Baby X: Britain's Child Abusers Brought To Justice by Harry KeebleMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a very interesting report on the response of the United Kingdom to the deaths of two children, Victoria Climbié and Baby P. Both were failures of the Social Services, police and doctors. Victoria Climbié had been tortured for years and Baby P for over half of his short life. After those horrific failures, new laws were made, policies changed and police were assigned to what Harry Keeble called the "cardigan squad."
He details the lengths the police and social services were willing to to document abuse and to track down the abusers. This also included sending teams to some foreign countries to talk to witnesses and build a case. Heartbreakingly, some times the abusers were set free, but some of the older children who testified said that they felt free because they had had a chance to face their abuser, in many cases, their fathers, and tell what was done to them.
While there were many successes, there are still children who fall between the cracks and suffer horrific abuse and more needs to be done. The statistics are appalling and they are increasing. Having been a teacher, I found myself going over children I had taught and wondering about situations that made me uneasy. I remember children who were too quiet and timid and a father I felt was too full of anger.
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