Recommendations on safeguarding and domestic abuse have been made following the horrific murder of beautiful toddler Grace Thorpe.
It was the man she called ‘daddy’, child killer Adam Jackson, who brutally attacked the defenceless two year old.
The then 27-year-old murderer – who was Grace’s mum’s partner – inflicted injuries likened to those seen in a “high speed collision”, but tried to pull wool over the eyes of Grace’s family and emergency services claiming she had fallen out of her high chair.
READ MORE: Precious family snaps of gorgeous Grace Thorpe murdered by man she called ‘daddy’
Evil Jackson, who initially denied hurting the beautiful littler girl, eventually admitted his guilt and was sentenced to life in prison. He was told he will serve a minimum of 15 years and 166 days.
In a heartbreaking statement, Grace’s mum said: “My life hasn’t been the same since the day I lost Grace and it never will be again. I lost everything in that moment. Grace’s sister is not the same child she was before this happened. She adored Grace and done everything for her, they had the most amazing bond and love for each other.
“My Grace was the happiest little girl who never wanted for anything, she was always content and smiling, her laugh was infectious.”
Over a 90 minute period, little Grace suffered a sickening number of distressing injuries that morning – with Jackson insisting she had fallen out of her high chair.
Now, a briefing learning report, published by South Tees Safeguarding Children Partnership (STSCP), has identified recommendations and points of reflection following the tragic case.
Safeguarding
The heartbreaking case outlines a need to consider certain areas of practice including asking:
- To what extent did agencies identify key indicators of safeguarding,
- How were safeguarding systems utilised to support multiagency safeguarding,
- To consider the approach to domestic abuse from the perspective of the child, the victim and the perpetrator,
- The arrangements for ‘stepping down’ threshold application.
It has been recommended that the partnership strengthen its multi-agency approach to domestic abuse. It says it should do this by adopting a model that will “provide perpetrator-based, child-centred and a survivor-strengths approach to achieving safe and secure outcomes.”
Clare’s Law
The report, which refers to little Grace as ‘Charley’, also highlighted how the partnership should work with the community safety partnership to publicise and generate the use of Clare’s Law.
The law, also known as the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, enables the police to disclose information to a victim, or potential victim, of domestic abuse about their partner’s or ex-partner’s previous abusive or violent offending.
The report also outlined how the partnership should also seek assurance from services that ‘step down’. It also says maintenance support should be built into domestic abuse services to support change for both victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse.
The points of reflection highlights that when a decision is made to step down then there should be “adequate review mechanisms” so that youngsters are not exposed to potential escalating harm.
The introduction of Clare’s Law was ground-breaking legislation with potential for huge impacts on safeguarding women and children at risk from domestic abuse.
“To maximise the impact, the partnership need to ensure that professionals have a full understanding of how it can be used to support professional safeguarding activity,” reads the document. “No assessment that considers risk of domestic abuse should be accepted as complete without exhausting all options to include the alleged perpetrator of the abuse.
“This approach is pivotal to holding the right people to account for safeguarding children and also creates the opportunity to consider contextual risk factors and follow through actions to prevent and reduce further harm.”
‘Deserved so much more from life’
A statement from the Tees Safeguarding Children Partnership reads: “The thoughts of everyone at the partnership and all our partner agencies are with all those who cared for this little girl who deserved so much more from life.
“We always learn lessons after tragedies to help ensure that children are protected and these clear recommendations to strengthen our multi-agency approach in cases of domestic abuse, acting quickly when necessary and promoting effective use new legislation have been taken on board.
“Active planning to make robust improvements in the ways we protect vulnerable children are always ongoing and these recommendations are very much informing the way forward for ourselves and all our partner agencies.”
Categories: News