5 days to go.....

What a day, another day spent chasing up the induction programme, trying to get the University IT system to actually accept my existence, working through the overly complicated registration to get childcare vouchers and finalizing some childcare details.

Its going to be a very challenging year, so I just keep telling myself it will be worth it in the end, maybe some days that will be easier to believe that others. I will let you know over the coming year if the days that its all "worth it" outweigh those days when I think "why".

Today the Serious care review into Daniel Pelka's death has been published, I have not yet had the opportunity to read the details, but this comment has stood out:

 Daniel's voice wasn't heard at all.

It's so hard to imagine that pain and suffering that Daniel went through, we obviously can't take away even an ounce of that torture he suffered, but maybe its possible for something positive to arise from his death, maybe the next child might have that chance to be heard, I hope, I wish and I so want that to happen.

Sadly I seem to remember that the child's voice was an important theme of Laming's report, (and how many years ago was it when Victoria died and the subsequent report was published?)

"As Lord Laming said at the very beginning of this review, it is vital that social workers focus on the needs of the child, rather than on their parents. We are particularly concerned that many children and young people are still not being seen, spoken to or listened to and so their needs have been ignored. This needs to be urgently remedied and listening to children needs to be at the core of all training for professionals."
(http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/news-views/press-release/childrens-society-responds-lord-lamings-review-child-protection)

I wonder when we will be able to start listening?

Why???????

I am about to commence on a year of.... if I am completely honest, I am not sure what I am about to commence on. The basic fact is that I am a week away from my first day as a Student Health Visitor, my previous great job has been wisely or not so wisely designated to the bin, my childcare arrangements, though obscenely complicated are nearly there, I have tested the journey to the University, and I about to meet my mentor and tour my placement area.

Maybe it might make sense to try and start at the beginning, many moons ago I worked for the Children's centres when they were very first being created. At that time I thought " what a great job it is to be a Health Visitor, I would love a crack at that". However having spoken to many Health Visitors and being warned off too many times to count ( and also getting distracted by popping out a couple more children) the dream kind of got lost in life. The warnings were all linked to the obscene work load and lack of opportunity to actually prevent, sadly so many felt that they were just picking up the pieces.

Obviously the safeguarding work is such a vital part of the role, but imagine having that opportunity to make those changes before the abuse starts......

To quote Powell's great safeguarding book "Health Visitors' preparation for practice……… could ultimately lead to the political imperative to create a society that better prepares and supports its parents."

and one more:

"Your contribution to keeping children and young people safe is vital; as is your ability to provide good support to parents and parenting. You will have a range of opportunities to make a difference; you may even save a life."

How many people have that chance to work everyday to support children and families to be safe and to reach their full potential, sounds like a great job to me.