Felix | Child protection needs more than badly-judged stunts

Issues concerning child protection are currently raging in the news. As I write Philip Schofield is reported to have apologised for what was a truly bizarre stunt on television. It is remarkable the conceit of some aspects of the media, that someone who has no responsibility or sense thinks they can vest themselves with some sort of passing responsibility and delude themselves that they are making a meaningful contribution to such an incredibly complicated and sensitive an issue as child abuse. Phillip Schofield is not the only one. Broadcasters and journalists and opinion columnists are sounding off all over the place and over-looking the fact that the country has in place a careful and well-established social services system, child protection system, oh, and a police force and '“ goodness me, I had quite forgotten '“ a criminal justice system and also, surprising as it must be to some, the law. All of which in their respective ways deal routinely with cases of alleged abuse. The only saving grace is that hopefully by next week they will be back in their own familiar territory telling the world about an amusing parrot that can sing all seven verses of the National Anthem, or duffing up some expert in her given field and telling her she has got it wrong.

Before Phillip Schofield took the 'debate' in an unexpected direction there was a very interesting genuine debate running about the attendant side that is unhappily present in many child abuse cases, that of the issues of neglect. Those of us who have had a lot of experience of such cases know that very often the child complainants come from a background of familial and parental neglect. They are often highly damaged children, who have led chaotic lives and have parents who one would struggle to label accurately with such a description as the rest of society would understand it. Time and time again social services records that are disclosed reveal children that are living in inadequate housing, shifting addresses, playing truant, confronting school and other authority, and sometimes are even under-nourished and have poor personal hygiene. The father figures are often distant or non-existent or varied amongst the children. The alleged abuser is often able to exploit the weakness or lack of normal family life, and the children are so challenging that quite which came first is hard to identify.

Lost childhood

A cross-party committee of MPs has reported that consideration should be given to removing children from such neglectful circumstances far more readily than is currently the case. From my own experience of such cases '“ rather than from sitting on a sofa in a television studio, for the avoidance of doubt '“ this seems to be a conclusion that should be given considerable careful thought. I have been in cases where the records reveal frankly hopeless parenting on every level, and exasperated social workers desperately but often vainly trying to make a difference and encourage Mum to be a better Mum. But the time slips away and the progress, if any, proceeds at an incredibly slow pace.
In the meantime the children's childhood is slipping away. It is arresting to think that childhood is actually not very long at all. From babyhood to leaving home it goes in a flash, but every second counts. The nurturing of a child in its pre-school years sets the foundation for everything else, and if they cannot cope with infant and primary school there is no chance of going back. Childhood is not something that can be repeated if it did not go very well the first time round. A building can be re-built, a slate wiped clean, but an abusive, neglectful childhood is there forever in the hard-drive of the soul.

So if it takes eighteen-months with numerous set-backs to persuade Mum to try not to drink in the morning before picking the kids up from school, or to learn to use a washing machine more often, or to remember to feed the children every day, or '“ very importantly '“ to get rid of the abusive male partner who has recently moved in who assaults her regularly in front of the children, that is eighteen-months of damage done to the children for small if no gain. It is pretty brutal but for some children the best thing for them is to have nothing to do with their parents '“ however sad and painful that is. It is the lesser of two evils.

'Safe' havens

It is also the case that, like a fox sniffing round a hen house, those who abuse are curiously adept at finding these little safe havens

We need to think more carefully about earlier intervention. The tragedy of course about the scandals concerning childrens' homes and Jimmy Savile, is that when at risk and vulnerable children are taken to places of safety or fun, the feral abuser still stalks. But that is something that can be worked on '“ a much better and more receptive environment where children can speak up and be taken seriously, or not even be threatened at all. (It is interesting to note that the outcry about CRB checks has been killed off.)

We can probably prevent any more residential abuse, but we cannot stop ?what goes on in socially-isolated homes where inadequate, chaotic parenting will forever provide a hunting ground for the abuser without removing the prey out of harm's way.