Girl, two, who drowned in bin in London was failed by council, coroner finds

21 comments

1. I rather think it was the, ‘acquaintance of the mother, who permitted the 2 year old child to play unsupervised in the garden, that is to blame, and not the council.

2. This story is absolutely ridiculous and is a reminder of how weak we are.

   This women should not be in the country, should not be entitled to UK support, but yet she’s here having heart surgery. It is absolutely incredible that her poor judgement means a local authority takes the blame.

   To add, I’d deeply sad what has happened and I feel terribly for the mother and family, but the ridiculousness of the situation is hard to ignore.

   Edit: Correction, it was the child of the mother, who overstayed her visa.

3. It can be simultaneously true that the acquaintance caused the child’s death AND that the family was failed by the authorities. 

4. So someone who overstayed their visa by over 3 years and then has 2 children here can just contact the council and have medical care without that visa issue being a priblem?

5. Always the fault of society, parents are never responsible for anything. In fact it’s a hate crime to request parents or other people who’ve been allowed to look after children to take responsibility for keeping them alive. All parents should be given the name of a council worker or politician they can blame for everything.

6. >She had come to the UK on a visitor visa with Mazeedat in spring 2021 to join her partner but the relationship ended in May that year and she overstayed her visa, which expired in September 2021, because she had no means to return home.

   I despair.

   Also, how on Earth is this the council’s fault??

7. She should have been sent home after they knew she overstayed her visa and this wouldn’t have happened.

8. One thing to remember is that our social work departments are a mess. Underfunded, understaffed, underpaid, overstretched and demoralised. It also isn’t attracting the best people for the job.

9. So if the baby was 3mo at the end of January. Her visa expired around the time of birth or just before but she only got here to be with her partner from spring so maybe a prem baby?
   Baby should have been treated, mothers with no support should be allowed to take children to hospital and I understand nicu normally don’t allow you to stay so where was she sleeping. Could she not have had the 2yo with some support on hand from a friend 😕
   I mean her friends seem incompetent. Who lets a 2yo play outside in January alone.

   Her nation should/will be charged for her care but social services are bursting so surly it’s easier to have people look after their own kids.

10. This is why right wing will win. Why is this the councils fault. It’s not.

11. This sub is a joke. A girl has lost their life but all some people can talk about is the mother visa

    Idiots

12. Why is it always the fault of someone else and not shitty fucking parenting?

13. No wonder the NHS is in crisis. Offering free heart surgery for everyone from here to Timbuktu…

    She was overstaying her visa so why was she even allowed to use the NHS in the first place?

14. I think everyone is missing the whole point of the article – which is that the “no recourse to public funds” stipulation on a visa probably needs to be looked at.

    She overstayed her visa by 4 months when her baby died. However what isn’t clear is if she was in the process of applying for a new one. She had a 3 month old baby – so basic maths says that she would have been pregnant when her visa expired. So she wouldn’t have been able to travel anyway.

    Regardless – the council denied her assistance from social services because she had a NRTPF visa.

    I’ve been on one of those visas – I worked for 10 years and paid taxes into the UK all with “no recourse to public funds” stamped on my visa. I also had to pay 2k every 2 years to renew my visa. All in I spent 10 grand over 10 years to get my numerous visas and my British citizenship. It’s not a complaint – I love living in the UK. However the NRTPF stipulation is probably too strict. If this woman was given access to social services assistance like she asked then her little girl would still be alive.

15. Why do we even bother with visas? Half the state has to act like they’re important, and the other half has to ignore them to do their jobs properly.

    Either scrap them or don’t issue them in the first place.

16. i don’t care that she overstayed her visa, for all we know she was in the process of getting a new one! i care about that poor lil baby n some of these commenters need to understand that this isn’t the mothers fault. a child is dead. try to be human

17. The persons fault is the person who was supposed to be looking after the child. This is nothing to do with anything else.

    Nobody can expect nhs funded fosterers/babysitters just because they need one for a week or so and wouldn’t someone you actually know in your own community be preferable anyway?

18. So, let me get this straight. An immigrant with no right to stay has used NHS (quite expensively I might add. Although, it’s not the kids fault), has not been deported and has, rightfully (by law) been denied support from public funds, because, she’s not eligible?

    Yeah. I think it is someone’s fault that this child sadly died, however I don’t think it was council. I’d put the blame on the immigration services that should have deported her ages ago

19. So heartbreaking. Yes, the person looking after the girl should be charged, but the system needs to be changed so that this never happens again.

20. Yes! Society has to handle everything for you. 
    Move somewhere without funds to ever leave- society’s fault. Overstay a visa and therefore be ineligible to taxpayer funded daycare, oh that’s society’s fault, they should pay for your daycare – you shouldn’t have to spend or save anything for your kids. Leave your kid with a wholly unsuitable person rather than a professional or someone recommended to you, oh that’s society’s fault for not guiding you on that – someone set up a website with clearer instructions. Be a person unable to keep an eye on a 2 year old you are entrusted with caring for? Society! Who left the water in the bin anyway? No more water in bins period! More funding for bin services immediately! 

    It is extremely awful that an innocent little girl has died. But we as a society cannot account for the number of poor decisions this mother made in the run up to this event. She is not entitled to free society funded day care and usually withholding free daycare does not end up in terrible accidents like this. It is a tragic accident which could never have been predicted by the council and does not require any change in policy.

21. This is to frame NPRF rules as causing death, instead of ‘if we didn’t have these NPRF rules this child wouldn’t have died’ how about ‘if someone who illegally overstays her visa for 3 years was deported, the child wouldn’t have died’. If she has access to benefits would the child be alive? Probably, if she had been deported would the child be alive? Probably. If it hadn’t rained the day before would the child be alive? Probably. This is a tragic accident that could have happened to anyone, regardless of visa status and access to benefits, a child being looked after by a family friend falling in a bin is not a failure of the state.

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