“Our client whistle-blew the fact that the sexual abuse [of certain children in Haringey] had been ongoing for months and the new management brought in post-Climbie had not acted … We write to ask for a public inquiry into these matters.”
As the Independent reveals this morning, those words formed part of a letter that a whistleblowing Haringey social worker sent to Patricia Hewitt, then Health Secretary, some 6 months before the death of Baby P. The letter was also sent to David Lammy, then culture minister, as well as the junior health ministers Rosie Winterton and Ivan Lewis. Sadly, though, the calls for an investigation were ignored, and Haringey Council eventually gagged the whistleblower with an injunction.
As each day passes, the instiutional and administrative failings that prevailed in the tragic case of Baby P are revealed to be even deeper and more widespread than previously acknowledged. It can only be hoped that the independent inquiry into the matter both identifies the full extent of those failings, and suggests the necessary steps to ensure that they do not happen again.
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