SOCIAL SERVICES FAILURES

Winterbourne House
On the top floor of a special hospital, locked away from their families and friends, a group of men and women are subjected to a regime of physical assaults, systematic brutality, and torture by the very people supposed to be caring for them. The victims are some of the most vulnerable in society - the learning disabled, the autistic, and the suicidal. In a panorama special, Paul Kenyon exposes the truth about a gang of carers out of control, and how the care system ignored all the warning signs.
The undercover footage showed staff repeatedly assaulting and harshly restraining patients under chairs. Staff gave patients cold punishment showers, left one outside in near zero temperatures, and poured mouthwash into another's eyes. They pulled patients' hair and forced medication into patients' mouths. Victims were shown screaming and shaking, and one patient was seen trying to jump out of a second floor window to escape the torment, and was then mocked by staff members. One patient was repeatedly poked in the eyes
A clinical psychologist who reviewed the footage described the abuse as "torture"

Peter Connelly
Peter Connelly (also known as "Baby P", "Child A", and "Baby Peter") was a 17-month-old English boy who died in London after suffering more than fifty injuries over an eight-month period, during which he was repeatedly seen by Haringey Children's services and NHS health professionals. Baby P's real first name was revealed as "Peter" on the conclusion of a subsequent trial of Peter's mother's boyfriend on a charge of raping a two-year-old. His full identity was revealed when his killers were named after the expiry of a court anonymity order on 10 August 2009.
The case caused shock and concern among the public and in Parliament, partly because of the magnitude of Peter's injuries, and partly because Peter had lived in the London Borough of Haringey, North London, under the same child care authorities that had already failed ten years earlier in the case of Victoria Climbié. That had led to a public enquiry which resulted in measures being put in place in an effort to prevent similar cases happening.
Peter's mother Tracey Connelly, her boyfriend Steven Barker, and Jason Owen (later revealed to be the brother of Barker) were all convicted of causing or allowing the death of a child, the mother having pleaded guilty to the charge. A court order issued by the High Court in England had prevented the publication of the identity of Baby P; this was lifted on 1 May 2009 by Mr Justice Coleridge. An order sought by Haringey Council to stop publication of the identities of his mother and her boyfriend was granted, but expired on 10 August 2009
The child protection services of Haringey and other agencies were widely criticised. Following the conviction, three inquiries and a nationwide review of social service care were launched, and the Head of Children's Services at Haringey was removed by direction of the government minister. Another nationwide review was conducted by Lord Laming into his own recommendations concerning Victoria Climbié's killing in 2000. The death was also the subject of debate in the House of Commons

Victoria Adjo Climbié 

In 2000 in London, an eight-year-old Ivorian girl, Victoria Adjo Climbié (2 November 1991 – 25 February 2000), was tortured and murdered by her guardians. Her death led to a public inquiry and produced major changes in child protection policies in the United Kingdom.
Born in Abobo, Côte d'Ivoire, Climbié left the country with her great-aunt Marie-Thérèse Kouao, a French citizen, for an education in France, where they travelled, before arriving in London in April 1999.[1] It is not known exactly when Kouao started abusing Climbié, although it is suspected to have worsened when Kouao and Climbié met and moved in with Carl Manning, who became Kouao's boyfriend. During the abuse, Climbié was burnt with cigarettes, tied up for periods of longer than 24 hours, and hit with bike chains, hammers and wires. Up to her death, thepolice, the social services department of four local authorities, the National Health Service, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), and local churches all had contact with her, and noted the signs of abuse. However, in what the judge in the trial following Climbié's death described as "blinding incompetence", all failed to properly investigate the case and little action was taken. Kouao and Manning were convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
After Climbié's death, the parties involved in her case were widely criticised. A public inquiry, headed by Lord Laming, was ordered. It discovered numerous instances where Climbié could have been saved, noted that many of the organisations involved in her care were badly run, and discussed the racial aspects surrounding the case, as many of the participants were black. The subsequent report by Laming made numerous recommendations related to child protection in England. Climbié's death was largely responsible for the formation of the Every Child Matters initiative; the introduction of the Children Act 2004; the creation of the Contact Point project, a government database designed to hold information on all children in England (now defunct after closure by the government of 2010); and the creation of the Office of the Children's Commissioner chaired by the Children's Commissioner for England.