Speak up on child violence

It would be easy to take a look at the awful headlines splashed across newspapers yesterday, shrug one's shoulders and declare that it's "just another child abuse case".

But to do so would be abjectly wrong, in addition to serving as another clear reminder of one of the major problems this country faces in reducing the number of incidents of brutal violence against our most vulnerable - our own sense of apathy.

The details are shocking: a 31-year-old woman jailed for more than seven years for sustained abuse against her 9-year-old daughter.

The court case makes for sad and horrific reading - the girl was reportedly assaulted with a machete and hammer, kicked in the crotch with steel-capped boots, and had her toenail torn off before having salt and boiling water poured on the wound.

Unsurprisingly, debate around the case has become politicised, with the leading argument in the woman's defence now appearing to be that she was let down by the system.

That may be so, if only in the sense that there were apparently 25 different social agencies involved in the 9-year-old girl's life, and she was still in a position where her mother was able to inflict such cruelty upon her. Yet, according to a ministerial inquiry into the case, there were suggestions the mother manipulated the social agencies to the point where they felt she had her child's best interests at heart.

Child, Youth and Family has now adopted all the recommendations included as part of the inquiry, and it can only be assumed that with that move comes an acceptance of some culpability.

But the majority of guilt must still lie with this wretched child's mother.

It shouldn't matter how many social agency safety nets are put in place - the responsibility for the safe, happy and healthy upbringing of a child lies with those who bring them into this world.

There is no "perfect" way to raise a child, and all parents have their flaws. All parents make mistakes, or errors of judgment.

But this was not an error of judgment. It was sustained, systematic abuse.

This woman's actions were at such an extreme level that there is no way she could not have realised that what she was doing to her own flesh and blood was horrifically wrong.

Government agencies can only do so much. It's been said before, but the message from this awful incident bears repeating - it's incumbent on all of us to speak up about child violence, particularly where abuse is suspected.

It's a community issue, and one which only the wider community can solve. We won't achieve this by burying our heads in the sand.

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