Sorry for the delay in posting a new blog. I have had no internet access for the past 3 days so I will try and make up for it in the coming days and continue with my story.
Tonight though I want to respond to some of the comments left and attempt to answer the questions asked of me.
I have not published all of the comments because of potential libellous claims. If you have posted a comment which I have not published perhaps you can take out any names of individuals and then I will publish them in full as they made very interesting reading and would be great to share with other readers.
Questions
Who knows any current or previous civil servants?
Comments have been made about other civil servants who have perhaps come and gone, and those that are still suffering whilst working for the States of Jersey. Comments have also made reference to fears of speaking out – I know how you feel, I learned the hard way! As with my previous blog I would like to make it clear that I know there are hundreds of civil servants who are happy working for the States of Jersey. My issue is not to simply criticise the States of Jersey, it is to raise awareness and prevent people senior civil servants from using and abusing their positions of power to the detriment of others. The States of Jersey need to ensure that they have the necessary safeguarding systems in place to stop this being able to go on undetected.
For those of you who do not feel that you can reply to this blog, or speak out in another way through your own fear of reprisal, but would still like to speak with me then I have set up an email account which only I know the password. I can assure you that any information will remain confidential and I will never publish anything which is sent to me without the express permission of the author.
The email address is – thejerseywhistleblower@hotmail.com
Who is the Pinball?
I don’t think I can answer this question as it is an allegation against a senior civil servant. I have no proof that they were known as Pinball and therefore it would not be for me to comment futher.
Grandprix System – Did senior managers know about it?
Yes, senior managers did know about it. In fact Phil Dennett and Linda Dodds were specifically asked, by Marnie Baudains and Mario Lundy to investigate it in January 2007.
In his report Phil Dennett stated,
“12.7 There are no signs or reports of an abusive regime being operated at either the former or present Greenfields”.
This report, written by Phil Dennett was completed without consultation with a single
person who has ever worked, under modern policies and practices, in a Secure Children’s Home outside of Jersey.
The report written by Linda Dodds actually failed to mention the Grandprix system, not even once. Linda Dodds’ inspection included visiting the Greenfields unit on one occasion and this visit lasted for 25 minutes. Incredible really when you consider that she was being asked to investigate whether vulnerable children were being abused by being locked up in solitary confinement!
Other senior managers were also aware of it.
Was Greenfields inspected?
There are possibly two answers to this question, if you want my view then the answer would be no. No it wasn’t inspected. The reason it would be no is that it was not inspected by anyone who would know how to spot a problem if there was one. The States of Jersey however believe that it was inspected,
How? The Board of Visitors – these were monthly visits by people who were either magistrates and/or good citizens within the local community. Now before I go on, my comments are not against these people as individuals, I am sure they have the best interests of the children at heart. My concern is that they are untrained for this role; do not have up to date knowledge about secure settings and the system was wholly inadequate. This point may be disputed and perhaps it would be good to happen on this blog. My question is this, if the system of inspection at Greenfields was adequate then how did the Grandprix system manage to exist for over 4 years? It is a simple as that.
Was I gagged after the tribunal?
I was not gagged, I was very clear that I would never sign a gagging clause (unless they paid me an obscene amount of money of course!) as I had every intention of exposing the truth about the Grandprix system and the civil servants who I believe are responsible for its existence. Following the employment tribunal I was quiet for a month because I sold my story to the Mail on Sunday, who did not publish it, but it was an exclusive and therefore I had to stay quiet for 30 days. Now I am back and I intend to continue the battles – not for me but for the vulnerable young people in Jersey.
Why did I settle out of court?
I will think further about my answer to this question and come back to you.. I do have some very legitimate reasons, however, some things in the agreement which was reached have not yet been fulfilled and I want to ensure that they do before I write further.
How can I call myself a whistleblower after I agreed I was not?
Just to clarify, what I agreed to was that ‘I wasn’t sacked for whistleblowing’. This doesn’t prevent me from calling myself a whistleblower. I did blow the whistle and I was sacked after I did it. I agreed not to say I sacked for whistleblowing. I have never claimed this; the media did. The reason I never claimed I was sacked for whistleblowing is simple – there is no law in Jersey to substantiate such a claim being made so it was pointless.
It was Simon Bellwood who initiated the settlement?
On 12th March, day 3 of the tribunal, my advocate (Jersey Solicitor) approached Mike Pollard, representing the States of Jersey and asked him if he was aware that my case had made the editorial in the Times newspaper the previous day. He also asked him if he wanted to continue with the tribunal as they were heading for a big car crash. The States of Jersey decided that they would like to talk further and requested an adjournment from the Chair of the tribunal. The Chair agreed and also informed the States of Jersey that the panel were ‘uneasy’ about the failure to disclose the information that had come to light the previous day. Incidentally, this information was also, in part, what led to the suspension of Joe Kennedy the following morning.
What next?
I will continue my story about my employment tomorrow; I hope I have answered some of your questions here. Please feel free to post further comments and I will endeavour to answer them all as best I can.
I would also like to say thank you for the support shown in your comments, despite not publishing some of them as mentioned earlier they have all been 100% supportive about what I am trying to achieve.
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6 comments:
Simon
So pleased you've come back online.
I and others were fearful that you had been silenced, disappeared. Thought they may have prepared some more secret lime pits! Nothing in Jersey would surprise us.
Waiting in great anticipation for your next posting.
Simon
There are elections in October. You must stand for the States.
