As a director of children’s services, you tend to keep a weather eye on what is going on around you, particularly when it comes to child protection. You might pick up on the grapevine that a colleague or service in another authority has hit a bad spot: this could be a high staff turnover, coupled with a massive influx of agency staff which poses serious threats to children’s stability; or, worse still, a child seriously harmed or killed – something that has happened all too often. At that point, you would ring and ask if any help would be useful.
The events of autumn 2008 were something altogether different. It was a story of the tragic death of an infant known to local children’s services. Every DCS in the country was suddenly on alert. While more than a 100 children a year died at the hands of family or carers, this would become unlike anything else. The death of Peter Connelly would grab and dominate headlines for months to come.
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