Wednesday 21 July 2010

The Child Protection Policy - 7

On to paragraph 10, which is the first of several under the heading "Child Abuse: Categories and Definitions"
10. Possible signs of abuse include (but are not limited to):
  • the pupil says s/he has been abused or asks a question which gives rise to that inference;
  • there is no reasonable or consistent explanation for a pupil's injury; the injury is unusual in kind or location; there have been a number of injuries; there is a pattern to the injuries;
  • the pupil's behaviour stands out from the group as either being extreme model behaviour or extremely challenging behaviour; or there is a sudden change in the pupil's behaviour;
  • the pupil asks to drop subjects with a particular teacher and seems reluctant to discuss the reasons;
  • the pupil's development is delayed;
  • the pupil loses or gains weight;
  • the pupil appears neglected, e.g. dirty, hungry, inadequately clothed;
  • the pupil is reluctant to go home, or has been openly rejected by his / her parents or carers.
It's a bit odd that they start by giving examples of signs of harm, before they have defined what sorts of harm they are on the lookout for. Moreover, each of the individual categories of abuse which is subsequently defined (in paragraphs 11 to 14) each has its own list of possible signs of abuse.

The whole thing is such a confused mishmash that it is hard to know where to start. I think the simplest and fairest thing to say is that as it stands, this paragraph should not exist. The signs of abuse should either be listed separately under each category of abuse, or should all be listed together after the kinds of abuse which these are signs of have been defined. At the moment this paragraph is before the definitions of abuse, and is additional to (and potentially in conflict with) the signs of abuse listed later under individual categories.

The London Child Protection Procedures issued by the London Children Safeguarding Board have it much better organised. Section 4.1 deals with the concept of Significant Harm (important in the context of the 1989 Children's Act). Then Section 4.2 defines and describes the various categories of child abuse and neglect - physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect, and Section 4.3 goes on to describe how signs of possible abuse and/or neglect can be recognised.

It's a pity that St. Benedict's hasn't used the relevant parts of the London Child Protection Procedures as a template for it's own child protection policy. After all, they are even available by chapter as Word documents, from which the school can copy and paste the relevant paragraphs.

Perhaps the Trustees haven't had sufficient training to know that it exists. After all, it hasn't been around very long, it is only in its third edition, and the third edition has been available for a mere three years.

58 comments:

  1. God, help me! St Raphael, pray for me!

    I fear I may be loosing my marbles, as I keep reading the same stuff over and over again!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You see I AM LOSING MY MARBLES!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Don't fret, 9:23. Head WEST and no one will notice a thing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mr West pontificates as if he knows what he is talking about. As has already been pointed out to him, the policy, in common with many other policies used by schools, tend to follow a similar pattern. This is because schools do not sit down with a blank sheet of paper to write policies, but they use guidance and models provided by various advisory bodies who, unlike Mr West, know what they are doing. I am quite sure that the current policy of St Benedict’s was produced using qualified advice. It is inconceivable that they would not use the professional advice available to them.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Excellent. Very well put, 10.26. But, given that it's such a clear, balanced and sane little statement, I'm afraid it cannot possibly be regarded as a CONTRIBUTION!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Stefan Puchowski21 July 2010 at 13:54

    An above comment: "It is inconceivable that they would not use the professional advice available to them."

    Actually
    * It is inconceivable that a single school could have so many undenied accusations and convictions of child abuse associated with it. It is unconceivable that, no matter how clear the danger from a convicted abuser, they were unable to stop Fr Pearce from abusing again.

    * It is inconceivable that some Priests, the people most bound by the teachings of the Bible and entrusted with great responsibility to ensure that everyone lives within a moral framework, have been found throughout the world to have misused their power to inflict misery on so many young and innocent people.

    * It is inconceivable that the police in Ireland felt that priests involved in institutionalised abuse were above the law. The police were eventually criticised for their cosy relationship with the Church.

