Savanna Brockhill & Frankie Smith #10

[aliyah_ess]

I guess that’s it then. We’re at the end of it and now it’s for the jury to decide.
This has literally been the most horrible thing I’ve ever read in my life and still I have no idea why I kept going back every day insisting to know the details.
ZA is right though isn’t he. We will all get over it, move on with life. And that’s the saddest thing about all of this.
They will get their sentences. Do their time. Come out and move on with life just as we are now.
But not Star. She won’t ever get that chance.
Star will be mentioned here and there when other cases come up, when children who probably haven’t even been conceived yet face the same fate and go through the same suffering and lose their lives.
Nothing will change. Star won’t get her justice just like no other child before her has.
This world is horrible and this evil is all around us.
Boris making a show because people are outraged about Arthur but he too will be forgotten and just another statistic eventually. When will it end? Will it ever end?

I just want to hold mine a little tighter, raise them better. Make sure I raise them into good decent people because let’s face it, there’s literally nothing else we can do, is their really?

 

[Kinney]

I will probably absolutely regret saying this and I don’t want this to turn political but I'm a bit cynical of any politician trying to jump on these tragedies when they are so high profile as a way to try to boost their popularity and also distract from the million things that they want us to be distracted from right now.

 

[LittleMy]

If you can’t say anything why even bother bringing it up?

Biiiiig pinch of salt, folks.

 

[bluecups]

Oh and can we please all acknowledge @elikayute 's contributions to this thread. She has been our voice of reason, law expert and all round deliverer of common sense and logic. MVP on this thread, hands down. Thank you.

 

[aliyah_ess]

Boris is trying to make sure child killers never leave prison, just seen it on some Facebook page. If he does this I will maybe love him a little. Because it should have been done years ago but everyone was always going human rights. Hopefully Bojo says fuck their human rights.

https://metro.co.uk/2021/12/07/bori...d-see-child-murderers-die-in-prison-15728156/ here it is

I think at this point he’s just talking shit.
Nothing will make me like him.
He’s taken away so much from our kids. Why is he not putting money into schools, social services, children’s centres etc? Because that would save lives and improve the quality of live for millions of children and families.

 

[Stiltoncheese]

Mrs Justice Lambert intervenes to tell Savannah Brockhill to stop making gestures while Mr Ali gives his speech.

Finally starting to feel the pressure are we SB - ha!

 

[Kinney]

There we go again with “she kept her on newborn milk until 8 months and it was her mother who changed her to the CORRECT milk”.
Again, for the people at the back: Stage 1 milk is suitable for babies up to 12 months. Stage 2 milk is heavily promoted because it’s exempt from the marketing/special offer conditions that Stage 1 milk is under.

It’s not child abuse or cruelty or a sign of bad parenting to have your child on stage 1 milk.

Sincerely,
A mum who has had to explain this a million times.

 

[marypoppins21]

Dave Jagger’s reporting of this trial live, as it happens , has been extraordinary. He’s seen / heard things we haven’t had access to. I would love to send him a bottle of something or some sweet treats whatever his preference to T&A headquarters as he’s sat there day in day out to make this case public & relay the info. Poor guy must be drained. Hats off DJ you deserve a few weeks away!

 

[Clairer86]

I just read something that said the average social worker has a caseload of 37 when the recommended number is 18. No wonder cases like this and Star’s happen.
It boggles my mind that what is fought for is longer sentences and not more investment for prevention.

When i was a newly qualified social worker my case load was 24 and it only increased. I have known other workers to have approx 50+ children/families. It is absolutely awful, and 'social work' is nothing like it used to be. I remember being able to be really hands on, i used to take families shopping, i even helped clean their houses with them. Now everything is micromanaged by management (they are ultimately the people who make the decisions), the paperwork is insane, the IT system is not fit for purpose (Liquid Logic is bloody awful to use). Also bullying is a massive issue. A colleague of mine actually committed suicide due to bullying, and how she was treated by management (she did have a caseload of approx 50 and although she was very very experienced, she simply couldnt cope with the sheer numbers which is understandable and she became very poorly, and management took the piss out of her, did nothing to help her, and they simply added on more pressure).
There is so much that goes on that people who dont work in that environment wouldnt know about. Both good things and bad things.
EDIT TO ADD* I am out of social work now, i too became sick and decided to hand my notice in. and it was the best decision i ever made, and i would never go back to work in Children's services if you paid me £1 million.

 

[AdelesEarring]

I honestly mean this in the nicest possible way, when stating you know inside info then go on to say that you can’t reveal it, it’s going get people intrigued and asking questions.

Of course you can’t reveal anything that could harm and interfere with the case. But maybe wait until after the sentencing or when the media/whoever tumbles it all out before you post saying you know info?

In the rules section of this forum, there is a request to ‘either say something or don’t say it’. And not to suggest that you have information that you can’t disclose here.

 

[Kinney]

Kourtney Kardashian has a team of nannies and the type of support that us mere mortals can only dream of.

 

[Lucyxxxx]

View attachment 910481Long time reader of this thread.Saw this today, another sad case very similar sounding to this and Arthur’s.

