The Garib Rath Express to Lucknow

 

IMG_20170916_105026We shared a dish of rajma and rice from one of the platform vendors as we stood waiting on platform nine for the Garib Rath Express. Who knows how many others we shared the platform with: young men and women on their mobile phones; colourful groups of women with their babies; old men blissfully sleeping; porters pushing their way through with luggage on their heads, their shoulders, their arms… While on the tracks beneath us Mynah birds, rats and rubbish collectors scavenged among the detritus of earlier trains.

This was my first encounter of the legendary Indian railways, so I guess it was only fitting that our train should be an hour late, all adding to the vibrant, colourful, noisy experience. As it pulled in, we realised that carriage J2 was at the opposite end of the platform from that previously signified. So, we joined the melee of J2 passengers as it surged towards the opposite tide of G5, and finally, amidst much shouting, pushing and shoving, and all-round consternation, we found ourselves squeezed into our seats with the train slowly pulling out of the station, while the huge crowd continued to press onto the over-flowing unreserved carriages. Somehow, there seemed to be just as many people on the humid, seething platform as when the train had pulled in quarter of an hour previously.

We, meanwhile, settled down for the seven-hour journey to Lucknow, relieved to be on the train, and grateful for our reserved seats and for the very welcome aircon in the carriage.

The Garib Rath Express crawled at a snail’s pace through the centre of Delhi, over the Yamuna river, and on out through the sprawling suburbs, taking over an hour to travel what seemed like no more than a couple of kilometres. At this rate, we wondered how we would ever get to Lucknow, 500km away. But we did. Slowly, as we left the great conurbation behind, we gathered speed, and made our way across the great, spreading plains of Uttar Pradesh. Through Moradabad, Bareilly and Shahabad, the train kept going. On past spreading fields of sugar cane, skirting new towns, their high-rise apartments towering above the inevitable rubbish dumps, each sprouting its own, depressing shanty town where rubbish pickers eked out a living from the filth and stench. So much ugliness and shame sitting side by side with so much colour and beauty.

While we had waited on the platform in Delhi, a holy man had wandered by, dishing out blessings in exchange for a few rupees. But what does blessing mean in the face of so much degradation? What would fullness of life look like for a family struggling to pull together enough for their next meal?

Is it just about survival? Striving to lower the horrendous child mortality rates that tear these families apart? Or basic sanitation and hygiene? A guaranteed meal?

Surely it must be more than just a relentless drive for a better standard of living, buying into the meaningless consumerism of our own indulgent lifestyles?

The questions sat with us, unresolved, as we finally pulled into Lucknow station, 3 hours late, but fortified along the way by cups of sweet chai, even sweeter kofee, and snacks of puri and samosas bought from the cheerful vendors who pushed their way through the crowded carriages at each stopping point.

IMG_20170916_213231

Thinking creatively about safeguarding children

 

Over the past few weeks I have been in a number of conversations which have highlighted the complexity of work around safeguarding children, the commitment of those professionals engaged in such work, and the huge impact of the work on children and families.

I have been very aware of the challenges practitioners face in balancing their supportive and protective roles, and also how both survivors of abuse and families who come into our protective systems can feel excluded and victimised by the very services set up to support them.

So I am really very excited by next year’s BASPCAN child protection congress taking place at the University of Warwick in April.

The theme of the congress, Thinking outside the box, captures our desire to think creatively about how we safeguard children.

For the first time ever, we will be bringing together practitioners, survivors of abuse, researchers, trainers and policy makers to learn from each other, reflect and consider how we can improve services to support families and protect children and young people.

We have an exciting line up of keynote speakers, and some really inspiring abstracts already being submitted. The call for abstracts ends soon, so if you have a good idea, some original research or innovative practice that you can present, or if you are able to draw on your own experience as a survivor of abuse or someone who has been involved with family support services, do get online now to submit an outline (abstract) of your presentation.

And do take a look at our all-new website (click here) where you will find lots of information and inspiration, including our latest poem of the month from our poet in residence, Clare Shaw, and some tasters from our artist in residence, Harry Venning.

Artwork: Harry Venning
Artwork: Harry Venning

 

delve deep: a poem for a contemplative academic

delve deep

 

delve deep into your data

do not rush or strive to explain

words, images, stories, numbers

let the results play with you,

toss you about,

turn you round and

sit you down.

 

And slowly, gently

let them mould you

shape you, change you

make you new.

 

Be still

and know.

Do not be afraid.

If the patterns do not fit

or sit in comfort

with your pre-formed views

Be still and know

and don’t be afraid.

Perhaps it is you

who needs to grow.

 

This past month I have enjoyed having time to spend on some of my research and writing. I wrote this poem as a reminder to myself of the importance of sitting with my data and allowing them to speak.

My adorable paper!

 

I was delighted this morning to receive a warm and convivial email from Ms. Veronica, the managing editor of EC paediatrics, an ‘internationally profound journal’ that is delighted to publish my ‘wonderful and adorable’ paper in their archive. Having seen my ‘immense track research in neonatal care and child health’ their warm wishes ‘nourishes our precious relationship that started all the way through LinkedIn!’

In spite of the dizzying heights of superlative obsequiousness reached by her email, I fear the reality that I haven’t published any research on neonatal care means I am going to have to disappoint dear Ms Veronica.

Am I just a callous ivory-tower academic with no ounce of warm-hearted feelings to such a precious relationship?

 

Dear Dr. Peter Sidebotham,

Pleased to convey our warm wishes from EC Paediatrics, that nourishes our precious relationship that started all the way through LinkedIn!

We at ECPE, an Internationally profound journal carries out thorough Double blinded peer review; Gives prompt acknowledgement after acceptance of article for peer review; Performs Rapid publication after the article is peer reviewed; Accepts and Publishes papers with excellence, novelty and originality; Issues Publication Certificate to author; Provides high visibility of your published work through Google Scholar.

Having seen your immense track research in neonatal care and child health, we are aspiring to publish your wonderful article in the archive of EC Paediatrics.

Therefore, it is our delight to have your adorable paper by September 20, 2017.
With pleasure, we are always ready to clarify your queries!

Hope to work with you soon!
With Kind Regards,
Ms. Veronica
Managing Editor

In praise of social workers

 

I was interviewed today by ITN news in the wake of the tragic death of 21 month old Ayeeshia Smith, and found myself getting really frustrated with yet another news reporter once more berating social services for not learning the lessons. ‘Why’, they ask, ‘after so many Serious Case Reviews, do social services keep failing our most vulnerable children?’

But the reality is that social services – and all the other agencies working to support children and families – have learned lessons. And children in this country live far more safely than they did a generation ago.

Every year in England, social services departments deal with over 600,000 referrals of children in need. Over 50,000 children are made the subject of a child protection plan. Nearly all of these are protected from further serious harm, and in the majority of cases, social services, health professionals and others work hard to ensure that these children can stay with their families.

In our recent triennial review of Serious Case Reviews[1] we found that around 26-30 children each year are killed by their parents – far fewer than in the 1980s and 1990s. The majority of these children died in spite of, not because of, all the good work that social care professionals are doing.

Child protection is not a simple job that you can just carry out by following a protocol or just spotting the signs and responding appropriately. Every day child protection professionals are dealing with complex, challenging issues, juggling and appraising the information given to them, and trying their best to find a positive way forward to protect the children, while seeking to support and work with their parents.

So yes, when an innocent child like Ayeeshia Smith is cruelly murdered by her mother, we are right to feel outraged. We are right to ask that lessons be learned – and, as with the current case – there always will be lessons to be learned. But let’s not take it out on the social workers, health visitors, police officers and other professionals without whom many more children would be harmed and many more families would be torn apart by the stresses, grief and turmoil of our complex, messy lives.

 

[1] Sidebotham P., Brandon M., Bailey S., Belderson P., Dodsworth J., Garstang J., Harrison E., Retzer A., Sorensen P. (2016) Pathways to harm, pathways to protection: a triennial analysis of Serious Case Reviews 2011-2014. DfE RR545. London: Department for Education. ISBN: 978-1-78105-601-1. Available at www.seriouscasereviews.rip.org.uk

 

 

 

 

The voices young people hear

Hearing voices that other people don’t hear is just one possible response to traumatic or adverse life experiences, but it is one that can leave supporters feeling out of their depth. Once seen as the epitome of madness, it is now understood that voices are a meaningful experience that can often reflect the struggles which provoked or shaped them.

 

Listening to, and learning from, the voices young people hear

Rai Waddingham, from Hearing Voices Network, is the latest in an exciting line-up of keynote speakers for the BASPCAN 2018 child protection congress.

In her talk, Rai will explore the experience of hearing voices and their relationship to traumatic life experiences. She will cover some of the different kinds of voices heard by young people who have experienced trauma and/or child protection processes – including: taboo and violent voices; voices that provide comfort and security; voices that echo feelings of fear, loss or guilt. Importantly, she will suggest some of the things adults can do to help young people feel safer and more empowered within these experiences. Rai will draw on her own personal experience as a survivor of trauma and voice-hearer, as well as her professional experience of supporting young people through the Voice Collective young person’s hearing voices project.

Rai WaddinghamRai Waddingham

Rai Waddingham is an experienced international trainer who specialises in innovative ways of supporting people who struggle with extreme states (including ‘psychosis’, ‘dissociation’ and complex post-traumatic reactions). Rai has particular expertise in working with children, young people and people in prison who hear voices. In 2010, Rai launched a project developing a network of Hearing Voices peer support groups in London’s prisons, building on her work developing groups for adults and young people in the community. She now works as an honorary Open Dialogue practitioner in Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust’s Open Dialogue Service.

Rai is a trustee of the English Hearing Voices Network, Intervoice and Vice Chair of ISPS UK (International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis). She is also a member of ISPS’s International Executive Committee. Rai has personal experience of hearing voices, psychosis and dissociation. She uses her own experiences and the principles of the Hearing Voices Movement to inform her work.

 

To find out about our other inspiring keynote speakers, take a look at our congress webpage:

Keynote Speakers

You are teaching your daughter to swim

You are teaching your daughter to swim

 

in open waters

though you don’t know the depth

of the lake at its centre; who might have died there,

whether the pike will scare her or bite her,

if the current will pull her down.

 

At the level of water, the mountains are higher.

The cold is a world she will walk to and enter

where deep mud is softer than skin.

Let the pebbles swim under her feet!

All the darkness beneath her

 

is answered by birds

and the trees will be tall and kind.

The sun will light up the water above her.

When there’s no ground left to stand on,

then she’ll fly.

 

Though the cold makes her teeth ache

she can take it. The rain cannot soak her,

the swan will not harm her.  No dead man

will reach out his hand. You will watch her

leaving the shore behind

 

and the current will flow

the right way. That day,

the water will hold her

and take her far from you.

Now let her go from you. Let go.

 

 

A poem by Clare Shaw,

Poet in Residence for the

BASPCAN 2018 International Child Protection Congress

 

To read more of Clare’s poems and to find out more about the Congress see our website:

BASPCAN Congress 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and the water holds you

and carries you

it stops you from going down

 

and occasional sun

 

Y Living things scare you –

their dark little nudges

you imagine them,

 

snake-like and toothy and eyeless.

 

there’s nothing makes sense

but your arms

 

the rhythm of you moving forwards

beat and stroke

and sun on the surface

 

ou are leaving the shore behind.

SIDS rates in England and Wales reach a new record low

Data released this week by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that rates of unexplained infant deaths[1] in England and Wales have fallen to a new record low. There were 191 unexplained infant deaths in 2015 (0.27 per 1000 live births), compared to 217 in 2014, 252 in 2013, and over 300 in 2004 and 2005.

 

SIDS rates 2015

This continues a really encouraging trend that builds on the early successes of the Back to Sleep campaigns of the 1990s. Part of the success could be due to continued declines in maternal smoking (down to 11.4% in 2014/15), and also to the work of the Lullaby Trust and other organisations in promoting safer sleeping messages.

 

“The further reduction in SIDS rates for 2015 is extremely positive and demonstrates the effectiveness of following safer sleep advice and the importance of making sure that advice reaches all parents and carers. The Lullaby Trust has been campaigning over the past 25 years to ensure that this happens. Although SIDS rates have decreased significantly over the past decade, 191 babies still died in 2015 and the risk has not gone away. We need to ensure that parents continue to recognise the vital importance of following safer sleep advice. Only by making all families aware of the steps they can take to help protect their babies, can we save more lives and drive the number down.”

Francine Bates, Chief Executive, Lullaby Trust

 

 

The safest place for your baby to sleep is on their back in a cot in the same room as you
The safest place for your baby to sleep is on their back in a cot in the same room as you

 

You can find the safer sleep advice on the Lullaby Trust website:

Lullaby Trust Safer Sleep Advice

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] The ONS data include those deaths coded as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (R95) and unascertained (R99)