Daniel Pelka: Professionals failed 'invisible' murdered boy, report says

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Category: Youth News

Created on Tuesday, 17 September 2013 00:00

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Daniel Pelka: Professionals failed 'invisible' murdered boy, report says

Review accuses school of poor safeguarding system and says social workers accepted parental version of events

Steven Morris

Teachers, health professionals, social workers and police officers treated four-year-old Daniel Pelka as if he was invisible, failing to prevent his mother and stepfather from murdering him after a campaign of torture and starvation, an independent report has found.

A serious case review published on Tuesday could find no record of any conversation professionals had with Daniel about his home life, his feelings or his relationships with his mother and her male partners.

Daniel's first language was Polish and the report suggested that this could have been a problem. It said: "Of particular note was that without English as his first language and because of his lack of confidence Daniel's voice was not heard throughout this case."

At times, the review concluded, Daniel appeared to have been "invisible" against the backdrop of his mother's controlling behaviour. Professionals failed to act on "what they saw in front of them" but accepted parental versions of events.

The report said Daniel's "traumatic abusive experiences" during the last six months of his life were "shocking", adding: "He must have felt utterly alone and worthless for much of that time, being the subject of his mother and stepfather's anger and rejection. At times he was treated as inhuman, and the level of helplessness he must have felt in such a terrifying environment would have been overwhelming. The extent of his abuse, however, went undiscovered and unknown to professionals at the time."

Daniel's mother, Magdelena Luczak, 27, and her partner, Mariusz Krezolek, 34, both Polish nationals, will serve at least 30 years in prison for Daniel's murder. During a harrowing trial a jury heard that Daniel looked like a concentration camp victim when he died in March 2012. The court was told that he was subjected to torture including having his head held under water until he passed out and being force-fed salt. He was kept locked in a filthy box room at home in Coventry and was systematically denied food before dying after receiving a blow to his head.

The review team also accused Daniel's school of having a "dysfunctional" approach to children's safeguarding issues, highlighting that teachers had noticed injuries to his face and had locked away pupils' lunch boxes to stop him stealing food, but had not taken effective action to help him. Health professionals and social workers had been too quick to accept that injuries needing hospital treatment including a broken arm and a cut over the eye were the result of accidents – though it also said they were under pressure because of high workloads and understaffing. The report criticised a community paediatrician who saw Daniel a month before he was murdered for putting his weight loss down to worms rather than possible child abuse.

In addition it emerged in the report that police attended Daniel's "chaotic" household almost 30 times in response to reports of domestic abuse in the six years before his death and it suggested officers could have done more to make sure he was being well treated. "In many respects the response by the police was not child-centred," the report said.

On Daniel's school, Little Heath primary, the report said staff did not pass on concerns to police or council child protection officials when the boy came to school with bruises and other marks on him. The school did not appear to link the injuries to his obvious hunger. "The system within the school to respond to safeguarding concerns was therefore dysfunctional at this time," the report concluded.

The author of the serious case review report, Ron Lock, said: "If professionals had used more inquiring minds and been more focused in their intentions to address concerns, it's likely that Daniel would have been better protected from the people who killed him."Peter Wanless, chief executive officer of the NSPCC, said: "Too often people failed to look at Daniel like they would their own child." Maggie Atkinson, the Children's Commissioner for England said: "Far too many opportunities to intervene to stop the abuse Daniel experienced during his short life were missed by those around him who had a duty to protect him."

Source: The Guardian UK

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Minister Justifies Ban On Child Adoption

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Category: Youth News

Created on Thursday, 22 August 2013 00:00

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Minister Justifies Ban On Child Adoption

{sidebar id=11 align=right}Nana Oye Lithur, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, says the temporary suspension of child adoption was to protect the interest of the vulnerable.

The suspension was announced on March 24 and is expected to be lifted at the end of the year.

“The moratorium became necessary following the discovery of a worrying trend in the adoption of children which is detrimental to their welfare,” she said.

Nana Lithur said this during a media briefing on Wednesday to explain issues of inter-country adoptions and initiate media advocacy on public awareness creation.

The Ministry, she said, was aware that many interest groups were concerned about the period of the moratorium and the future of child adoptions in Ghana.

However, the Ministry had a responsibility to protect the vulnerable groups, including children, she said.

The temporary ban was, therefore, to enable the Ministry to re-engineer and to review the adoption process in order to guarantee best practices for effective service delivery, said Nana Lithur.

She said the moratorium aimed at streamlining the role of the Department of Social Welfare in the adoption process by developing more transparent and standardised guidelines.

The minister, however, said during the period of the moratorium, emergency cases would be determined and granted approval for processing at the headquarters of the Department of Social Welfare.

As part of the reforms, Nana Lithur said an Adoption Desk had been created as a central data collection base on foster care and adoptions for the country.

