Maggie Atkinson Englands Children's Commissioner

[Ali P]

Originally Posted by Elaine Kirk

Yeah well it looked like somebody jumped to conclusions from an F.O.I if I had known it was a dcsf foi response I would have held fire.
Ah well my birthday s not till tomoro can we delete my post

Deleted it as requested, Elaine. It's so important to get the facts right and not jump to conclusions, no matter how useful they may appear to be.

[Elaine Kirk]

Thanks Ali ,and Tech who stalled my charge x

[Elaine Kirk]

The latest relevant info from the trial

Sanya Scott, an education social worker, employed by Birmingham City Council, said following concerns from a local school she and another social worker had visited the defendants’ home on February 21 2008.

She said they were there for about half an hour but remained outside because Gordon would not let them in.

“We told her we had come to see the children and it was important to see them,” she said. Ms Scott said they remained on the doorstep and that she asked Gordon why she had stopped the children in her care from going to school.

“She told me she did not feel they were making as much progress as they should be and how she could do a better job teaching them at home.”

Ms Scott said that two girls and a boy, including Khyra, were brought to the doorstep for about ten minutes.

“They appeared to be well kept but a bit shy. I had no concerns about their health and well-being at that time,” she said.

The social worker said that at one point Abuhamza also came to the door.

“He was there for a short time. He asked what was going on but did not say who he was so I went back to talking to Gordon.”

[Elaine Kirk]

That anybody should have tried to falsely blame this on Home Ed as Maggie (two words) Atkinson did ..........

Mr Abuhamza admitted five child cruelty charges and told the court he beat Khyra with a cane, made her stand outside in the cold and threw cold water over her.

He told the court how in 1984 aged five he had watched his father beat his four-year-old sister Rachel to death for not flushing the toilet.
The defendant said he was about eight or nine years old when his father was released from prison after serving a sentence for manslaughter.

[Elaine Kirk]

copied over from the media thread

The truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth

Birmingham MP Liam Byrne said the city council would remain on notice with the government over its troubled social services department, which was branded “unfit for purpose” in a review published in October after death of Handsworth schoolgirl Khyra Ishaq

[Elaine Kirk]

copied over from Best of the Blogs
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Excellent blog post from pendlewitch

FREEDOM IN EDUCATION

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Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, OUT! OUT! OUT!

I’ll admit that politics hasn’t been top of my agenda since the change of government, but I couldn’t let the review of the Children’s Commissioner pass by without comment.

It was to be hoped that, this time, the cries of “Maggie, Maggie, Maggie. Out. Out. Out.” would be heeded by a Tory government, but alas, with the political situation being what it is, we shall have to wait and see whether the coalition will have the balls to give Maggie the boot when the *independent* review presents its findings in November. In the mean time a little recap, along with a catch up, is in order I think...continued

[Diane]

You might want to look at my blog entry too - Children's Commissioners... The comment is interesting...

Diane
http://www.threedegreesoffreedom.blogspot.com

[llondel]

I've been trying to sort out a good response to the review of the child-catcher post. It seems to me that there are two aspects - one is whether the post should exist and if so, what is its remit. The other is whether the current incumbent should be in the post.