Ainlee Walker died of negligence by her case workers following hard upon the horrors inflicted upon her by her loving parents. She died because social workers feared her violent parents and were too scared to knock on the door. It is hard to decide who is the most culpable; the mentally deficient parents or the criminally inadequate authorities.
The question I asked myself was why, if they genuinely feared they would be harmed, did these so called professional carers not engage the help of the police to gain access to the child? The answer, I suspect, is because going in with a copper in tow doesn’t give the “right message” to the community they purport to help. If this is the case then the actual message they are giving out is that political correctness and self preservation is more important than protecting a child that is critically at risk.
In the aftermath of the case we have the press baying for blood, or at least a change in legislation that would stop another child dying so needlessly. The usual get out by the authoroties has been wheeled out – not enough staff to cover the unpopular job of dealing with difficult and potentially violent people. The fallout is covering a wide swathe of the London authorities responsible for the Plaistow area of London but no one has been blamed for this appalling travesty and probably won’t be. There is much talk about revising the “rules” and even the appointment of an independent Commissioner for Children. The sad truth is that the great and the good will talk and recriminate until the furore calms down and then do what they always do – fuck all.
