Wednesday 31 July 2013

The Tragedy of Daniel Pelka


Apparently the Serious Case Review into the death of Daniel Pelka will not be available until September. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-23349527

Nobody should be in any doubt that this is an extremely worrying case. Early indications are that the school, health and other professionals were involved, but there is no mention of child protection enquiries having been initiated, even though the child is described as looking terrible and searching bins for food.

There are echos of Khyra Ishaq’s tragic death, another child about whom the school had serious concerns and who was being starved at home. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/8512503.stm  

I think having to wait until September for an SCR is an unacceptable option. I have for a long time been in favour of having an inspectorate (not Ofsted) which is capable of moving rapidly into a local authority in circumstances like these and finding out without delay the early indications of what has gone wrong.

That’s what happens when the Air Accident Investigation Branch deals with an air crash. Their staff members are on site as soon as it is safe to begin an examination of the wreckage. And anything they learn which needs to be communicated to make other planes safe is disclosed at the earliest possible moment.

I have a dreadful sinking feeling about this terrible tragedy of Daniel Pelka. It has all the hallmarks of a case in which dreadful failures have occurred.