The Story of Baby P: Setting the Record Straight

by Ray Jones

In 2007, Peter Connelly, a 17-month-old boy living in north London, died as a result of sustained neglect and abuse. Fifteen months later, his mother, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s brother were sent to prison for his death, but the media—who called Connelly “Baby P”—turned their attention toward the health and social workers who had been attending to him and his injuries during the eight months prior to his death. The Story of Baby P goes in depth into what really happened with Connelly’s care and examines the damaging consequences that the media’s treatment of his case has had on those who work to protect children.
           
Even today the health and social workers who treated Connelly are aggressively pursued by the press. Ray Jones uses this fact to tell a larger story of blame and the media’s role in it, moving from a direct account of the details surrounding Connelly’s death to a look at how the media shifted attention to child services and its failings. He then examines the impact the case and its exposure had on the child protection system in England. The most comprehensive account of Connelly’s unjust death and its ramifications, The Story of Baby P is essential reading for anyone concerned with social services and the real effects of public scandals on the people and organizations caught up in them. 

Genres: Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2014

Reviews

[Jood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shocking though the death of Peter Connelly was, what is even more shocking is that

a) so many children are abused and die at the hands of their abusers and
b) the feeding frenzy that this particular case caused.

The author deals with the details of abuse and death of this toddler is a concise unemotional way, taking the reader step, by step, through the efforts made by various official departments charged with child protection. He then goes on to explain, in great detail, how this story made the headlines, and was kept in the public eye for so long.

Friends in High Places is a phrase known to most of us, and this certainly came into play in this case – who was friends with who, who was able to pull strings, who was able to manipulate the press so that the circulation figures of a certain newspaper went through the roof. It is shameful – was it necessary? I have an open mind. What I found disturbing is the way that certain people were made scapegoats to appease the public, who were in turn manipulated by the press. It reminds me of the same tactics employed in the Hillsborough disaster, which are only now coming to light.

I found this book quite confusing at times as the author's style of writing which is repetitive and convoluted. Having said that, this story needs to be told, and is a warning not to believe everything we see in the media, whatever form it takes.


My thanks to Amazon Vine for a free copy to review.

[Herbi (Heather) Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book after meeting the author at training. It was an excellent unravelling and explaination of the STORY of baby P, ie, the media's portrayal of the death of Peter Connelly directly after he was killed by his mother and her new partner.
The book tells of how the media's focus shifted from the neglect and abuse of Peter by his family to the blaming and demonizing of Social Workers. Ray Jones opens up a new understanding of the the lack of consistent messages from the government and the lack of accountability of the other involved parties, such as the police and health service.
A sad and unfortunately inevitable death that has lead to enormous change in child protection procedures. These changes have not all been for the best as social workers struggle to meet the 'targets' set under the new regulations, working 16 hour days and weekends to tick boxes which detract from the real work of Social work, to get along side families, spend time with them, get to know the children, their parents and support them to conquer struggles, to improve the lived experience of children.

[Hazel R · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really important book - setting the record straight as per the subtitle. An intelligent dissection and analysis of how The Sun warped the story, terrorised professionals and rather than protecting children, caused untold harm by making recruitment and retention of staff very challenging. I think sadly that some people will be put off by the repetition in this book, so, unlike the Sun headlines, only the really committed will read to the end. But please give it your best shot. Social workers everywhere, I salute you.

[Fiona Turnbull · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really good and precise account I feel that's been written and not sensationalised. I read in chuncks as it's a good read you can put down and pick up again.

[Shan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a great insight into the case of Peter Connelly and discusses a variety of themes, while providing a unique perspective of looking at the case that other books fail to do. It provides thought-provoking analysis on the case and the contributing factors of its popular nature by discussing the role of the media, police and politicians within the case.

The only reason for four stars, not five is due to the repetition sometimes seen within the book.

[Tracy Hollen · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Nicholas Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a largely disappointing book which although it lays out what happened in the 'Baby P case in a clear and concise way but, for those who had looked at the sources offers little new information. The narrative for the last years of Peter’s life is taken exclusively from the two serious case reviews and it is clear that no effort was made to uncover any new information.

The vast majority of the book is taken up on a defence of Sharon Shoesmith which is somewhat overwrought and rests far too heavily on an argument that others involved (especially the police) did not face the onslaught in the media. This may well be the case but to say someone else escaped blame seems a weak defence.

He gives little supporting evidence of the decisions take by Haringey Social Services and one could equally conclude that police officers should have faced dismissal in the same way that the social workers did. The same point is made as to why this case came to be so prominent when so many abuse cases go unmentioned; just because there are many other even more desperate cases, I cannot see how this is a defence, more a call to action.

I cannot really recommend this book although it remains the only serious book on the subject with the other book, It Must Never Happen Again by John McShane, being an overly emotional reheating of newspaper articles. There remains a place in the market for a decent study of the management of child social services and why the level of children murdered by parents/step-parents remains so high.