    It's all inconceivable. But it happened. On so many occasions well meaning people have made mistakes and allowed terrible things to happen. On this occasion it is within your hands to apply the pressure to improve the situation and protect the children at St. Benedict's. If you cannot see the holes in this Child Protection Policy then you are not looking. Best practices do exist and are available to the school, such as the London Child Protection Procedures. Clearly St. Benedict's has not yet implemented best practice. It's time they updated their documents and procedures and showed a huge commitment to the safety and happiness of the students in their care. Parents, and everyone associated with the school, should demand the very best to ensure the horrific crimes of the past are never seen again.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Stefan Puchowski and his colleague Mr West seem to imagine that a safeguarding policy is there solely to protect children. It is not. Children have, of course, to be protected, in so far as that is possible, but so does a school,its staff and everyone else involved in its running.

    The notion, apparently subscribed to by Puchowski and West, that all children are 'innocent' is demonstrably not true. The majority of children over, let us say, the age of 10 are fully sexually aware and aware equally of their rights and, in some instances, of their attractions. This awareness, as they know, can give them considerable power. Accusations, for instance, can easily be made and 'innocent' teachers or other members of staff brought down. This is far from an uncommon occurrence and, perhaps, Mr West et al would like to take a look at the relevant statistics.

    This, widespread, notion that human beings of a certain age are innocent while others are not is, I'm afraid, sheer nonsense - a fantasy!

    So, the putting together of a viable safeguarding policy is, as has been stated many times on this blog, a tricky and delicate business. This business is not helped by tendentious and naive argument.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I agree 17:38. I have read of several cases of children wrongly accusing their parents. No doubt these 'innocents' have heard, somewhere or other, that 80% of child sexual abuse takes place within the family.

    Statistics can, indeed, be a dangerous thing.

    - Mary

    ReplyDelete
  9. Which is, I am sure, that expert advice has been taken. Mr West is talking to himself and a few of his cronies who are either as ignorant in these matters as he is, or simply anti Catholic.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Stefan Puchowski21 July 2010 at 18:16

    Oh, I didn't realise that it is the children that are misleading and abusing the adults. Perhaps you would go so far as to point out that it's difficult for an adult to avoid the temptation of, let's say ... an 11 year old? Not when the 11 year old is being so provocatively and purposefully attractive to the adult!

    The teacher is "in loco parentis". All such parental positions means that it is the parent that is responsible for the welfare of the child. Not the other way around. This is the case even if the student in the teacher's care is in the 6th Form and of a legal age limit for sexual relations. So, no matter what the teacher might be thinking, and no matter what signals the student is giving (even if they are 17 years old) it is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure neither of them are put in compromising positions.

    I do hope that none of the above posters are teachers. But if they are, then perhaps I now have a better understanding of why they post anonymously.

    ReplyDelete
  11. A lethal combination -

    As the two above contributors indicate, this BLOG is a strange mixture of, apparently, objective analysis and woeful, indeed almost wilful, naivety. This is not a happy combination and it cannot possibly lead to anything like a happy conclusion. But maybe it is not meant to?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Mr Pucholwski, I think someone has already explained to you why several people choose to comment anonymously. Clearly it made no impression on you.

    Nor it seems does balanced argument of any kind. To suggest that certain children are given to abusing the situation they find themselves in, does NOT suggest, and I'm sorry if this queers your pitch, that every child is likely to do so. Such an argument would, of course, be nonsense.

    ReplyDelete
  13. stefan pucholwski, obviously doesn't like facts, if, that is, they fly in the face of his own prejudices.

    ReplyDelete
  14. So please tell us how many alleged "false allegations" have been made against staff at St Benedict's in the last five academic years? Were these all reported to the LADO by the school? Who defined the allegations as false following what independent investigation?

    You've started on this track so let's continue.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I am a parent of a boy at ST Benedict's

    Would I entrust my child to the likes of 17.38 or 17.54? Certainly!

    Would I entrust him to the likes of Mr Pucholwski?
    Certainly NOT!

    - PDE

    ReplyDelete
  16. ALLEGATIONS.

    The answer to 18.28's question is, I'm afraid, not on the top of my head. In referring to statistics I think the above contributor was asking bloggers to take in a rather broader picture.

    However, one person who has definitely been wrongly accused, and in the past few months, is Fr Gregory Chillman. The accusations came, like so many other false accusations, from this very Blog.

