| Flowers in Gods Garden
- Articles |
19/02/02
- Council ignorant of our traditions, say Climbie parents
The parents of Victoria Climbie have accused Haringey
Council of ignorance of black traditions and culture.
Francis and Berthe Climbie said they had been wounded
by an "insensitive and disrespectful" statement
by Haringey that they had "given Victoria away
without so much as a forwarding address".
Victoria, whom they described as their "precious
daughter", was sent from their Ivory Coast home
to Europe in the care of her great aunt Marie-Therese
Kouao for a better education - a regular occurrence
in the black community.
Ignorance of this tradition was particularly alarming
because many of Haringey's clients are black, the Climbies
pointed out. "It suggests lack of knowledge of
a practice which they understand to be common in the
black community as a whole," the couple said in
a closing statement read by their lawyer Margot Boye.
"Victoria's parents were therefore fearful that
like their daughter they too would be judged by people
who clearly had no awareness or regard to the cultural
background from whence she came and it would seem the
wider practice of the extended family bringing up and
educating relatives."
In June 1999 Esther Ackah, a distant relative of Kouao
through marriage, is said to have twice phoned Brent
social services warning them that Victoria's life was
in danger. The call was not immediately acted upon.
A month later Victoria's childminder Priscilla Cameron
and her daughter Avril took her to hospital after spotting
injuries covering her body which were later misleadingly
diagnosed as the skin infection scabies.
The Climbies believe that members of the public may
be deterred from trying to make crucial tip-offs like
Mrs Ackah's by Brent's longstanding denial throughout
the criminal case that she ever made the calls.
Brent still has not apologised. The Climbies singled
out Gurbux Singh, Haringey's former chief executive
and now the head of the Commission for Racial Equality,
for the "very disturbing and disappointing"
way in which he distanced himself from blame.
The Climbies hoped that stronger regulations governing
this system would be introduced including ring fencing,
funding for children's services and a code of conduct
for social workers. |
| Contact : bernard.omahoney@bernardomahoney.com |
|
|
| Flowers in Gods Garden |
|
| Paul Pearson |
|
| Rosie Palmer |
|
| Sophie Hook |
|
| Sarah Payne |
|
| Victoria Climbie |
|
| Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman |
- Documents
- Audio
|
| The Yorkshire Ripper |
- Video
|
|