She called on individuals and groups with relevant proposals on the design of an adoption and foster care policy to submit them to the Department of Social Welfare for consideration.

GNA

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All 25,000 candidates fail Liberian university entrance exam

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Category: The NoticeBoard

Created on Tuesday, 27 August 2013 00:00

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All 25,000 candidates fail Liberian university entrance exam

Applicants accused of lacking enthusiasm and not having a basic grasp of English

David Smith, Africa correspondent

The University of Liberia. Number of applicants this year: nearly 25,000. Number gaining admission: zero.

The "epic fail" of every single candidate in the admission exam provoked bafflement, consternation and heated debate on Tuesday, with some convinced that flaws in Liberia's education system had been brutally exposed. A government minister likened it to "mass murder".

{sidebar id=11 align=right}The results mean there will be no freshers at west Africa's oldest degree-granting institution, one of two state-run universities in Liberia, when it reopens its doors next month for another academic year.

According to university officials, the applicants lacked enthusiasm and did not have a basic grasp of English. Spokesman Momodu Getaweh told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that the university stood by its decision and would not be swayed by emotion. "In English, the mechanics of the language, they didn't know anything about it. So the government has to do something."

Liberia was devastated by a bloody civil war in the 1990s and the rule of president Charles Taylor, but Getaweh said the country was running out of excuses. "The war has ended 10 years ago now. We have to put that behind us and become realistic."

The current president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, recently admitted that the education system was "in a mess" and in need of reform. But this is the first time that all students who took the exam, which entails payment of a $25 (£16) fee, failed.

The Voice of America (VOA) reported that the university hired a private consultant to manage and administer this year's entrance exam.

The consultant, James Dorbor Jallah, told the VOA: "There is a perception in our society largely that once you take the University of Liberia admission exam, if you do not pay money to someone, or if you do not have appropriate connections, you would not be placed on the results list. So, the university has been grappling with how they could manage the process whereby people's abilities would be truly measured on the basis of their performance in the examination."

Liberia could draw a lesson from the mass failure, he added. "For the country as a whole, I think this is a clarion call that we need to all see that the king is moving around naked and not pretend as though the emperor has his finest clothes on."

Etmonia David-Tarpeh, the national education minister, intends to meet university staff to discuss the dismal showing. "I know there are a lot of weaknesses in the schools but for a whole group of people to take exams and every single one of them to fail, I have my doubts about that," she told the BBC. "It's like mass murder."

David-Tarpeh said she knew some of the applicants and the schools they went to. "These are not just schools that will give people grades. I'd really like to see the results of the students."

The University of Liberia was established in 1862 as Liberia College and became a university in 1951.

Source: The Guardian UK

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Give Children Good Education – Parents Told

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Category: The WorkShop

Created on Tuesday, 30 July 2013 00:00

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Give Children Good Education – Parents Told

{sidebar id=11 align=right}MADAM BIBIANA Irene Bangpuoro has entreated parents to do all in their capacity to give their children good education to enable them overcome challenges that they might face in their journey through life.

Biabiana Bangupuoro, the Education Committee Chairperson of St Kizito Cluster of Schools, Nima, made the call during the school’s second speech and prize giving day ceremony last Tuesday at the school premises in Nima. It was themed: “Advancement Towards Meaningful Catholic Education At The Basic Level.”

She described good education as a holistic education that empowers the child spiritually, mentally, psychologically and physically to be focused in life and excel in any endeavour that he or she found himself or herself.

She said the attempt to belittle education as not important should be discarded with impunity. She admonished children not to accept such tales but take their education seriously, work hard at school to become knowledgeable and successful in life.

“Learn hard to become good citizens and blessing to Ghana and the society at large.”

On her part, the headmistress of the primary department of the St Kizito Cluster of Schools, Teresa Kangberee had disclosed that the school, the first in the Nima community had since its inception in 1952 churned out many great men and women who are now occupying important positions both in Ghana and abroad.

She however lamented that in spite of the achievements, the school was grappling with the problem of negative peer pressure and general indiscipline; some of the major challenges the school faces. This she attributed to broken homes and single parenthood.

“Other challenges are lack of learning materials, which some parents do not provide due to economic hardship or general lack of commitment to the education of their wards.

“It is sad to note that some of the pupils come to school on empty stomach while others also, on their own, fend for themselves and their education.”

She said as a remedy, the school has been offering counseling to the children to help them overcome the effects of such situations.

She appealed to parents to take more interest in the affairs of their children.

The headmistress commended all who had contributed to get the institution to its current enviable standard.

Rev Father Raymond Osei-Tutu, the local manager of the school and his assistant Rev Father Michael, the Executives of PTA, parents and other dignitaries were present at the function.

Head teachers; past and present, teachers, deserving pupils and the security man were awarded.

By Mike Avickson

Source: Daily Guide/Ghana

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