Her Continuing Ignorance of Child Killers Is Breathtaking ; Comment

Summary

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FEW people would relish a job where failure drives us in the night to hunt paracetamol to kill ourselves. Sharon Shoesmith, the sacked Haringey children's services director, revealed yesterday that the vilification she faced after the death of Baby P made her - briefly - suicidal.

On a human level, I feel sorry for her. The mob mentality revealed by the death threats left on her home phone is ugly, and does nothing for child protection. But on a political level, I don't. As Shoesmith's media interviews make lamentably clear, she still doesn't understand what her department did wrong or how it could have saved Baby P. The former schools inspector was eminently the wrong person for the job.

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Her Continuing Ignorance of Child Killers Is Breathtaking ; Comment

So, however, are many now in charge of child protection services. Fewer than ever have backgrounds in social work. This is why we cannot breathe a sigh of relief that Children's Secr...

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