Child Protection (Essay Sample)

Serious Case Study Review Report for Child Protection Safeguarding Name Institution Serious Case Study Review Report of Child Protection Safeguarding Introduction Following the death of Daniel Pelka, a 4 years old child to an immigrant family, the Serious Case Review (SCR) was commissioned immediately to investigate into the cause and the circumstance under which Pelka died. Pelka and his family were immigrants from Poland and lived in Coventry, UK. At the time of his death he was the middle child of Ms. Magdalena Luczak, and Mr. Krezolek a father of Adam, the youngest sibling, and an older sibling named Anna. At the time of his death in the year 2012, Pelka was 4 years and 8months old. The mysterious circumstances under which Pelka died showed that during the time he lived with his parents he was undergoing some severe suffering abuse and neglect by both his parents over a long period of time (Armitage, 2014, p.305). Observation made on his body established that, the 4 year old deceased boy, to have been malnourished as well as suffering from acute subdural haematoma on the right side of his head. Further examinations on his body indicated appearance of some bruises close to the ear that led to a conclusion that Pelka was being abused by either of the parents or both. Later, pathological examinations also ascertain the existence of older mild subdural haematoma of long duration of time, probably either some months or years extent. After presentation of evidence against the parents of Pelka at the criminal trial, showing details of negligence and physical abuse the deceased suffered from, Ms. Luczak and Mr. Krezolek were charged with murder (Waterhouse et al., 2015 p. 123). The evidence presented in the court further showed that Pelka was often locked in sparsely furnished room in various occasions as a way of punishment by the parents (Smith, 2015 p.54). However, if abuse or negligence is supposed to be the major factor of a child's death, this will require the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) to perform a SCR into the contributions of organizations and professionals in the lives of the children and their families. Background information Daniel Pelka's father, Mr. Pelka migrated with his family into UK from Poland at the end of 2005, where he stayed with the family till the end of 2008. During this time Anna, the older sibling, was around three and half years old while Daniel was about a year. Investigations showed that between late 2008 to mid-2010 another male partner lived in the home with Ms. Luczak after her divorce with Mr. Pelka. Shortly after, Ms. Luczak found another partner Mr. Krezolek who she lived with until the unfortunate death of Pelka. Mr. Krezolek became the father of Adam who was the youngest sibling of Pelka. Mr. Krezolek was ex-soldier who migrated to UK from Poland while Ms. Luczak was a housewife, both who were a drug addict victims. The family members, including the various partners of Ms. Luczak were of polish nationality who moved to UK as immigrants. However, none of the family members of Daniel had English as their first language. The family were Christians and were believed to be Catholics. Daniel was born on 15th July 2007, was the son to Ms. Luczak and Mr. Pelka. The first new birth visit was made by the health visitors where he and her sister were seen together. Ann began her school in September 2010 while Daniel started attending for his elementary education at Little Health Primary School in September 2011. Daniel and his older siblings had good medical background until when his parents started abusing and neglecting him. For instance, report given by the deceased consultant pediatrician pointed out that Daniel weighed 14.8kgs during his first visit whereas immediately before he died he weighed about 4kgs less. Furthermore, the investigations indicated that the health of both adults in the family were not encouraging mainly characterized by frequent use of drugs and consumption of alcoholic drinks. The situation occasionally motivated the domestic violence and child abuse that often witnessed in the family even when Mr. Pelka was still with Ms. Luczak. The family of Mr. Pelka was faced by challenges ranging from domestic violence, neglect and abuse. The first incident of domestic abuse occurred in November 2006 between Mr. Pelka and Ms. Luczak. The incident which involved Ms. Luczak threatening Mr. Pelka with a knife after a disagreement between the two parents (Taylor et al., 2014 p.114). Another incident of domestic violence and abuse occurred on 16th December 2007 where both parents were drunk and afterwards engaged themselves in fight. The family of Pelka was not that financially well-off. For instance Ms. Luczak becomes pregnant she receives a referral from the Children Learning and Young People Directorate (CLYP) this was because she lacked money in her household, the family as well had pending eviction case with some history in domestic violence and abuse. The frequent use of drugs such as alcohol was also a good indication that the family was facing stress related problems in their life to an extent of engaging in domestic violence and drug abuse. Pelka's family was known by the outside agencies during their stay in Coventry. The first agencies to encounter the family was Coventry police department when Mr. Pelka and Ms. Luczak were involved in a domestic violence after drinking two bottles of vodka (Roberts, 2014 p. 451). The police later informed the CLYP and health visitors of the incident after which a notification of the same was recorded to have been received. Some of the other agencies that knew the family's unfortunate events included Children Social Care and Coventry City Council who were often notified of the domestic violence that frequently occurred in Mr. Pelka's family. The school was another agency that information about the abuse of Daniel went through due to neglect and molestation. As result of starvation Daniel was often found stealing food from other pupils and picking remnants of food in dustbins within the school compound. In the SCR some of the agencies involved in the case that could provide Individual Management Reviews included: * Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Partnership Trust, * University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust * West Midlands Police * NHS Coventry City Council-Children Learning and Young People Directorate (CLYP) * NHS Coventry/NHS Warckshires Investigation or events leading to the death of Daniel Safeguarding a child is the protection of a child from abuse and maltreatment of adults and other children. The act of safeguarding a child entails preventing harm that might affect a child's health and ensuring the child grows up in moral way through effective care. Child protection is the act of keeping children from violence, abuse and neglect (Chudleigh, 2005, p. 45). Some of the major events outlined that led Daniel's death are: * School concern about Daniel's "Obsession" with food Concerns about the situation of Daniel's well-being and health from school in the autumn of 2011. Even though, these were not linked to the domestic abuse from home because they were not actually aware of the situation at home (Hartill & Lang, 2014 p. 143). At around mid of the autumn through the term that the issue was brought to the Head teacher's attention that Daniel was often found eating too much amount of food. The behaviour included taking food of other children and eating it secretively. Therefore, the initial response of the school administration to the matter involved locking the food away with a thought that the problem was medical issue. However, some teaching staff members were concerned about Daniel being hungry and their response to the concern was that Ms. Luczak was the source of his problems. Furthermore, the quality of mother-child relationship played a major role in Daniel's problems. Daniel's loss of weight was a great concern since he appeared to be growing thin and wasting away so fast. * The Paediatric Assessment-10th February 2012 At the time of Daniel's hospital admission in early January 2011, he weighed 14.8 kg, however, when he was weighed thirteen months later by the same paediatrician. He claimed that Daniel's weight had reduced by a kilogram while the true interpretation he had lost 4kgs. The examination was contrary to the expectation of people concerned since it was expected that his weight was supposed to indicate an increase in growth and development. A precise understanding of the weight loss should have actually raised concern to the medical fraternity, especially since there was conflicting issues between excessive eating habits characterized with weight loss. Even though, Daniel's height was measured during his visit to the Paediatric but there was no records of his Body Mass Index (BMI) which would have been useful in monitoring Daniel's well-being. The appointment that Daniel had with the paediatrician was subsequently an important opportunity to address the problem faced by Daniel. * Injuries to Daniel noticed by school staff Of notable concern during Daniel's period at school, the teachers noticed injuries on him. The lack of concern and recording of the issues in the school book while they were only put in the reception class book. It was therefore apparent that the school lacked clarity about when Daniel exactly got injuries and how they could respond to them (Baginsky, 2008, p. 456). With the growing concerns by the school about his obsession to seek out food, associated with poor growth and the possible weight loss, this was surprising and of great concern since the injuries inflicted on him were not linked to these concerns (Holland et al., 2011 p. 407). Possible identified failures leading to Daniel's ...