Child Protection- Every Child Matters
“Her death has become one of those major modern occasions where there seems to have been a collective sense of empathy for a stranger’s fate. She has become an embodiment of the betrayal, vulnerability and public abandonment of children.
The inquiry must mark the end of child protection policy built on a hopeless process of child care tragedy, scandal, inquiry, findings, brief media interest and ad hoc political response”.1
Upon investigating the serious nature of this case and it’s deeply distressing facts it became apparent that Victoria’s ‘high media’ profiled incident exposed a clear lack of precision and communication between all professionals and agencies involved. The anguish and eventual murder of Victoria in 2000 from hypothermia, caused by malnourishment and damp conditions, provoked ‘the most extensive investigation into the child protection system in British history.’ 2 Throughout this essay, the health, safety and welfare policy and practice that came about after the Victoria Climbie case will be briefly reviewed and evaluated.
On the evening of 24th February 2000, Victoria Adjo Climbié who had been born near Abidjan in the Ivory Coast just over eight years earlier - was admitted to the North Middlesex Hospital in London. Many independent statutory reports described how Victoria was desperately ill: “she was severely bruised, physically deformed by repeated beatings, malnourished, and her core body temperature was so low it could not be recorded on the hospital's standard thermometer”3 Despite extensive efforts by Dr Lesley Alsford and other medical professionals, Victoria’s condition continued to deteriorate. Victoria Climbié died in the intensive care unit of St Mary’s Hospital Paddington on 25 February 2000, aged 8 years and 3 months. Her death was caused by multiple injuries arising from months of ill-treatment and abuse by her great-aunt, Marie-Therese Kouao and her great-aunt’s partner, Carl John Manning.
Following their conviction
The inquiry must mark the end of child protection policy built on a hopeless process of child care tragedy, scandal, inquiry, findings, brief media interest and ad hoc political response”.1
Upon investigating the serious nature of this case and it’s deeply distressing facts it became apparent that Victoria’s ‘high media’ profiled incident exposed a clear lack of precision and communication between all professionals and agencies involved. The anguish and eventual murder of Victoria in 2000 from hypothermia, caused by malnourishment and damp conditions, provoked ‘the most extensive investigation into the child protection system in British history.’ 2 Throughout this essay, the health, safety and welfare policy and practice that came about after the Victoria Climbie case will be briefly reviewed and evaluated.
On the evening of 24th February 2000, Victoria Adjo Climbié who had been born near Abidjan in the Ivory Coast just over eight years earlier - was admitted to the North Middlesex Hospital in London. Many independent statutory reports described how Victoria was desperately ill: “she was severely bruised, physically deformed by repeated beatings, malnourished, and her core body temperature was so low it could not be recorded on the hospital's standard thermometer”3 Despite extensive efforts by Dr Lesley Alsford and other medical professionals, Victoria’s condition continued to deteriorate. Victoria Climbié died in the intensive care unit of St Mary’s Hospital Paddington on 25 February 2000, aged 8 years and 3 months. Her death was caused by multiple injuries arising from months of ill-treatment and abuse by her great-aunt, Marie-Therese Kouao and her great-aunt’s partner, Carl John Manning.
Following their conviction