P is for Past

Baby P died in August 2007, so why is it November 2008 that we are discussing it?

Simply, it is now that the people responsible have been found guilty, the court case meaning that the entire horrible truth has been aired in public and reported on.

This kind of time delay is fairly common, but often goes unnoticed. When something awful and obvious happens, such as this police pursuit gone wrong, it is directly in the news; if the police don't put it there you can bet the dead's relatives will. But when a friendless infant is tortured to death, the only way the public will get to hear about it is if someone goes on trial, and if a reporter happens to stumble into the courtroom that morning and realise he is onto a good story.

I have some sympathy with Haringey Council. Sharon Shoesmith (head of child protection) did not kill Baby P, and she has probably lost more than a night's sleep wondering whether she could have done more to save him. But I do ask whether internal investigations or actions were undertaken in the immediate aftermath of the baby's death, or are they just starting now because of the media attention?

There are some benefits of failing to publicise internal cock-ups. Apart from the hope that they might never become public at all, you can rely on one of the following never-fail statements if they do:

• The person responsible has since left the Council.
• Since then, measures have been put in place to prevent this kind of thing ever happening again.
• We have already undertaken our own enquiry and sacked a lot of people. There's really no need to hold anothe enquiry. Really. No need.

Speaking as someone who visits addresses daily and has to make decisions on whether I am looking at a Baby P or a Baby Stewie, the kind of errors made in this case are made on a daily basis. Doctors miss injuries, parents lie, legal advice is given, and children are left in situations where their death is just a mis-timed punch away. If the child doesn't die, and no one is ever prosecuted, these cases never make the headlines. In fact, the decision-maker most likely never knows they got it wrong.

I can also tell you that numerous kids are taken away from their families who shouldn't be, and I have been the next police car over from one containing such a child that was being followed by six angry relatives trying to ram it - and their baby - off the road.

Either way, it's a tough call, but you do have to rely on doctors and legal advice for your decisions, and they rely on each other, and on you.

I predict another series of knee-jerk measures as seen in the wake of the Victorie Climbie tragedy (which was also on Haringey Council's watch). I predict more guidelines, policies and laws that will lead to more children being removed for no reason. I predict more Baby Ps, and more Jason Owens, and more Cannot Be Named For Unknown Legal Reasons.

I predict more time delays, cover-ups, accusations and political point-scoring. And I predict more distraught members of the public, pointing fingers and grieving in the face of an evil they cannot comprehend.

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'Diary of an On-Call Girl' is available in some bookstores and online.