Rotherham child abuse scandal

[Tim of the Oak]

This is a very niave point of view. We are talking about Britain with all its hang-ups and over-sensitivity of accused racism. Staff with very little power, and a mortgage to pay, would have been wary of making accusations.

Would you have the balls to say something, even if you might be wrong and out of a job?

So you don't fulfil your job responsibilities in order to save your job? What sort of bubble do they live in?

Ah well, better naive than utterly spineless.

The point is that we dont have a clue what went on in those offices. A false accusation of racism would have meant someone was out the door. It's easy for us to say we would have acted differently, now we have the wisdom of hindsight.

The people committing these crimes rely on the I'm alright Jack mentality to evade justice. If enough decent people stand up to the bullies (whether they are using the threat of racism allegations or something else) justice can be done!

 

[sir baconface]

Tragic as this case undoubtedly is, sadly it comes as no great surprise to many of us who have worked in child protection over the last 25 years, and will almost certainly prove to be just the tip of a very large iceberg, as this template was the norm for many local authorities across not only the north of England, but the whole country.
I have worked with victims of organised sexual abuse, and some of their recollections are truly horrendous and harrowing, but before anyone hangs out individual social workers to dry, one factor is almost always constant in every case - the social workers were aware of what was going on, and they submitted reports highlighting their concerns, recommended that vulnerable children were placed in local authority care where appropriate, and legal action taken against the perpetrators, yet nothing was done.
And given that many of these victims were already LOC cases, this should have been a police matter from the outset, as the local authority was clearly neglectful in carrying out its duty of care to those abused.
As most of you know, my politics are way left of centre but, without wishing to make this a simple issue of race or ethnicity, it is undeniable that there was a culture amongst some elements of the Asian community which accepted the exploitation of vulnerable white girls, and to deny this does neither the authorities or the victims any favours, because to the best of my knowledge, only two victims of sexual exploitation I have ever known have been Asian girls, and that's out of a list of several thousand.
Obviously this will come as manna from heaven from some elements on the extreme right who will try to use the abuse of white kids for their own political purposes, and that needs to be shown for the shameless opportunism it is, but equally the left can't bury their heads in the sand here and pretend that race didn't play a pivotal role here, because it clearly did.
The vast majority of the Pakistani community in Rotherham and elsewhere will be as appalled by these cases of grooming as the rest of us, but they have to face the fact that a problem exists where some criminal elements target 'problem' girls as fair game.
What really needs to happen is for heads of department in child protection to act upon the reports made by their social workers on the ground - they are the ones who deal with victims on a first hand basis, and all they can do is flag up their concerns, and make the appropriate recommendations - they don't have the power to intervene as such, and they rely on both their immediate superiors and agencies such as the police and the probation service to adopt a more joined-up-thinking multi-agency approach wherever concerns are expressed, but this just isn't happening, and social workers are frustrated beyond belief when they compile a huge dossier of alleged abuse, only for it to gather dust further up the food chain.
Just why this incredible amount of cases wasn't taken seriously and acted upon by the police defies logic, and in my opinion it's the senior members of the South Yorkshire police force who should be held accountable here, as they have been aware of this situation for years and chose to do nothing, although given their considerable track record of abrogating responsibility, I'm not holding my breath, and as usual we will probably see a couple of social workers with colossal case loads who genuinely highlighted their concerns hung out to dry, rather than those who actually had the power to act losing their jobs, because unfortunately that's what always happens.
And the biggest culprits for scapegoating social workers to protect their own lazy and incompetent arses is the police force.

A good, well-balanced post.

My horror (and I suspect that of several posters) is that political correctness has gone so deep as to interfere in such cases. The ethnicity of these criminals is secondary to the fact that ethnicity became the barrier.

On a wider note, accountability in the public sector remains a huge issue. And that goes right to the top. It's up to the politicians and senior managers to put in place a proper system. This sort of shit is a lot more important than much of the trivia that currently exercises them.

Unfortunately there are more votes in glitzy policies than in competent, day-to-day administration.

 

[Crab Paste!]

