Maggie Atkinson Englands Children's Commissioner

[Elaine Kirk]

It would seem Maggie had grave misgivings about contact point as recently as 2007 . I wonder what she would say today?

The ADCS has joined organisations warning that sensitive information may be open to child abusers.
It has told officials at the Department for Children, Schools and Families that it has "significant concerns".
These include fears that it "may allow a situation where an abuser could be able to access ContactPoint for illegitimate purposes with limited fear of any repercussions".

The group has already told ministers that it fears the system may put children at risk.
Its vice president Maggie Atkinson, director of children's services in Gateshead, said: "We recognise the need for robust data systems to ensure the safety of children and young people.
"Our concerns are that introducing ContactPoint, as described in the new regulations-will place significant responsibility on local authorities to manage a system that will involve data from many sources, with access to it by many partners."

[Elaine Kirk]

And her is the get out-

SENT ON BEHALF OF DR MAGGIE ATKINSON, PRESIDENT OF ADCS
Dear Sir,
I would like to correct the impression given in your article, “New Children’s database faces criticism” (26th Jan 2009) that the Association of Directors of Children’s Services has “serious concerns” about the security of the proposed database. The letter quoted was written in 2007, when Contactpoint was still in its developmental stage. Since then, we have been working closely with government officials to ensure that our concerns were addressed prior to yesterday’s announcement. The Association fully supports the need for ContactPoint and implementation of it in its current form.
Contactpoint has the potential to address one of the biggest challenges facing children’s services in the aftermath of the Climbie Inquiry ‐ how to get different agencies, with different professional backgrounds and ways of working, to talk to each other about the children that they are working with. In recent months we have heard much of the “lessons learned” from individual tragedies ‐ this is one of the most fundamental lessons that crops up time and time again. Contactpoint is a tool to help this happen. It will put professionals in touch with each other quickly and easily by listing all the professionals working with an individual child and the services provided. The lesson was first stated back in 2003 but we can’t say it has been truly learned until Contactpoint is up and running.
yours faithfully,
Dr Maggie Atkinson
President ‐ Association of Directors of Ch

[Sheila Struthers]

19 October 2009

Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls, has today written to the Chair of the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee, Barry Sheerman, about the appointment of the Children’s Commissioner for England.

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN...n_id=2009_0192

[Elaine Kirk]

And here we have
Curriculum Vitae: Dr Margaret Elizabeth (Maggie) Atkinson

1968-1973: Pope Pius X RC High School, Wath-on-Dearne, Rotherham, South Yorkshire

Such a small world , such a very small world.(not my school though , same time same place different schools)

[Sheila Struthers]

2008: Appointed national chair of the multi-agency steering and reference board for the new Centre for Excellence in Outcomes (C4EO)

http://www.c4eo.org.uk/news/files/faqs.pdf

How does C4EO operate?
C4EO’s central team is based at NCB. Legal responsibility for C4EO is held by NCB, a registered charity, which is accountable to the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).

[Elaine Kirk]

Maggie Atkinson used Khyra Ishaq as an example of why Home Education should be subject to the Badman reccomendations.
Maggie Atkinson misled the Select Committee

Between Khyra being removed from school in December and being de-registered in March
"Social Services visited two or three times,
the Child Protection Agency once
and police made a health and welfare check.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-sto...5875-20674331/

The school had warned the social services that she was at risk
''The seven-year-old's deputy head contacted them four times in 24 hours when Khyra was pulled out of class by mum Angela Gordon. But social workers apparently told the teacher the case did not need further assessment.''
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-sto...5875-21453157/

[Ali P]

Lots of interesting background, including Maggie's scintillating CV, here (page 11).

I think Clare has the transcript of the actual SC hearing (which was not recorded due to a technical hitch, allegedly). I'll ask her if it's OK to post here as it is, er, telling.

[Ali P]

Here is the Maggie Atkinson "interview" transcript (starts page 4, home ed refs on page 10).

UPDATE: This link goes straight to the witness transcript.

[Elaine Kirk]

Methinks Maggie has a case of the '' I cannot think for myself ., please program me with whatever you feel is the appropriate spouting for the occassion and set me to auto play''
I wonder how she would explain saying this-

LEADING ARTS WORLD AND EDUCATION FIGURES BACK A NEW APPROACH TO CULTURE AND LEARNING
At a keynote event on the occasion of the official publication of the report, Get It: The Power of Cultural Learning at the RSA in London this evening (Monday 27 April 2009), leading figures in the world of arts and education called on central government, local and regional authorities, schools and cultural organisations to take up new approach to Culture and Learning.

Dr Maggie Atkinson, Immediate Past President, Association of Directors of Children’s Services, and Director of Children’s Services for Gateshead, who gave the keynote address, said: “It’s as vital to their existence as air, food or water that children, young people and communities engage in cultural and creative learning. …We must be willing to get closer, to start where the people are. I’m talking about the families who either don’t know, or don’t actually care, where your or my theatre or concert hall or gallery or museum might be, and who would not know how to get in, literally or metaphorically, or engage with it, if they did…. Culture must take its place at the heart of learning, at every age and stage.”

Or maybe she has forgotten, like she has forgotten what her job was at Birmingham-

[Elaine Kirk]

Here we are Maggie some more reading material you obviously need educating This is about the Doctor the school brought in because of their concerns over one of Khyra's brothers . Note that the children were at SCHOOL and the school did raise concerns but the agencies who could have stepped in FAILED to do so.

A Birmingham mother accused of starving her seven-year-old daughter to death refused to take another child in her care to a dietician despite medical advice to do so, a court has heard.

Jurors at Birmingham Crown Court were told that Angela Gordon - charged alongside her partner Junaid Abuhamza with the murder of Khyra Ishaq - banned staff at the child's school from feeding him snacks when he was hungry.

Dr Suraj Ahmed said teachers grew concerned about the seven-year-old boy after he stole food from the plates of his classmates.

The doctor, an assistant specialist in community paediatrics, said: "The school was a little bit concerned because he always appeared to be hungry."

He added: "He was searching cupboards looking for food as soon as he got into school.

"At lunchtime he would grab food from the other children's plates and eat it and that was a cause for concern for the school staff."

Weighing 22kg, the boy was below the average weight for his age.

Dr Ahmed said: "I pointed this out to (Gordon) and said that he appeared not to be getting enough calories. I suggested that he might benefit from seeing a dietician but she was not keen on that. She was against it.

"She felt he was getting an adequate amount of calories at home and she didn't want the school to give him any snacks without her permission."

Gordon, 34, and 30-year-old Abuhamza, both of Leyton Road, Handsworth, deny murder.

Abuhamza has pleaded guilty to cruelty charges relating to five children in his care and control.

Gordon denies the charges of child cruelty, which are alleged to have been committed between December 2007 and May 17 2008.