Month after month, new historic cases of child abuse appear, many cases at the hands of our most well known, remembered and loved child entertainers. Now, the new focus is Westminster itself, with vital records and files mysteriously ‘disappearing’ as the spotlight looks at the heart of the establishment in what is being called a ‘Westminster Paedophile Ring‘. This shocking turn of events is being discussed in the media around the world and as calls for a national enquiry intensify, the parties do all they can to appear concerned yet distant from the issues, whilst seeking ways to limit the damage to their own parties.
Many people have a preconceived idea of the ‘type’ of person who ‘becomes’ a paedophile and many preconceptions are based on bigotry, for example being gay; Most include ignorance about who paedophiles ‘are’, such as those unable to make friends, who live solitary lives and so on. As the recent reports show, paedophiles can be successful, rich, surrounded by admirers and still have the urge to abuse children. That there is no clarity regarding the hows and whys of paedophilia does not make it easy to diagnose or treat, or explain whether treatment is possible; This confusion is not helped by misleading and inaccurate reports posing as fact.
Added to the general confusion amongst professionals, the formation of unhelpful ‘vigilante’ groups has made life for those appearing to fulfill such misinformed views of, for exaple, ‘how to spot a paedophile’ a living hell at times. Innocent men, such as 56 year old Graham Smith, who committed suicide after being wrongly accused of a historic case of sex abuse, are a sad reflection on the need for people to ‘act’, leading to further questions about how this is being managed through the ‘right channels’. Such poorly executed and researched information, from people who appear to be at best, bullies on the lookout for ‘acceptable’ targets to get their violence fix, ruins the lives of the innocent and hampers police investigations. In addition, Police departments have experienced cuts to funding making it more difficult to prioritise services.
It’s right and proper that organisations such as Change.org are unifying the public voice and calling for a national enquiry into the issues of child abuse. With more and more historic cases of child abuse being revealed, it is clear this issue needs to be investigated thoroughly. Let’s not forget, however, that cuts in social services departments are currently creating new risks for children every day. The knock on effect of cuts affecting families, runs the risk of more cases for already stretched departments to manage, more cases added to Social Worker caseloads already at breaking point, and higher thresholds to cope with the increase in cases. Let’s make this important aspect perfectly clear, higher thresholds = more children being left to cope in poor situations which would have qualified as serious enough for intervention in the past.
Child abuse is happening right now! It is not something which only happened in the past and professionals are underfunded, understaffed and ill equipped to deal with it under current social policy legislation. I strongly question the coalition’s dedication to protecting our most vulnerable children, as many issues have been exacerbated by their actions up to this point and of these issues they are well aware! It’s all very well speaking eloquently about children who have been failed in the past, however, children are being failed today, right here, right now!
The media runs hard and fast with the gauntlet of social services failure and there are poor Social Workers, of course there are; There are poor workers in every profession which employs human beings. However, most Social Workers are good, dedicated people, trying to do their very difficult job ethically, in very difficult circumstances. The child protection register shows there were ‘50,732 children on child protection registers or the subject of child protection plans in the UK to 31 March 2013′ nearly 51000 children being worked with by Social Workers in the UK, many being helped out of appalling situations, yet the government and media are most vocal about the failures.
Of course, any child death and every failure to provide protection must be reported and must be investigated as it is tragic and unacceptable. However, the government’s cynical exploitation of such cases to their own ends, such as the recent attempt to garner support to privatise child protection services, makes their recent cuts and complaints about social care departments deeply suspicious.It’s easier, I would imagine, to sell off a service seen as a failure but the cold reality appears to be that the coalition is prepared to throw 51000 children under the bus, to save some ££s from a service they don’t see as ‘profitable’! It sounds a bit like the current situation with the NHS does it not? An almost parallel approach when trying to implement a ‘naming and shaming‘ of misdiagnosing cancer, which will enable them to justify selling off chunks of the NHS piece by piece. I only mention it as there appears to be a theme appearing with all ‘collectivist’ services we the people receive!
So let’s begin at the beginning, certainly, but we must not ignore the children experiencing sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, psychological abuse and neglect in every town, in every school, right at this minute! They are the ignored, psychologically damaged, trapped and ashamed adults in waiting, waiting many long years to share their pain and bring more issues to the fore, when they need support as children this very minute!
To sum up. we must investigate the historic cases of abuse in Westminster thoroughly and independently. However, we must view as equally important, the protection of our children today, which means properly funding social services to do their job and not laying the blame at their door for doing what they can with the scraps offered by Westminster! I cannot see how David Cameron can stand up in the House of Commons and bluster about doing the right thing for those affected by past abuses, when at the same time his current policies leave thousands of vulnerable children unable to access services due to raised thresholds. Time will tell if he is really taking child abuse seriously, or if he is more reminiscent of the Hindenburg, trying not to create too much of a spark and risk his own career, all at the expense of the vulnerable.
kali justice 