The other side of the story

We didn't know him, yet over the past couple of days he became "our" child.  And now we mourn. 

When little Mikaeel Kular was reported missing from his home in Edinburgh a couple of days ago, he immediately went from being just an ordinary three year old child to being the centre of attention in all our lives.  The little boy had been put to bed by his mother on Wednesday evening, and the next morning he was gone, seemingly having disappeared overnight.  Fuelled by non-stop news coverage, he was the main topic of conversation.  Where could he be? How could he have got out of the family flat on his own?  Who could have taken him when there was no evidence of forced entry?  We all hoped and prayed for his safety, but this morning the country woke to the devastating news that Mikaeel's body has been found in Fife, the home of a relative is being searched, and that his mother has been detained.  That's all we know just now. 

I can't find the words right now to describe how angry, hurt and horrified I feel about this.  But plenty of others can, because Twitter court is in session.  We don't know the full story as yet, but one thing is for sure:  Twitter court is already passing sentence and is ruling that it's all social work's fault. 

Yes, yet again a child dies and the social services are to blame.  Just sit back now and watch the media outcry, as the usual indignant suspects take to their laptops.  They will say that Mikaeel died because social work was not doing its job. 

They will not say that social services budgets have been cut to ribbons, a caring profession brutally undermined by the most uncaring government since the Thatcher regime.......as inexperienced social workers with unacceptably high caseloads, face burnout almost from the minute they're qualified.  Social work staff are doing the best that they can do, with the minimum of resources, to help families exist and survive amid a timebomb of mental health issues, drug and alcohol misuse and real poverty - the DWP's got to meet its benefit sanctions target, remember - and in these sick and sad times, it's harder than ever to improve the quality of people's lives when they are being eroded by the day.

Never mind that the high profile murders of children in recent years were, in many cases, an act of unforgivable evil by a parent, a relative, or a mother's partner who was not the child's natural father.  All services involved with children, not just social work, have a role to monitor children but they can't do this 24/7.  Short of having someone live-in with every family 'known to social work', or CCTV cameras in every home, this is an impossible task. 

There will of course, be an inquiry.  But the strange thing is that at the time of every inquiry into why a child was murdered, we don't hear the government of the day stepping in to increase the funding for social services, for increased free nursery provision, for mental health support/counselling, for services to empower women, for better education, for valuable services such as the Citizens' Advice Bureau or Women's Aid.  We don't hear anyone banning those hideous payday loan providers or those high street shops which will sell anyone a sofa or a large-screen TV as long as they're willing to pay it back at 50% interest.  We don't hear anyone taking steps to reform the buy-to-let housing market which has led to people living in unacceptable housing conditions whilst the landlords make big money - the sections of the media which demonise people on housing benefit always forget to mention that this goes to those landlords.  And we don't hear anyone attempting to improve the quality of vulnerable people's lives.  Who would have thought in this day and age that we would need food banks?

None of this, of course, may have had anything to do with Mikaeel's death.  It was, as I said earlier, an act of unforgivable evil.  Yet in such a dark time there was one positive factor - the way the local community in Edinburgh came together to search for him, in the hope that he would be found.  In a time when 'community spirit' is a thing of the past - how many of you even know your next-door neighbour's name? - it was inspiring the way everyone came together.  It's just a shame that it had to be in such dark circumstances. 

Rest in peace, Mikaeel.