I really don't see how they won't be found guilty very quickly. It seems almost pointless having this trial and making the jury and Preston's loved ones have to sit through this. That poor, sweet angel. His Foster Mum must be absolutely devastated.
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I can’t believe that they started the introduction on Thursday 30th March and he was handed over on Monday 3rd April I mean wtf
Dare I say it, but I suspect it was rushed through to look diverse. I know two couples going through the process and it's been years and they would make the most wonderful parents.
Real mum is a drug addict, father unknown. Real mother has had visitation with Preston when he was with the foster parents. The adoptive parents sent her videos, so she was involved right up to his death.
I don't think so. Heterosexual and homosexual couples are subject to the same assessment process. Discrimination- positive or negative is not allowed under equality law.
It's terrible. Just terrible.Taking the physical and sexual abuse out of it they were totally unsuitable to parent poor little Preston. Preston couldn’t sleep long due to his acid reflux, it must have been agony for him every time he was laid down, no bloody wonder he hardly slept and screamed a lot. You can’t leave someone with acid reflux laying down. the foster parents lovingly picked him up and soothed him, exactly what he needed to relieve the burning. The men never gave him a loving and caring home, my heart bleeds for him, and I can’t bear to think about the physical abuse, the emotional abuse is traumatic enough. RIP little man, you deserved so much more
This is what ticking boxes and fulfilling "equality and diversity" quotas does - it places totally unsuitable people in positions where they can accidentally or intently - do harm, and ill-intentioned and incompetent people will gravitate towards it like moths to a flame., demanding their "rights", and the vulnerable and voiceless suffer - but somewhere an organisation can tick a box and bask in the glow of virtue.
Yet another baby has died in pain and terror, alone and helpless. Another social work department will doubtless claim that "lessons will be learned".
We all know that they won't, and that more children will suffer.
I know social workers are overworked - it is in so many ways a thankless task of drudgery - but so many babies and children suffer and die because the social workers are either frightened of the carers (in rough violent families of every class), or are blinded by the glamour of middle-class comfort/ professionalism or ticking a gay/ trans box and so ignore or miss signs that a blind man on a galloping horse at midnight would see clearly.
Bugger this for a system!
I just can't get my head round how something like this escalates from them taking the baby home, becoming frustrated, to then going out of their way to hurting him. And the SA side - surely they must have looked at material like that before becoming parents, so why did they want to become parents at all (the obvious answer being the most horrifying, that this was a deliberate plan).
As an aside does anyone else think the social media trend of complaining about kids and taking and sharing pictures of everything could normalise some abusive behaviours? A school friend of mine once put a photo online of her baby in a state of "poonami" if that wasnt bad enough baby was holding a sign that said something like "I've done a massive tit" i was honestly disgusted by it, who leaves their baby like that to go and make a sign and then post it all online? It's treating children like they are not real people. Babies and children should be respected and their comfort and safety comes first always.
As an aside does anyone else think the social media trend of complaining about kids and taking and sharing pictures of everything could normalise some abusive behaviours? A school friend of mine once put a photo online of her baby in a state of "poonami" if that wasnt bad enough baby was holding a sign that said something like "I've done a massive tit" i was honestly disgusted by it, who leaves their baby like that to go and make a sign and then post it all online? It's treating children like they are not real people. Babies and children should be respected and their comfort and safety comes first always.
I have 2 female friends who are married and have adopted children. Their youngest has been in their care since she was 10 months old. 3 months after her third birthday, it went to court and they formally adopted her.
They hadn't officially adopted him right? I'm not sure how it works but was it more about seeing if it was the right fit?
It does look very rushed from the outside looking in
It does look very rushed from the outside looking in
They were clearly completely unprepared for how much hard work goes into bringing up a baby. Poor little Preston had a really rough start, with a drug addicted mother and being removed at a few days old. He had a milk allergy, severe reflux and a broken sleep pattern. He was loved and cared for in his foster home for ten months, the whole of his life so far. Surely any prospective adopters would have expected him to be very unsettled when he was moved again?
But the actions of this couple went way, way beyond frustration at a lack of sleep, or inexperience of caring for a baby. They became cruel and abusive so quickly that I believe they preplanned their stomach churning treatment of Preston. They were middle class professionals who knew how to talk the talk and present themselves in a favourable light. Yet clearly they were really two monsters who enjoyed hurting a vulnerable baby
But the actions of this couple went way, way beyond frustration at a lack of sleep, or inexperience of caring for a baby. They became cruel and abusive so quickly that I believe they preplanned their stomach churning treatment of Preston. They were middle class professionals who knew how to talk the talk and present themselves in a favourable light. Yet clearly they were really two monsters who enjoyed hurting a vulnerable baby
Children are placed with their potential adopters once they’re matched but it takes several months minimum for the court to grant the adoption order. Poor Preston didn’t live long enough for that to happen.They hadn't officially adopted him right? I'm not sure how it works but was it more about seeing if it was the right fit?
