Rhys Biggs aged 2 Months
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Haringey Social Services His Cruel death of will mean nothing if lessons are not learned. Sunday Mercury Feb 12, 2009 On Tuesday we were confronting the misery of two month-old Rhys Biggs. He had crushed ribs, a snapped wrist and a broken shoulder when an ambulance crew took him from his blood-spattered cot in Haringey, North London. His crack addict mother Claire Biggs, 27, and her boyfriend Paul Husband, 33, were found guilty of child cruelty, and face jail sentences. Just 24 hours later we were hearing of the agony of two year-old Sanam Navsarka. Beaten with a metal pole, the little girl died with fractures to all her limbs and a total of 107 injuries. Police found bloodstains and tiny handprints inside cupboards at her home in Huddersfield where, having been beaten, she was shut away in the dark. Her mother Zahbeena Navsarka, 21, has been jailed for nine years for manslaughter. Her partner Subhan Anwar, also 21, has been locked away for a minimum of 23 years for murder. Apart from the cruelty and the suffering these cases, have some striking similarities. In each case the mother had previously had a child which had been taken into care. Both women were living with a man who was not the father of the infant who was killed. Both were also living on benefits. These factors are, no doubt, repeated time and again in the appalling record of children who die at the hands of those who are supposed to be looking after them. As many as three children die in this way every day. Yes, every day. Even after the outrage caused by the death of Baby P we are now well-accustomed to the idea that nothing is being done to improve the care system that is supposed to protect vulnerable children. Since the death of that 17 month-old in Haringey in August 2007, a total of 1,500 children have died from violence and neglect. Yet after months of protest and petition-signing the only recordable action is the sacking of fall guy Sharon Shoesmith as the head of children's services in Haringey. This has almost certainly scared social workers into taking more children into care. This will, at least, save some from immediate violence - but given the state of the care system, it will also condemn them to a life of misery. Meanwhile the review into childcare, established by Children's Minister Ed Balls to take the heat off his department, grinds slowly on. But if nothing new is being done to protect the children, there is another issue at the heart of this scandal which has not even been raised yet. What are we going to do about the mothers? Or, more to the point, how are we going to stop these feckless, freeloading, unspeakably cruel creatures having children who are destined for nothing but a harrowing, brutal death? |
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