I was asked by London Tonight which was more shocking – the fact that there was another child, who experienced similar failures by Haringey Children’s Services as Baby Peter – albeit this time thank goodness not ending in a death – or the fact this had only just come to light – four years after the event.
The first I heard of it was when Andrew Gilligan (Telegraph) ‘phoned me to ask my view. My only view – was why was I only now hearing about this case – and from a journalist rather than being briefed by the Labour Leader of the Council or CEO?
Child ‘Y’ happened at approximately the same period as Baby Peter – yet when the furore over Peter broke – there was no mention to me of another case.
It is not hugely surprising that there was another child being let down by Children’s Services at that time. Given the litany of casualness that came to light surrounding the care of Baby Peter – if those same fault lines were undermining the department – in fact it was inevitable.
So – the shocking thing to me is that, despite all the work going on by a staff who are working their socks off to turn Haringey Child protection around, the leadership still displays an unchanged culture in terms of secrecy and cover up. Why was there no statement, no explanation – only the Executive Summary of the Serious Case Review on Child ‘Y’ sneaked onto an obscure website?
How many times have I heard the leadership in Haringey say ‘lessons must be learned’? Sadly – the leadership has not learned one key lesson – that hiding things just makes it worse.