Sharon Shoesmith Fired in UK Baby P Case

Haringey Child Services Director Negligent?

Sharon Shoesmith, Council Director of Haringey's Children's Services in the UK, and the women accused of neglecting the well-being of Baby P, a 3-year-old boy in their care, says she conducted a case and internal review when notified of Baby P's death.

Baby P had been the subject of medical reports noting bruising, meningitis, a broken back and his single mother did not report 2 men who lived in the apartment. His mother was charged with murderand his estranged father notified of his son's death.

Shoesmith maintains that she is not guilty of gross misconduct and her lawyer, Tony Childs, defends his client and accuses her superior Ed Balls of acting irrationally and unlawfully by firing Shoesmith in a knee-jerk reaction to intense media pressure to do with Shoesmith's conflict of interest and neglect and a review of child protection policies.

Shoesmith said Baby P was inundated with visits from social workers in the 8 months leading up to his death. Shoesmith and her team suspected this small boy was being physically abused and yet decided that "no action was appropriate in this case."

Scotland Yard, the Association of Directors of Children's Services, and the NSPCC confirmed Shoesmith's assessment but Liberal MP Sheila Featherstone called for Shoesmith's resignation in light of her unapologetic response at a press conference and mishandling of the case.

Shoesmith received death threats as a result of a campaign run in the Sun for her resignation and a campaign garnering 1.2 million signatureson a petition was delivered to the PM Gordon Brown calling for her resignation.

Haringey was reeling after a previous incident with Victoria Climbe, who also died at the hands of her guardians. She was an 8-year-old girl abused and murdered in London, England, in February 2000.

The public outrage at her death led to a public inquiry which produced major changes in child protection policies in the United Kingdom, including the formation of the Every Child Matters initiative; the introduction of the Children Act 2004; the creation of the ContactPoint project, a planned government database that will hold information on all children in England and Wales; and the creation of the Office of the Children's Commissioner chaired by the Children's Commissioner.

Both her guardians, Marie-Thérèse Kouao and Carl Manning, were from the Ivory Coast and convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment at their trial on 12 January 2001. It is suspected that Kouao started abusing Climbié soon after her arrival in the country and the abuse worsened when Kouao moved in with Carl Manning.

Up to her death, the police, the social services department of many local authorities, the National Health Service, the NSPCC, and local churches all had contact with her, and noted the signs of abuse. However, in what the judge in the trial following Victoria's death described as "blinding incompetence," all failed to properly investigate the abuse and little action was taken.

Shoesmith is suing Haringey Council for firing without payment in lieu of notice her as well as the school's watchdog Ofsted, the Office for Standards in Education, and Ed Balls himself. Her lawyer has suggested she has a ligitimate case and is very likely to wina payout of over £1 million, an amount rumoured to be the size of her pension.