Nevres Kemal
Headline:
Baby P whistleblower breaks her silence to speak to the Sunday Mirror
Synopsis:
The brave whistleblower social services chiefs tried to gag today breaks her silence to reveal the shocking catalogue of blunders that led to Baby P’s death.
Nevres Kemal is the experienced social worker who was so horrified at Haringey Council’s shambolic child protection department she wrote to ministers to warn of an imminent catastrophe.
Nevres, 44, exposes how staff were taken on “team-building” jaunts to Barcelona and Dublin and blew £1,600 on tea parties at the Ritz. Back in their office, urgent files were piled high and ignored. Children like Baby P who needed the department’s protection were shamefully let down.
She reveals she warned children’s services chief Sharon Shoesmith she would have “blood on her hands” if urgent action wasn’t taken.
But instead of her concerns being taken up and acted upon, Nevres ended up bullied, ostracised and drummed out of her job. She then had to agree to an injunction by Haringey Council in a bid to keep her silent.
Six months after her fateful warning to ministers, 17-month-old Baby P was dead.
She said yesterday: “They tried to gag me but I don’t care. I knew something like Baby P would happen. It was just a matter of time. I need to speak out now for the children who still need care.”
Mum-of-one Nevres worked at Haringey Social Services from August 23, 2004 to March 19, 2007.
In that time she saw case files mysteriously vanish and vulnerable children left in danger as staff bickered among themselves, more concerned with freebies and love affairs.
A dedicated childcare professional, Nevres says her card was marked after she spurned advances from a lesbian co-worker. ...
- Publish date:
- 16 November 2008
- Author:
- Kate Mansey
- Source:
- Sunday Mirror
- Media:
