britain. What an accomplishment.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Here is the summary of the bill: The Bill proposes to reform the statutory framework for the care system, to ensure that children and young people receive high quality care and support and to drive improvements in the delivery of services focused on the needs of the child. It aims to enable those children and young people who enter the care system to be able to achieve the same aspirations parents have for their own children. Key areas Improve stability of placements for children and ensure more consistency for children in care Improve the experience children in care have at school, increasing their educational attainment Give pilot local authorities the power to test a different model of organising social care by commissioning services from 'Social Work Practices' and to enable regulation of these practices Increase the focus on the transparency and quality of care planning, to ensure that the child's voice is heard when important decisions that affect their future are taken Increase schools' capacity to address the needs of children in care, including placing the role of the designated teacher on a statutory footing and ensuring that children in care do not move schools in Year 10 and 11 except in exceptional circumstances Make sure that young people are not forced out of care before they are ready, by giving them a greater say over moves to independent living and ensuring they retain support and guidance as long as they need it.
Originally Posted By melekalikimaka That sounds like an icredible bill, Dave. Congrats! I hope it truly improves the lives of children.
Originally Posted By LadyKluck I did click on the link (and a few more after that) and I totally fee for you dave. I can't even imagine what kind of emotions that kind of case stirs up, especially being a parent yourself! On a better note, congrats on the new legislation!
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Congrats to you davewasbaloo. Thanks for the warning on the link. A very shocking picture to run indeed.
Originally Posted By nevadarebel Wow, congratuations on all of the hard work and for such a great cause. I did read the article and my heart goes out to you as I understand this all too well. I served as a juror when my oldest was 9 months old in a case of a baby girl that was murdered by her parents. If you want to read about the details, the dads name is James Meegan and you can google it. I won't post the details here but needless to say, it had a huge impact on how I raised my children.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Oh Nevadarebel, hugs to you. It does affect me greatly. I will be leaving this role at the end of the month, but it means I can go knowing I have helped to contribute to something that will hopefully make a difference to 1000's of vulnerable children. What is ironic is it is time away from my own. So I try to charish every moment.
Originally Posted By DAR I'll wait until I get home to open the link. But congratulations Dave, anything that protects children I am behind 100%.
Originally Posted By Liberty Belle Congratulations Dave! I did click the link, and the story was horrible. I'm not surprised you're affected deeply by working on cases like that and I do feel for you. Good work!
Originally Posted By murfsmom Dave- thats great news, i wish there were more strict laws concerning those issues here ! years ago my neighbor was caring for a foster child, or so we thought, we saw the little girl(she was 3) playing in her yard, she came over to get her ball, i thought "why are you here by yourself ?" and when i asked her she said carries was sleeping, ok, well kids are kids and i know they can wonder, so i took her back home, as she walked up the steps i noticed how she had bruises on the back of her legs, i asked her what happend and she said"ifell off a chair" well they were not from falling off a chair, later that night i heard her screaming, and called over there to see if someone was hurt and carrie said, oh, were fine, mandy just touched the stove, i said i have some burn spray, i'll bring it over, she no, were fine, but i hung up and went anyway. carrie opened the door and i saw many sitting in a chair facing the wall, carrie said" she's in a time out for touching the stove" i said, burning her self was n't punishment enough ?mandy saw me and ran up to me and i saw thee burns and they small round burns from a cigarette lighter. so i said , mandy we have a baby kitty want to come see her ?? before carrie could say anything i picked her up and brought her home. carrie went ballistic and called the police(forgot to mention she was drunk) so the police come banging on my dor and said i had to take mandy back, i said no way, arrest me, but she's never going back there !! the cops got mad at me and i said"do you have kids/ they said yes, i said would you want this to happen to your kids? i showed them the bruises and burns, but what i didn't see were the awful marks all over her back ! so they arrested carrie and turns out her boyfriend was a child molester, my other neighbor filed for temp custody because they wanted kids and couldn't have them, they adopted her and today she's happy and getting married to a minister in 2 weeks. as for carrie, well she really just got a slap on the hands because it was a "first offense" or some dribble like that, she moved away, i just pray she never got another child !! good work dave
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Sadly I have to deal with a number of these creeps. It is why I am changing jobs next year to do something slightly different. Perhaps I can still make a difference but without ruining my mental health.
Originally Posted By A Happy Haunt Thank you for all you do, Dave..I have a good friend who is a foster mother..I didn't click the link..
Originally Posted By disney pete Dave you have to feel very good it's been a long hard slog but you got there and i hope you got all the credit that you deserved,hopefully you will have some chilling time now.
Originally Posted By avromark First off a moment of silence for poor baby P. "Improve the experience children in care have at school, increasing their educational attainment" <- Big one here, give them the ability to be on equal footing with other children when it comes to the future. "ensure that the child's voice is heard when important decisions that affect their future are taken" <- And let's hope they do a better job letting the children know their rights *and* options. Give them the proper professional support please! "Increase schools' capacity to address the needs of children in care, including placing the role of the designated teacher on a statutory footing" <- It's ridiculous here how little power teachers now have. Seems everything they do is "wrong". As a general note too many parents don't teach their children the basics. Hopefully the foster parents are the ones who truly care about children. I can think of 2 people I know who are foster parents. One is it for the money (Not that it's much" providing minimal for the children in care, (Something tells me they may be having a visit from a sw soon). The other gives their foster children the same care and compassion as their own birth children. "Make sure that young people are not forced out of care before they are ready, by giving them a greater say over moves to independent living" <- In other words don't give them the boot to save money on the budget. BTW Not to take away from the brevity of the situation but since your time from your own family is being ironically strained , as an American-born Brit isn't it a crime when you post on an American run message board you spell British? Keep your tyres on the dual carriage way not the kerb murfs isn't it sad some people who get foster approved for foster children/and or adoption. Then say you're a single male the hoops you have to jump through to adopt. Since when did gender have anything to do with how good a parent you are? Or age, here let's say you're 55 old lady and a 23 year old lady wants to adopt an older (say grade school aged child). Here, they'll give the nod to the 23 year old who makes maybe 18k over the year over the 55 yr old who owns her own home since "she may be incapable of making decisions due to her advanced age later in life of the child". Yeah by the time she's 65 and the child is in College she'll have lost all her mental and physical abilities. You know that's why we see so many people in their 60's running over an hour a day, since you know they're in such bad physical health. My parents are in their early 60's they seem to manage with a 16 yr old.
