Gina Davidson: Will we pay up to protect children?

IT always takes a death for the public to sit up, take notice and demand action. And that of Baby P has opened the floodgates of outrage and recrimination.

Everyone is looking for someone to take responsibility for the ending of the 17-month-old's terrifying and too short life. Sackings and suspensions have now happened at Haringey Council in London, the child's mother, her boyfriend and their lodger are still awaiting sentencing for causing or allowing the blonde-haired youngster to die, and still there's a demand for more to be done. Only the heads of social workers served up on silver platters would be enough for some.

Obviously there are severe problems in Haringey, but from all the reports so far, two stand out: a lack of staff, meaning that social workers were overwhelmed with cases; and a lack of foster parents, which ultimately resulted in Baby P being returned to his torturers as there was literally nowhere for him to go.

And that is where fault also lies – not just with the individuals who either failed to or were unable to do their jobs properly, but with all of us.

After all, can we really solely blame the poor sods who decided to dedicate their working life to try to ensure children don't come to harm?

How many of us have looked at social work as a career option and thought: far too much responsibility for too little cash, and blood on your hands if something goes wrong? So we don't have enough social workers, and councils find it hard to keep those they do as a result.

How many of us have considered foster parenting? Isn't it something "do-gooders" get involved in? And who wants all the hassle of having to deal with someone else's child, especially if you have your own? Even being associated with the social work department, no matter in how positive a light, does for some carry a stigma. While it's in part understandable, it doesn't stop vulnerable children from being exposed to risk.

Here in Edinburgh, the problem is just as acute as in London. The last death that left everyone appalled was that of Caleb Ness seven years ago. The 11-week-old died at the hands of his brain-damaged, violent father. As a result, there were inquiries, the formation of the council's massive children and families department, the introduction of new procedures and extra cash pumped into the system to ensure it didn't happen again.

But just two years ago, when all the new "joined-up" working was supposed to be in place, a three-year-old was found alive in a Leith flat with the decomposed body of his 33-year-old mother, who had died of a drug overdose six weeks previously. He was starving and barely able to stand.

Of course, the main solution to the problem is for more cash to be pumped into the system, but that would mean increasing council tax, and who among us wants to feel that pinch?

So instead social work in Edinburgh is facing cuts. A freeze on recruitment and spending, currently in place, means that positions are left unfilled, and new payments to agencies who supply foster carers cannot be made. As a result, the caseload of 14 that social workers are supposed to have at any one time currently stands at around 20 and is likely to rise.

And eight supervisor posts, put in place to address the issues from the Caleb Ness inquiry, are to go. So those with the vital experience to decide whether a child should be removed from its home or not will be lost.

All this while the number of kids on the Child Protection Register in the city stands at around 300, there are 120 or so referrals made every month and the number of kids under Child Protection Orders is rising (up 40 per cent to 80 children from 2006 to 2007).

Most horrifying is that over 60 per cent of these children (on CPOs) were under 24 weeks old, and 30 per cent were newborn babies. The grounds for 87 per cent of the CPOs were lack of parental care. Indeed the most common reasons for children to be removed from their homes are physical neglect, violence and substance misuse.

At the same time, the half-dozen residential children's homes the council runs are constantly full – and are for those only over the age of 12.

There are also too few foster carers, so the council has to pay agencies such as Barnardo's or NCH to supply them instead – which has contributed around £4m to the overspend in the children and families department.

The annual bill for protecting Edinburgh's vulnerable youngsters from abuse and neglect is around the £54m mark, yet the city gets less than half the cash it needs from the government.

Hopefully there won't be a next time. We'll never hear of another Baby P or a Caleb Ness, but to really ensure the likelihood of that is reduced as much as possible is going to take a commitment from all of us to put more money into the system.

Is there a party that has the political guts to come out and say that if we as a society want to protect our children properly, then it's up to all of us to pay for it, and pay for it properly? Right now, the answer, sadly, is no.