We need people who are prepared and brave enough to speak out and chase the truth regardless of personal consequences.
Give the people of the island someone they feel they can vote for.
Hi Simon,
I will explain to readers that I was a uk social worker who came to work for the Jersey Social services as child protection social worker.Prior to coming to Jersey I was a senior manager in childrens services in the UK with nearly 20 yrs experience. After 7 working days in Jersey I resigned.This partly due to the procedures I discovered were in operation at the greenfields secure unit for children. This on its own would not have been sufficient for me to resign but it was this, combined with other features, which led me to believe that social work practice in jersey was unsafe.Firstly though I can confirm Simons verson of events with regard to the Grand Prix system was in place and abusive to children. Secondly that upon induction to the unit children were routinely isolated and put into bleak cells for 24hrs. This process was not based upon any threat or risk the young person may pose to themselves or others.Some of these children, as young as 10, would be in the unit for "welfare reasons" and not as a result of criminal behaviour but the process would remain the same. The process would be abusive for either group of children in the UK, but I could see a warped argument to implement the procedure for young offenders but I would not condone it!
After discovering the above (plus lots of other bits which I will save for another day)I discussed my findings with other memebers of the Social Work team who said they were aware of the situation at the unit and expressed their dissatisfaction but nothing had changed. They also expressed their fear that if they compliained too loudly they may get the sack. They also explained that they believed if they complained it may lead to them " never work in jersey again".( they had other issues as well but too long to go into now )
Before I left Jersey, my manager asked me why I was leaving. I didn't wish to go into details as I had written a seven page letter to the chief exec detailing exactly why I was leaving and used the jersey whistle blower policy to do so. However I did say to my line manager that I had found practices at the childrens secure unit disturbing to say the least. Their response surprised me in that they said " what goes on at the secure unit is not my responsibility". Considering my manager was a "child protection" manager their view that their responsibilty stopped at the front door of the secure unit was a tad shocking. I kind of expected the response "tell me more and if its serious we will see if we can sort it out/investigate/ talk to unit managers etc".I had already made my decision to leave by mow but this was the icing on the cake!
The failure of one part of the Jersey child care system to want to tackle the inadequacies of performance of other related departments is one of the reasens that child abuse in childrens homes has been allowed to go undetected for so long. My experiences were in the past 3 years. Not along time ago.
The response from the chief execs dept was predictable. They informed me they had fully investigated my concerns and that I did " not understand the policy and culture of the island". By now I think I had fully grasped the culture of the child care system in jersey which was " dont rock the boat or else" and that the some of the policies were abusive to children.
Several months after my departure form jersey I was contacted by Simon Bellwood. Although mine and Simons time in Jersey had crossed we didnt meet at the time. Simon informed me had been the manager at the secure unit and tried to end the abusive childcare practices, which I had been informed by Chief Execs dept, were a figment of my imagination and lack of knowledge about Jersey social work culture/policies etc.
Simon also told me that the govt investigation into my concerns went as follows.
Simon received a telephone call that went.
"who did that new social worker talk to when he was shown round the unit?"
Simon replied " I dont know"
That is the sum total of a an internal extensive investigation into abusive child care in jersey by the jersey govt.
So baring in mind the Jersey govt superb internal investigative qualities, imagine how it must feel for children in jersy who comlpained about their treatment in childrens homes over the past decades. I hope they got more than a telephone call to the manager of the home where thay were being abused but I suspect not.
I firmly believed Simon was dismissed for trying to expose the process which resulted in children being abused whilst in the govts care. If I had stayed in Jersey I believe I would have sufferd the same fate. The information so far is just one part of my story which could go on but I dont want to identify the staff who gave me even more information confirming what I believe to be potential systemic failings in the jersey child protection system.
I think what Simon has acheived is fantastic but it has probalby been at a great personal cost,both emotional and fiancial.
I will write more if people are interested and i am particularly keen to talk about what the Jersey
govt needs to do to put things right for the future. The answers are pretty simple but i wll leave those for another day!
simon
thank you for your blog , it makes interesting reading and I will look forward to hearing your side of the story as it unfolds.
I too have experienced the bullying culture within hss and I have also witnessed it being dished out to others. Honest hardworking people have had their well-being and careers threatened when their only fault was to question or challenge management, their primary objective being to ensure that vulnerable children receive the best service only option is to leave or keep your head down.
I admire you for the stand you have taken both you and your family must have gone through a very difficult time. let us hope that honesty, principles integrity and professionalism eventually triumph over deceit, manipulation and abuse , yes abuse those very people who should be standing out against abusive behaviour are behaving in ways they should be ashamed of.
usimon
thank you for your blog , it makes interesting reading and I will look forward to hearing your side of the story as it unfolds.
I too have experienced the bullying culture within hss and I have also witnessed it being dished out to others. Honest hardworking people have had their well-being and careers threatened when their only fault was to question or challenge management, their primary objective being to ensure that vulnerable children receive the best service only option is to leave or keep your head down.
I admire you for the stand you have taken both you and your family must have gone through a very difficult time. let us hope that honesty, principles integrity and professionalism eventually triumph over deceit, manipulation and abuse , yes abuse those very people who should be standing out against abusive behaviour are behaving in ways they should be ashamed of.
when the previous respondent left after seven days staff were told it was because he was having difficulty in arranging child care
provision,that he wanted to work flexi-time and this was not possible. Nothing about the real reason for leaving,many including myself had no knowledge of the Grand Prix system.By the way flexi-time is now operating
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