Failure to protect: Victoria Climbie
On 25th February 2000 Victoria Climbie was taken to St Mary's Hospital, Paddington where she died from hypothermia with her movement restricted after months of abuse by her carer Marie-Therese Kauao and her partner Carl Manning. Post-mortem conducted after Victoria died showed 128 injuries on her body.
Victoria was born in the Ivory Coast and at the age of seven, her father's aunt Kauao offered to take her to France for a better education. Victoria was a substitute for another girl who Kauao had originally intended to take and this explained why the 'daughter’s' name on the French passport used to get into England was Anna. During the first few weeks in England, Kauao met a man named Manning who she then …show more content…
The officers dealing with Victoria's case were junior officers who had a lack of experience dealing with child abuse cases of such serious nature. This lead them to making the wrong decision which ended the polices criminal investigation twice. If the officers had been provided with adequate training then they would have had the confidence to question other agencies such as doctors on their diagnosis no matter how important that doctor is. It is the role of the police to look at the bigger picture taking in to account all of the victims injuries and experience of the carers to make a judgement on such a case. if the officers had proper training then less mistakes would have been and thorough checks may have been completed in Victoria's …show more content…
Children who are at the risk of serious harm and not always asked what they're going through. Instead like Victoria they are largely ignored. When an allegation of child abuse comes in, the police should speak to the victim immediately before speaking to anyone else. This would give the police clear indication that a child is suffering from abuse and are then able to place them into child protection. This would therefore not give the offender the chance to coach the victim in to lying and protect the victim from further harm. If the Childs fist language is not English then a translator will have to be present otherwise a full statement cannot be given. It is also not a good enough excuse for a child to be failed. In Victoria's case some police officers did not react in certain cases when they should have out of fear of being labelled racist and insensitive. However it is important to the police to understand that no matter what colour you are, all children have the same needs and no case should be handled differently because of this. Otherwise grave opportunities are missed to save a
On 25th February 2000 Victoria Climbie was taken to St Mary's Hospital, Paddington where she died from hypothermia with her movement restricted after months of abuse by her carer Marie-Therese Kauao and her partner Carl Manning. Post-mortem conducted after Victoria died showed 128 injuries on her body.
Victoria was born in the Ivory Coast and at the age of seven, her father's aunt Kauao offered to take her to France for a better education. Victoria was a substitute for another girl who Kauao had originally intended to take and this explained why the 'daughter’s' name on the French passport used to get into England was Anna. During the first few weeks in England, Kauao met a man named Manning who she then …show more content…
The officers dealing with Victoria's case were junior officers who had a lack of experience dealing with child abuse cases of such serious nature. This lead them to making the wrong decision which ended the polices criminal investigation twice. If the officers had been provided with adequate training then they would have had the confidence to question other agencies such as doctors on their diagnosis no matter how important that doctor is. It is the role of the police to look at the bigger picture taking in to account all of the victims injuries and experience of the carers to make a judgement on such a case. if the officers had proper training then less mistakes would have been and thorough checks may have been completed in Victoria's …show more content…
Children who are at the risk of serious harm and not always asked what they're going through. Instead like Victoria they are largely ignored. When an allegation of child abuse comes in, the police should speak to the victim immediately before speaking to anyone else. This would give the police clear indication that a child is suffering from abuse and are then able to place them into child protection. This would therefore not give the offender the chance to coach the victim in to lying and protect the victim from further harm. If the Childs fist language is not English then a translator will have to be present otherwise a full statement cannot be given. It is also not a good enough excuse for a child to be failed. In Victoria's case some police officers did not react in certain cases when they should have out of fear of being labelled racist and insensitive. However it is important to the police to understand that no matter what colour you are, all children have the same needs and no case should be handled differently because of this. Otherwise grave opportunities are missed to save a