“The Role of Government Edicts in False
Accusations of Child Abuse”.
Blue paragraphs
and extracts may be cut through shortage of time.
Red italic items are reference materials
not intended to be read out.
The child protection industry is extremely
adept at turning disasters into triumphs. They are now using the
tragic case of Victoria Climbie’, who died as a result of
failures in the child protection system, to obtain increased powers
and resources and to scare politicians into providing a national
computer database of the 13 million children in England and Wales.
The implication of setting up such a database is truly horrifying.
My daughter saw a report in our local paper that two libraries and
a day centre had been closed to help provide 5.5 million pounds
towards computerisation of social services children’s databases.
She said “that means that until I am 18 everybody concerned
with my health or education will know that I was on the Child Protection
Register because of my brother. No thanks.” She has since
asked if we can go and live in France because “it feels like
[she’s] got a criminal record here”.
There appears to be little clear guidance
on who will access the information. Every time a child has a problem
with school attendance, every time a child is taken to a hospital
with a cut or burn or bruise, every time a harassed GP thinks that
an anxious mother has made too many visits to the doctor’s
surgery, whenever there is mental illness or disability or drug
abuse or criminal activity, or alcoholism in the family, the child
will be given a `Flag’ on the computer database – and
only two of these `Flags’ will set off a child protection
investigation!. The scenario which will ensue is too horrendous
to imagine. My daughter has a patchy school attendance through illness,
a brother with Asperger’s Syndrome and recently attended casualty
after she spilled tomato soup on her hand. By my reckoning she must
have three flags already!
It is highly unlikely that a computerised
database would have saved Victoria Climbie’ from the incompetence
of child protection professionals and their neglect of her care
while they chased innocent children with disabilities. My son recognised
television pictures of the Social Services office which failed to
save Victoria Climbie as being opposite the shop where we buy our
gluten free flour. Some of the dates on which no staff were available
to visit Victoria were the same dates as the neighbouring local
authority visited us or held meetings in cosy offices to discuss
their fantasies about me and to waste tens of thousands of pounds
pursuing us for undiagnosed Asperger’s Syndrome.
In the wake of the success of Mark Haddon’s “Curious
Incident of the Dog in the Night Time” there is increased
public understanding of Asperger’s Syndrome. I’ve felt
increased warmth from people who had previously not understood my
family situation. News media including Radio 5 live recently reported
on the confusion of symptoms between Asperger’s Syndrome and
supposed child abuse. Lord Filkin announced that he would investigate
this. I have Earl Howe’s promise that he intends to “keep
[Lord Filkin’s] feet to the fire on this”. It may be
that a prize winning children’s novel has opened a chink in
the defensive dam.
A young writer visited me recently. She was starting out to write
a play about a family falsely accused of MSBP but in the course
of her research had realised that this wasn’t something small
and isolated but was part of a massive whole concerned with spin
and cover up and the nanny state and a whole lot more besides.
This is an issue which increasingly affects the whole of society.
We can no longer afford to be victims. We have to fight and we have
to win. In Unity is strength. We have to fight together.
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© Jan Loxley Blount 05 11 04 London
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