    No explanation or apology of course! But, what the hell! He's a Catholic priest, so has to be guilty somehow!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I guess Mr West is still digging in the dirt to prove to us that Fr Gregory is under arrest but he will be unlucky. Does he have the integrity to admit he was wrong and to apologise? He has challenged the Abbey to sue him over this matter - they ought to.

    ReplyDelete
  18. So the answer to my question asked @ 18.28 is none - as far as you know 18.45.

    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymity.

    Some people are so terribly pleased with whatever they write they just have to add their name to it. A bad habit. In the good old days when leaders in the Times or reviews in the TLS were superbly written, they appeared unsigned. Scholarship, information and, indeed, all knowledge are not the preserve of individuals but part of a common endeavour.

    ReplyDelete
  20. 18.28 if your question is genuine, then take it to the headmaster of St Benedict's. He will give you the answer - here, on this blog, you're merely trawling through your own dirt!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Oh dear, 18:58, yet another non-comment and one that is, again, way over the heads of the non-Abbeyvistas. Please keep things simple, or better still simplistic.

    ReplyDelete
  22. OH sorry not 18:58, you're quite okay. No that should have been 18:55, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  23. There's a section in the policy on allegations against staff. I'll be coming to that in due course.

    ReplyDelete
  24. For goodness sake, Mr West, please, don't tantalize us like that! You know we can't wait to hear whatever you have to say.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Isn't wonderful? The way la fanciulla del west comes back with an absolutely straight face every time? I suspect she uses super glue!

    ReplyDelete
  26. There should, of course, be an 'it' in the above question but I was just too carried away, thinking of that 'girl of the golden west'.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Don't be so rude, 19:22 and would 18:52 try to understand that Mr West is just too busy - ploughing through 'sections of policy' - to bother about apologising for his false allegations. They are, after all, trivial compared to his own great paper chase!

    ReplyDelete
  28. What false allegations 19.31?

    ReplyDelete
  29. No - surely no those false allegations 19.31? You mean those libellous ones?! Those truly dreadfully awfully libellous ones?

    Pass me the smelling salts!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Yes 21.22 that truly dreadfully awfully libellous remark that permit's Father super duper 'whoops a daisy' Chillman to Sue 'Out West' for everything down to his socks!

    So what is the problem?

    Search me!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Come on Mr West - if you had any integrity at all you would apologise for the false allegation you made in your blog against Father Gregory Chillman.

    Little wonder that few can take you seriously

    ReplyDelete
  32. If Chillman does not sue we have the answer.

    Enough said.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Surely if West made the claim it is up to him to prove he is correct or to retract the false accusation. He has to do this to prove his credibility. How can anyone take his 'advice' on child protection if he himself is guilty of telling an outright lie.

    ReplyDelete
  34. You are once more mixing issues for your convenience.

    West believes he is correct. You believe West is mistaken. Chillman has not expressed a view on this site or to West via his lawyer as far as any of us are aware.

    It is for them to argue - no one else. But the answer is in Chillman's hands. If he takes no (legal) action, this is his decision.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Who has written O8.36? Again more smears mascaraing as 'good sense'. But, in reality this entry is more nonsense. Mr West and his supporters have been told, politely and otherwise, that no one at Ealing Abbey, St Benedict's, Westminster, the Social Services, the Police, etc. has offered , or ever will offer, comments to this blog. It is simply NOT the venue for such comment and, in any case, its credentials are null and void.

    So, to go on calling for such action is not only a waste time but mischief making

    ReplyDelete
  36. Re: 09:56

    Spot on! West, and his supporters, are just a bunch of mischief makers - nothing more and nothing less!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Perhaps, two things need to be set up:

    1) A petition to Ealing Abbey urging it to sue Mr West;

    2) A counselling service, no matter how modest, for all those Mr West has misled, mishandled, misinformed and maligned via this blog.

    ReplyDelete
  38. What a great idea! Though I half suspect the above posting - 10:18 - is meant to be joke at the expense of Mr West's own, unshakable pomposity!

    ReplyDelete
  39. 10:18. You're most welcome to start a petition.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Permission Granted

    Thank you Mr west, that is awfully good of you.

