Sharon Shoesmith, former director of children's services at Haringey Council, has spoken out for the first time to denounce the way she was demonised in the media following the death of Baby Peter.
Speaking at a Westminster Education Forum seminar on child protection, she told delegates that protecting children is "probably the most difficult job of all".
"What happened to Peter Connelly was absolutely devastating," she said. "I can tell you that there was never any question about me not feeling sorry or distressed about what happened to that little boy."
She claimed the media allegations, which suggested that she was not remorseful about his death, were "a very callous twist in the story". "I was abused across the world," she said.
She called on government to overhaul public accountability so that in future agencies share proper responsibility for mistakes.
"What we know about public accountability is that when things go wrong, agencies run for cover," she explained. "That is the grubby reality that you must face up to. They run for cover, not because they want to blame each other, but because of what might be coming at them. It’s an uncomfortable truth but one we must face up to."
Shoesmith added that government plans to publish serious case reviews could make matters worse.
"The publication of serious case reviews might make them [agencies] run even faster, we don’t know yet," she said. "Or it might simply make them obscure the real story from their particular perspective. Some agencies, as you all know, have more protection than others. Social workers find themselves at the bottom of everyone’s heap and that is a fact."
Since the death of Baby Peter became public, children’s social care departments have seen a big rise in referrals, dubbed by the press as "the Baby P effect".
Shoesmith said she hopes the use of such language stops.
"For me, it wasn’t the Baby P effect. For me, it was the impact of the reaction of politicians and other senior leaders," she claimed. "We still have the same rate of child homicide at the hands of parents that has been with us for nearly 30 years."
On the new coalition government’s approach to social care, Shoesmith said she hoped that planned reforms would be successful.
But she added: "There is a phrase that is increasingly being used when talking about children’s social care. That is ‘we’re all in this together’. I haven’t felt that for a very long time. I think it’s time to stop saying it and start acting like we mean it."
I'm not sure baout the gender debate - maybe we do expect more from a woman in charge of social services by way of 'mothering'.
I think her comments about the media are completely justified. The way Jack Straw jumped in because of the media was awful.
Her resignation would have been the right thing to have offered - but it's not up to the media to start a witch hunt, nor politicians to use someones career as a way to get votes.
This is not about 'gender' or the roles of either it's about a child, and other children who have been and continue to be abused and murdered by those who love them and failed by a system that is meant to protect them.
Sharon was in a senior position with responsibility for child protection and Peter was not protected despite the very many opportunities presented to the system to offer such protection.
Those professionals involved in the case, whether they choose to accept it or not, are responsible, not for the abuse, but for failing to prevent the abuse and eventual murder of Peter.
Sharon should have resigned and should not be now using the case as a platform from which to make her own case and further develop her own career.
Sharon failed as the director of children's services and should be brave enough to accept that.
Helen- i feel your comments are unhelpful. Why you feel it is necessary to point out what she was wearing/carrying is unreasonable. would a man in the same position receive such scrutiny? i think not.
your comments about being "hard as nails alpha female" are bizarre? If a woman is strong and in a postion of power and influence does this make her "hard as nails" . would a man receive the same scrutiny?
and as for you asking her to act in a mild mannered motherly way?
i didnt read the rest of your comment i was too shocked by your first paragraph.
if you feel that sharon deserves such public scrutiny then go ahead but please keep her gender out of it. no wonder women find it so difficult to be in such senior roles
Sahron, Sharon, Sharon, did you not see you response to the media question ' will you resign' I think it was your sheer arrogance that caught the media attention and the public outcry, as you strutted along the street with your mobile phone in one hand and your designer handbag on the other presenting yourself as 'hard as nails alpha female'. Maybe if you had responsed in a mild mannered motherly way, you might just have escaped with your career in tact.
Other Directors of Children's Services have learned the lesson, to say sorry, however that won't stop children being murdered at the hands of those who are supposed to love and protect them they system and attitude needs to change.
We need to radically overhaul the current care system, we need to honour all children and we need to develop a society that puts children at the centre, keeping them safe and that ensures that those that have abused them are locked away for the rest of thier lives.
The system needs to be adequatley funded with a scrutiny arm made up of both public and private sector organisations that ensures value for money and values the work of those indivduals who work with some of the most vulnerable children and thier families. Social workers do the best they can within the confines of the system and should not be held up as whipping posts for the failures in the system and the leadership of the organisation.
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