Tragic as this case undoubtedly is, sadly it comes as no great surprise to many of us who have worked in child protection over the last 25 years, and will almost certainly prove to be just the tip of a very large iceberg, as this template was the norm for many local authorities across not only the north of England, but the whole country.
I have worked with victims of organised sexual abuse, and some of their recollections are truly horrendous and harrowing, but before anyone hangs out individual social workers to dry, one factor is almost always constant in every case - the social workers were aware of what was going on, and they submitted reports highlighting their concerns, recommended that vulnerable children were placed in local authority care where appropriate, and legal action taken against the perpetrators, yet nothing was done.
And given that many of these victims were already LOC cases, this should have been a police matter from the outset, as the local authority was clearly neglectful in carrying out its duty of care to those abused.
As most of you know, my politics are way left of centre but, without wishing to make this a simple issue of race or ethnicity, it is undeniable that there was a culture amongst some elements of the Asian community which accepted the exploitation of vulnerable white girls, and to deny this does neither the authorities or the victims any favours, because to the best of my knowledge, only two victims of sexual exploitation I have ever known have been Asian girls, and that's out of a list of several thousand.
Obviously this will come as manna from heaven from some elements on the extreme right who will try to use the abuse of white kids for their own political purposes, and that needs to be shown for the shameless opportunism it is, but equally the left can't bury their heads in the sand here and pretend that race didn't play a pivotal role here, because it clearly did.
The vast majority of the Pakistani community in Rotherham and elsewhere will be as appalled by these cases of grooming as the rest of us, but they have to face the fact that a problem exists where some criminal elements target 'problem' girls as fair game.
What really needs to happen is for heads of department in child protection to act upon the reports made by their social workers on the ground - they are the ones who deal with victims on a first hand basis, and all they can do is flag up their concerns, and make the appropriate recommendations - they don't have the power to intervene as such, and they rely on both their immediate superiors and agencies such as the police and the probation service to adopt a more joined-up-thinking multi-agency approach wherever concerns are expressed, but this just isn't happening, and social workers are frustrated beyond belief when they compile a huge dossier of alleged abuse, only for it to gather dust further up the food chain.
Just why this incredible amount of cases wasn't taken seriously and acted upon by the police defies logic, and in my opinion it's the senior members of the South Yorkshire police force who should be held accountable here, as they have been aware of this situation for years and chose to do nothing, although given their considerable track record of abrogating responsibility, I'm not holding my breath, and as usual we will probably see a couple of social workers with colossal case loads who genuinely highlighted their concerns hung out to dry, rather than those who actually had the power to act losing their jobs, because unfortunately that's what always happens.
And the biggest culprits for scapegoating social workers to protect their own lazy and incompetent arses is the police force.

Bang on the money fetters, bang on!

 

[Ifwecouldjust.......]

I bet Rotherham residents who got behind with their council tax weren't ignored by council employees.

While they sent round the court orders and the bailiffs to ensure the payment of that tax for their own wages they couldn't be bothered tackling the child sex abuse that the money was supposed to help prevent.

The money should be docked from the wages of council staff and repaid to Rotherham people who were forced to pay it under false pretences.

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^once again they fail to DO THE JOB THAT MATTERS and file it away in the TOO DIFFICULT TO DO DRAWER. Any body involved in this be it either police or social services who failed to act should face disciplinary action.End of...........

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

I for one am sick of reading about our so called 'leaders' - the people who run our country / councils and services letting us down and nothing happening to them.

Time for change methinks

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

This is a very niave point of view. We are talking about Britain with all its hang-ups and over-sensitivity of accused racism. Staff with very little power, and a mortgage to pay, would have been wary of making accusations.

Would you have the balls to say something, even if you might be wrong and out of a job?

So you don't fulfil your job responsibilities in order to save your job? What sort of bubble do they live in?

Ah well, better naive than utterly spineless.

The point is that we dont have a clue what went on in those offices. A false accusation of racism would have meant someone was out the door. It's easy for us to say we would have acted differently, now we have the wisdom of hindsight.

Children were being raped, surely it's the right thing to do to report it if you know it's going on. Does it matter if you might lose your job ?. They people that ignored this should be locked up.

Your telling me if you knew a child was being raped you wouldn't report it, because you might fear losing your job ?. Only sick twisted people would not have the decency or common sense to tell the police and get these disgusting people locked up.

 

[nijinsky's fetlocks]

So you don't fulfil your job responsibilities in order to save your job? What sort of bubble do they live in?

Ah well, better naive than utterly spineless.

The point is that we dont have a clue what went on in those offices. A false accusation of racism would have meant someone was out the door. It's easy for us to say we would have acted differently, now we have the wisdom of hindsight.

Children were being raped, surely it's the right thing to do to report it if you know it's going on. Does it matter if you might lose your job ?. They people that ignored this should be locked up.

Your telling me if you knew a child was being raped you wouldn't report it, because you might fear losing your job ?. Only sick twisted people would not have the decency or common sense to tell the police and get these disgusting people locked up.

Any social worker involved in child protection would automatically report any suspected abuse - they would be breaching their terms of employment not to, and in these instances they almost certainly would have done.
The problem stems from the inability of those they highlight allegations of abuse to not acting upon that information.
They are the ones with questions to answer here.

 

[remember arthur mann]

Leader of Council already resigned,no doubt that will prevent disciplinary action.
Like Rochdale all over again

RESIGNED !!! What a sick society, this lot should be lined up against a wall and shot !!!

 

[Citizen in Pakistan]

The main problem with child abuse and rape in gernal is that there are not strong enough puniahments,for the council to say that they won't inquire is enough truth about how serious are the authorities about the issue,its not just the rotterham everywhere its exactly the same Vatican child abuse scandal is another incident on the same lines,and unfortunately more incidents will continue to happen as long laws arent strong enough
What's more sad is that the cost of spoiling a child life is so little

 

[Blue Is the Opposite of Blue]

What a sick society,

this lot should be lined up against a wall and shot !!!

*cough*

 

[aguero93:20]

The main problem with child abuse and rape in gernal is that there are not strong enough puniahments,for the council to say that they won't inquire is enough truth about how serious are the authorities about the issue,its not just the rotterham everywhere its exactly the same Vatican child abuse scandal is another incident on the same lines,and unfortunately more incidents will continue to happen as long laws arent strong enough
What's more sad is that the cost of spoiling a child life is so little

Yeah, it's left a really bad taste in most people's mouths in Ireland how few priests have been prosecuted, mostly it's just been voluntary seizures of church assets to pay compo claims, which is a fucked up way of dealing with it.