    ReplyDelete
  41. The Abbeyvista’s - as incoherent as ever.

    It’s the St Benedict’s way.

    ReplyDelete
  42. I'm wondering - does 11:19 understand the meaning of coherent?

    ReplyDelete
  43. Let's see - it's all abouts West's obsession? But then what about :

    The DfE safeguarding team?

    The ISI?

    And the other interested parties mentioned in Ms Pugh's (Director Safeguarding DfE) letter to West?

    Their attendant interest in St Benedict's is for what reason?

    ReplyDelete
  44. You know, 11:19, to grasp the coherence of any statement or argument one has to be of average intelligence and possess just a little imagination.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Re 11:32.

    What about them? If such matters genuinely trouble you, please direct your questions to the right people in the right quarters.

    ReplyDelete
  46. The above advice has been given many times on this blog. Are these guys utterly obtuse, or what?

    ReplyDelete
  47. Re 11:40

    Obtuse, maybe, but most definitely mischievous!

    ReplyDelete
  48. A Question.

    I have heard that adolescent boys enjoy sexual play with one another. Is this true or just a very nasty rumour? If true, is it serious business or just innocent play? I ask because I was shocked to see Mr West accusing a boy at St Benedict's of this monstrous practice. At the time, I just couldn't bring myself to believe such a thing possible! But now I wonder?

    - Concerned of Clapham Common

    ReplyDelete
  49. INDEED, 12:22, I SHARE YOUR HORROR AND CONCERN! WHAT IS THE WORLD COMING TO? I JUST HOPE MR WEST CAN SHED SOME LIGHT ON THIS SORDID BUSINESS!

    - Oskar O’Flahertie KOZLOWSKI

    ReplyDelete
  50. Thank you, thank you, 12:22. I haven't laughed so much in years. I shed tears of delight!

    That is exactly the way humbug should be dealt with.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Surely the above is missing the point. I was myself terribly traumatised for years because a fellow pupil made a sudden dive for my balls. In fact, I can honestly say I'm permanently scarred by the incident! For example, I could never bring myself to watch a rugby or football match. Such serious child on child 'sexual abuse' is as prevalent as it is dangerous. Please, Mr West, suggest some form of legislation so that other lads may not suffer as I have.

    I withhold my name, for obvious reasons.

    ReplyDelete
  52. I know Mr West will give you sound counselling, 13:26. But, do remember, as he's for ever telling people it's never too late to go to the police. They are not all that busy and will be delighted to hear from you, even if you can't recall the name of the bastard that so horribly abused you.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Excellent advice, 13:26. But, why bother with small details like names when any name will do? Let 13:26 just dig around a bit in his memory bank and someone he dislike will soon emerge.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Names date times it's all too confusing for words. The good advice came, of course, from 13.55 and was aimed at 13:26, And given that he's on his own in this, 'dislike' should read 'dislikes'!

    Gosh! Dealing with facts is a real pain in the butt, isn't it? However, we all have to be terribly exact about such things on this blog, as doubtless everyone has noticed?

    ReplyDelete
  55. You're right, 15:21, Mr West sets the very highest standards in such things.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Extraordinary how the Abbeyvistas (or perhaps they should be called the Oblates of St Benedict and St Augustine) all manage to comment in roughly the same time frame. Anyone might think they were co-ordinating with each other.

    Anonymous at 10.05 suggested a counselling service. Bizarrely enough, the Abbey actually does offer a conselling service for victims of sexual abuse. At £150 a throw.

    It's beyond satire. But no doubt pretty lucrative.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Sarah....your comment's on the abbey counselling service have been made before, in almost the same terms. Is this a case of co-ordination? Perhaps, of the satirical kind?

    ReplyDelete
  58. What, you mean I'm not the first person to have pointed out that the Abbey offers a counselling service? Gosh, how frightfully sinister.
    Actually I notice that when one googles "Ealing Abbey Sexual Abuse" the counselling service appears quite high up on the list. This is a recent development, as a few months ago all the top hits for those search terms related to the convictions for sexual abuse and the outstanding allegations.
    Did someone spot what a marketing opportunity that was?

    ReplyDelete