Curriedflavouredflipproductions

The bottom line is:

All children need, is a little help, a little hope and somebody who believes in them.
E.M Johnson

Have you seen the 2010 Academy Award winning film Precious? If you are looking for a good Friday feel factor, this certainly is not the film to whine down to.

Below is the trailer for the film Precious:



If you ever get involved in child protection cases, you will know that they are some of the most complex circumstances made up of imperfect knowledge, ethical dilemmas mixed into a lethal cocktail of an emotionally charged atmosphere.

Working in schools you realise very quickly that within a large percentage of families, you will find cases similar to Precious.

I do not need to go into why these cases exist. I can comment on what we can do to reduce cases such as Precious if it is part of your job specification.

All agencies, including families, need to develop critical oversight. Actually, it is harder to practice than is written. The reason for this is, we are bombarded by MEDIA HYPE.
Hype may be viewed as a tool to distract the discerning audience, however, it is more sinister than this. Incorrect interpretation of hype can lead to witch hunts.
Generally hype asserts itself by ensuring that most people (including families) do not have full access to the truth. If you look carefully, a culture of secrecy, cover-ups and defensiveness prevail.
Therefore, to be effective, critical oversight is a robust method that is open about causes and actions.
When analysing you have to constantly ask key questions. The very first one relating to the APPRECIATION of the subjects life.
To illustrate, imagine you are going to buy a new car for £14,000. 3 years later you decide to sell the car for a new model. Do you expect to receive £14,000 in transfer for a new model? Obviously you would receive less because the car has DEPRECIATED.
In other words the value of the car is lower than when you purchased it. A car is an inanimate object, one we are willing to spend thousands of pounds to maintain. Do we view life as precious as a car to the point of maintaining it?
In ideal conditions, the value of someones life should appreciate. Some kind of evidence of balanced growth should be recognisable. If physical, mental (including education attainment) and emotional growth is absent, your critical oversight should tell you to investigate deeper.
Another essential tool in the critical oversight box is the ability to use your senses. Is something not right? the colours, the smells, the subjects health appearance, is there estimated improvements? Are they being secretive? are they being defensive? If the answer is the affirmative, log your investigation by reporting to the authorities.

That said, it is hoped that you are never involved in such judgement cases in the first place.

Below is a song we used to listen to in the early days of rap music during the 80s. The group called Public Enemy: "Don't believe the hype"