Nearly always a "new partner". When are people going to stop putting their children around all and sundry? I have banged on about this for years, I've had to point out to people that the brand new bf of 3 days being "really good" with their little baby is extremely alarming - I was branded 'jealous'.

 

[dollycurz]

It’s painful how close FS came to putting an end to this… and then began communicating with her again.
She is not a murderer but she is a stupid stupid girl!

 

[Kinney]

Is anyone else dreading the influx of new posters when the outcome of the trial makes national news?
I feel like we’re in a little bubble here where (apart from the occasional troll) we can have a reasonable discussion and share views without jumping on each other. I’m dreading a larger crowd with their pitchforks finding us

 

[Clairer86]

I really feel for social workers, they often get the blame unfairly when it's the system, the huge caseloads, the constant cuts in funding, poor management, shortage of staff etc. It's an amazing profession made almost impossible. This is what should be invested in.

You know, although i have read all the posts on here i have not posted due to my own anxiety. As i know exactly how some people view social workers, i mean i probably would too if i had never experienced it.

I think the whole system needs an overhaul, starting with the training and degree's. I was lucky because i did my MA in social work from Lancaster University (which at the time was the best in the country), i am sure it is still up there now as one of the best, along with Warwick university. Anyway, the modules we studied are different to other uni's! And as good as Lancaster is, just down the road is UCLAN and their social work degree's are shit!! And sadly, it was often obvious when students were on placements with us that we had a good idea of where they studied based on their practice. I think the curriculam should be exactly the same across the board. Its madness to me that at my uni we did an entire module on Drugs/substance misuse when other uni's dont teach anything like that! I also think it should bring back the age policy where you have to be 25 to study and become a social worker. I have seen far too many 21 year olds straight out of uni having done their BA degree with no experience other than the placements they were put on while studying. I would even go further and argue it should only be a MA in social work you can do to obtain the qualification and HCPC registration. I honestly believe changes need to made from the very beginning (studying to become a social worker).
I personally had a really shit start in life, i almost died, suffered massive trauma, neglect, emotional harm. But i was lucky in the fact i was quite intelligent and went to uni, so i feel i had a mix of intelligence and life experience which is vital for any social worker. Not that im saying in order to be a good social worker you need to have suffered the way i did, but it really did help me- with my empathy, emotional intelligence, resilience, build positive working relationships and so on.
It is sad that the profession i once loved and was so passionate about is now something i would discourage anyone from joining. Dont get me wrong, during my many years i know i made things better for some children and i did save children from harm. And i loved working with children and their families, but i hated being tied to the office having to fill out unnecessary paperwork because that was taking my time away from doing direct work with children. We had a lot of agency staff as well, which is not good for consistency, and quite often they used to just leave- meaning a lot of their cases went into drift. But we relied on agency staff otherwise we would not have had any and i dread to think what the caseload numbers would be like then!
I had a really bad experience with managers, so i am probably biased and projecting my own experience when i talk about that; and im sure there are many amazing managers, but our management team were bullies, not supportive, and more concerned with targets than meaningful work. It was not a nice working environment at all, and the lack of supervision we had was astonishing.
It is sad that i have left because i went into the profession wanting to make a difference, full of passion and hope. and i left an anxious bloody mess, and i have now been diagnosed with my own mental health issues. I had to leave for the sake of my own children, my relationship, and for myself. I have absolutely no idea what i want to do now, but i am enjoying being at home with my children, actually being present and doing normal things with them.
Sorry for waffling, i could talk for hours about this

 

[Kinney]

Being dragged around and accused of attention seeking for struggling to walk on a broken leg. Being told to face a wall and punished for not wanting to eat with a severely damaged mouth.
Being made to stay awake all day as a punishment for not being able to sleep at night with broken ribs.

This is gut wrenching. What that poor baby went through is beyond horrific.

 

[elikayute]

I’ll say again, it’s more than black and white. Believing she’s not guilty of the charges does not mean I believe she’s innocent. It means the prosecution have failed to convince me beyond reasonable doubt of her guilt.
Feeling empathy and sympathy for her is possible alongside feeling appalled that she would treat her precious baby as she did.
Her own defence aren’t making her out to be a good mother. I haven’t seen anyone on here say she’s a good mother. She has admitted criminal levels of cruelty.

 

[avabella]

I am amused by the comments about Facebook groups. Tattle is no better, even worse than those groups in a lot of the sections on here.

Not on this thread though. We've managed 10 threads, probably 90% of which have been carried out in a respectful manner. For the most part it's been a relatively pleasant place to discuss a really gruelling trial.

 

[elikayute]

Thank you @bluecups
It’s been good to have a place to have intelligent discussion and I have valued lots of contributions, even those I don’t agree with. I really hope SB is found guilty of murder. It would be unthinkable for her not to be.

 

[Kinney]

If I was accused of something and was on trial and I was in full view of the group of men and women who were going to decide if I was innocent or guilty, I would make sure I was on my best behaviour at all times.
But then I’m not a narcissistic, cruel dickhead with a god complex.