PLUMBERS AND ELECTRICIANS TRAINED AS COUNCIL CHILD ABUSE 'SPIES'
By Nick Craven

Daily Mail, UK: 19 October 2008
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...use-spies.html
[ http://tinyurl.com/5vz5m4 ]

Tradesmen working for local authorities are to be asked to report
signs of child abuse and neglect as they visit the homes of council
tenants.

The plumbers, electricians and carpenters will be issued with a
checklist of signs to look out for, including 'unexplained bruising'
and 'scalds'. Training will last just half a day.

But critics believe the use of workers untrained in such a highly
complex field could backfire. They say that children who are at real
risk could be overlooked because social workers with already bulging
caseloads could be bombarded with baseless complaints.

One of the first councils to pilot the scheme will be Lincoln, which
later this month is expected to approve the policy under which about
200 'front-line' staff will be given four hours' training on child
abuse, with 600 backroom or office workers attending even shorter
'awareness briefings'.

The front-liners include any employee who visits homes as part of his
or her job, including rent officers. Council-employed sports coaches
and leisure-centre staff, who come into daily contact with children,
will also be trained.

Signs of physical abuse they are asked to look out for include
'aggressive behaviour/severe temper outbursts, flinching when
approached or touched and reluctance to get changed, eg, wearing long
sleeves in hot weather'.

Signs of sexual abuse include 'discomfort when walking or sitting
down' and 'pregnancy'.

Lincoln Council insists that any spurious complaints will be weeded
out by closer investigation but critics are not convinced.

Child welfare charity AIMS condemned the idea as 'ludicrous'. Its
spokeswoman Jean Robinson said: 'This will just lead to a huge
increase in the number of false cases being reported and you won't be
able to find the needle because the haystack will be so vast.

'This is a highly complex area and not one for amateurs. Of course, if
anyone, council employee or not, saw a child who was clearly being
beaten or starved, their basic humanity would hopefully lead them to
report it but the idea of council plumbers and carpenters being
semi-trained and seen as some sort of child-abuse spies by the people
they are supposed to be serving is rather sinister.'

Simon Walters, Lincoln's head of corporate review and development,
said: 'This is a common-sense measure. We need to ensure our staff are
trained to recognise child neglect and abuse.

'All public bodies have a duty under the Children Act to take
responsibility to spot signs of child abuse. It creates a duty for key
agencies, including district councils, to put in place arrangements to
safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people when
discharging their functions through their daily work or that of
sub-contractors.

'Even when cases are referred to Lincoln County Council as the
responsible authority, they will no doubt have checks and balances in
place before determining if there is a need to take further action.'

The Local Government Association said: 'The Children Act did place a
responsibility on local authorities to train staff to notice tell-tale
signs and this will become quite common practice.

'It's not a case of Big Brother snooping in people's homes, it's more
a reaction to high-profile cases of abuse where people asked
afterwards, "How could so many people have visited the home and not
noticed anything?"'

NSPCC head of policy and public affairs Natalie Cronin said: 'We
welcome this initiative. This training should help council workers who
have a lot of contact with families to know more about how to respond
if they are worried about a child's welfare.'
==========================================
Also see reader comments at the end - mostly hostile.

Original article in local paper: http://tinyurl.com/3ze3b8

--
Cub Reporter

On Oct 19, 12:23*pm, Cub Reporter wrote:
PLUMBERS AND ELECTRICIANS TRAINED AS COUNCIL CHILD ABUSE 'SPIES'
By Nick Craven

Daily Mail, UK: 19 October 2008http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1078775/Plumbers-electricians...
[http://tinyurl.com/5vz5m4]

Tradesmen working for local authorities are to be asked to report
signs of child abuse and neglect as they visit the homes of council
tenants.

The plumbers, electricians and carpenters will be issued with a
checklist of signs to look out for, including 'unexplained bruising'
and 'scalds'. Training will last just half a day.

But critics believe the use of workers untrained in such a highly
complex field could backfire. They say that children who are at real
risk could be overlooked because social workers with already bulging
caseloads could be bombarded with baseless complaints.

One of the first councils to pilot the scheme will be Lincoln, which
later this month is expected to approve the policy under which about
200 'front-line' staff will be given four hours' training on child
abuse, with 600 backroom or office workers attending even shorter
'awareness briefings'.

The front-liners include any employee who visits homes as part of his
or her job, including rent officers. Council-employed sports coaches
and leisure-centre staff, who come into daily contact with children,
will also be trained.

Signs of physical abuse they are asked to look out for include
'aggressive behaviour/severe temper outbursts, flinching when
approached or touched and reluctance to get changed, eg, wearing long
sleeves in hot weather'.

Signs of sexual abuse include 'discomfort when walking or sitting
down' and 'pregnancy'.

Lincoln Council insists that any spurious complaints will be weeded
out by closer investigation but critics are not convinced.

Child welfare charity AIMS condemned the idea as 'ludicrous'. Its
spokeswoman Jean Robinson said: 'This will just lead to a huge
increase in the number of false cases being reported and you won't be
able to find the needle because the haystack will be so vast.

'This is a highly complex area and not one for amateurs. Of course, if
anyone, council employee or not, saw a child who was clearly being
beaten or starved, their basic humanity would hopefully lead them to
report it but the idea of council plumbers and carpenters being
semi-trained and seen as some sort of child-abuse spies by the people
they are supposed to be serving is rather sinister.'

Simon Walters, Lincoln's head of corporate review and development,
said: 'This is a common-sense measure. We need to ensure our staff are
trained to recognise child neglect and abuse.

'All public bodies have a duty under the Children Act to take
responsibility to spot signs of child abuse. It creates a duty for key
agencies, including district councils, to put in place arrangements to
safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people when
discharging their functions through their daily work or that of
sub-contractors.

'Even when cases are referred to Lincoln County Council as the
responsible authority, they will no doubt have checks and balances in
place before determining if there is a need to take further action.'

The Local Government Association said: 'The Children Act did place a
responsibility on local authorities to train staff to notice tell-tale
signs and this will become quite common practice.

'It's not a case of Big Brother snooping in people's homes, it's more
a reaction to high-profile cases of abuse where people asked
afterwards, "How could so many people have visited the home and not
noticed anything?"'

NSPCC head of policy and public affairs Natalie Cronin said: 'We
welcome this initiative. This training should help council workers who
have a lot of contact with families to know more about how to respond
if they are worried about a child's welfare.'


How about training social workers to do some plumbing instead? It
might be more useful.