Star comment: Questions on tragedy of Joshua
The tragic death of tiny Joshua Millinson raised questions as to why none of the agencies involved picked up the warning signs that all was not well.
Today our worst fears have been realised after a serious case review into his death revealed a series of missed opportunities on the part of the authorities.
Joshua was attacked by his father Daniel Sanzone, who caused him catastrophic brain injuries by shaking him vigorously.
Sanzone, who was jailed for life in November for the murder, also assaulted the infant, leaving him with multiple fractures of his legs and ribs.
A number of agencies, including Wolverhampton Council and the National Probation Service, had contact with either Joshua’s mother, Zoe Howell, or Sanzone in the months before he was born. Yet there was failure to co-ordinate their work and share information.
This, we are told, was partly because Sanzone was not identified as the newborn’s father until after the fatal attack in October 2015. The case review condemns a pre-birth assessment by a social worker as ‘weak’, while it says probation services failed to evaluate safeguarding concerns over Sanzone.
New Cross Hospital’s A&E department, which Joshua attended twice before he was murdered, was criticised for shortcomings in its arrangements for safeguarding children.
Sadly, this is not the first time we have seen the tragic death of a baby in Wolverhampton in recent years. The authorities were given a number of recommendations for improvements after the deaths of Rebecca Kandare and Daniel Jones.
In both instances we were assured that lessons would be learned. Yet it appears that there is still a major issue in the city when it comes to communication between agencies involved in the safeguarding of children.
It is absolutely crucial that appropriate checks are made on the wellbeing of all babies, particularly those who are born to young and inexperienced parents. The communication between child protection agencies and the probation services must improve as a matter of urgency.
When a child is born it needs to be surrounded by people who care. That goes for the professionals involved as well as families. Today’s report states that there was no evidence that the injuries which caused the Joshua’s death could have been anticipated. But many observers will question why the same communication issues that have been highlighted in previous reviews have still not been dealt with.