It does look very rushed from the outside looking in
This came to my mind too. The texts calling him abusive names and describing normal baby behaviour - let alone a a poor traumatised baby - as manipulative, spoilt etc - people have normalised this so much to the extent of finding it funny
it breaks my heart. It seems to be a feature in a lot of child abuse cases. That people think it's okay to talk about and to children this way and to film them mocking them. The sleep deprivation stuff really upsets me, it's so heartless. I remember the description of I think Star Hobbs falling asleep in her dinner and being mocked, in a nasty way. How is that ok? What happens to a person that they don't see that happening, or immediately pick the child up, give them a huge hug and take them to bed or get them somewhere comfy? The bit about his sister being a sleep trainer is a massive red flag to me too. I am completely against sleep training but understand it is peoples' choice. But it should never be a choice for a traumatised baby moving from foster mother to adopters? Particularly a baby who it is known does not sleep well, and has health issues CAUSING poor sleep, like reflux. I am hating on his sister too right now. Sleep training normalises describing babies crying as 'manipulative', spoilt etc, and teaches carers to detach from, ignore or at worst get angry at the poor baby's only way of communicating with the world
bear in mind my 5 year old still doesnt STTN and my 1 year old wakes probably 4 or 5 times so I do get sleep deprivation as a parent!I have an 19m old son and I can't get this horrendous case out of my mind. The details are absolutely galling. I can't get my mind off the description of the poor baby helplessly sliding around in a bath for 14 minutes while the accused said nothing to him
I keep having to look at photos of my own children, to reassure myself how happy we are, what childhood should be, and that they will never ever god willing encounter anything even a tiny percentage as evil or upsetting as this I also can't get my mind off the foster carer. My heart is absolutely breaking for her I honestly think experiencing something like this would kill me off inside. I help to run a playgroup and have got to know a couple of foster carers of babies and I know how much it breaks their hearts when the children leave them, especially if they know they are not off to the best setting (for example, a recent one where the baby was going back to their birth family which is obviously usually the best outcome, but in this case the family was 'good enough' but you know they are not really in the best place long term
I honestly think experiencing something like this would kill me off inside. I help to run a playgroup and have got to know a couple of foster carers of babies and I know how much it breaks their hearts when the children leave them, especially if they know they are not off to the best setting (for example, a recent one where the baby was going back to their birth family which is obviously usually the best outcome, but in this case the family was 'good enough' but you know they are not really in the best place long term 
I guarantee that adoption teams up and down the country are constantly told that they aren’t working hard enough to encourage potential adopters from diverse backgrounds. Which begs the question, are gay and BAME couples fast tracked through the system to tick some diversity boxes?
It should never be about not being heterosexual or not being white, it should be about who are the best, most informed, most secure people.
Seems to be a common thread in these stories of child murder that the “parents” (using scare quotes deliberately) were completely and utterly unprepared for the reality of caring for a distressed and traumatised infant who was a stranger to them. The fact we’ve had several cases like this over the last decade suggests that something has changed over the years. Easy to assume that the process of being approved is less vigorous, and babies are being inadequately safeguarded after placement.
Perhaps the timings of adoptions/placements vary by trust, I don’t know, because I know if someone who works in the social care system herself and the hoops she’s been jumping through to get a child placed with her are endless. Child-proofing her house to a very strict standard for example. (Not saying I disagree with this but it’s another level to what you’d probably do if you were expecting a baby) It’s taken the best part of a year so far. She has to spend a lot of time with the foster carers too to make sure everyone thinks things are a good fit.
Varley was the safeguarding lead at his school. Jesus christ 
Sleep training normalises describing babies crying as 'manipulative', spoilt etc, and teaches carers to detach from, ignore or at worst get angry at the poor baby's only way of communicating with the worldThis came to my mind too. The texts calling him abusive names and describing normal baby behaviour - let alone a a poor traumatised baby - as manipulative, spoilt etc - people have normalised this so much to the extent of finding it funny
The bit about his sister being a sleep trainer is a massive red flag to me too. I am completely against sleep training but understand it is peoples' choice. But it should never be a choice for a traumatised baby moving from foster mother to adopters? Particularly a baby who it is known does not sleep well, and has health issues CAUSING poor sleep, like reflux. I am hating on his sister too right now. Sleep training normalises describing babies crying as 'manipulative', spoilt etc, and teaches carers to detach from, ignore or at worst get angry at the poor baby's only way of communicating with the world
I have an 19m old son and I can't get this horrendous case out of my mind. The details are absolutely galling. I can't get my mind off the description of the poor baby helplessly sliding around in a bath for 14 minutes while the accused said nothing to him
Absolutely! Babies can't say that they are hungry, wet, frightened, in pain - so they cry. It's their only means of communication. And Nature wants it to be heard - that's why a crying baby is so hard to ignore, and when we try we get upset or angry - that cry is designed to hit every nerve in our body , so that we have to respond! A caring person responds by comforting the baby and reassuring them, and checking what might be the problem - nappy, milk etc., but these two seem to have left poor little Preston - frightened, in pain, suffering Preston - to have sobbed his little heart out. They didn't even let him have a few hours sleep (a blessed release from pain) and intentionally abused and tortured him with sleep deprivation - an interrogation method banned under the Geneva Convention.
My first child was a colicky baby - he cried and cried, barely slept (and nor did I - to the extent that I actually started to hallucinate for lack of sleep!). I know how hard it can be, when nothing you do seems to relieve your baby's distress - I've been in a state when I could feel the frustration building to horrible levels inside me - and I put him down in his cot, left the room for 5-10 minutes until I was calmer, and then went back in to start again comforting him. It isn't easy for any of us, but we do it. Loving mothers do it. Loving fathers do it. It's part of being a parent.
I just can't get my head around hurting a baby, I'm not a maternal person but we know we're bigger and stronger and the baby isn't being difficult or moody on purpose.
This case has really got to me.
This case has really got to me.
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