Reviews : Orkney: A Place of Safety Robert Black Cannongate Press, 1992; £7.95 pbk
| Author | Mai Bentley |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455059304000111 |
| Date | 01 March 1993 |
| Published date | 01 March 1993 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
34
written
by
Surrey’s
current
CPO,
who
regards
it
as
required
~~a.di~.g
for
anyone
considering
entering
o~~e~~o-
fession,
I have
one
question.
If
I
adopted
Dick’s
methods,
would
I
be
~~I~ ~
produce
this
book
as
my
reference
at
my
disciplinary
hearing?
Adrian
Wilson
Through
Care
Unit,
Surrey
Orkney: A
Place
of
Safety
Robert
Black
Cannongate
Press,
1992;
£7.95
pbk
On
27th
February
1991 9
children
from
4
families
on
the
Orkney
island
of
South
Ronaldsay
were
taken
into
care
because
of
unsubstantiated
allegations
of
sexual
abuse.
The
manner
in
which
this
happened
and
subsequent
denial
of
parents
and
children’s
rights
is
a
mat-
ter
for
serious
concern
and
this
book
helps
fill
in
gaps
in
our
knowledge
of
events
and
gives
some
insight
into
the
impact
of
such
actions
on
this
small
island
community
The
extensive
media
coverage
of
the
Orkney
sexual
abuse
affair
suggests
that
it
is
stretching
credibility
to
accept
that
organised
ritual
abuse
took
place
on
South
Ronaldsay.
Equally,
to
accept
that
social
workers
and
police
coldly
and
deliberately
removed
children
from
their
homes
for
less
than
a
ge-
nuine
belief
of
their
need
for
protec-
tion
also
stretches
credibility.
Robert
Black
has
the
opportunity
in
this
book
to
reduce
that
polarisation
but
does
not
succeed.
In
the
foreword
he
asserts
that
he
is
neither
’blinkered
nor
biased’
but
it
is
evident
from
the
emotive
title
of
the
first
chapter
’The
Dawn
Raids’
that
he
will
concentrate
on
the
system
vic-
timisation
of
the
families
involved
and
the
book
is
marred
by
the
use
of
the
melodramatic
language
already
employed
by
the
press.
Mr
Black
gives
a
romanticised
description
of
this
community
and
what
comes
through
is
a
disbelief
that
people
living
in
this
respectable
tran-
quil
environment
could
be
capable
of
abusing
children
in a
frightening
and
diabolical
way.
His
identification
with
the
parents
and
the
trauma
they
ex-
perienced
hinders
a
more
objective
look
at
the
dilemmas
faced
by
the
authorities
in
the
light
of
serious
allega-
tions
and
bound
by
confidentiality.
This
book
does
well,
however,
to
highlight
and
re-einphasise
some
im-
portant
principles
relating
to
child
sex-
ual
abuse
allegations
namely
the
need
for
interagency
guidelines
and
case
conferences,
the
need
to
respect
the
rights
of
children
and
parents
and
the
fact
that
evidence
should
not
be
depen-
dent
on
the
removal
of
children
from
their
homes.
Mai
Bentley
Senior
Court
Welfare
Officer,
Rocbdale
Managing
the
Probation
Service:
Issues
for
the
1990s
R
Statham
and
P
Whitehead
(Eds)
Longman,
1992;
pp
190;
£15.95
pbk
Books
with
subtitles
like
’Issues
for
the
1990s’,
whatever
their
subject
matter,
ought
to
carry
a
government
health
warning
’Worthy
but
Dull’.
And
yet
it
was
a
good
idea
of
Roger
Statham’s
and
Philip
Whitehead
to
collect
together
a
series
of
essays
on
current
management
issues.
This
is
a
crucial
time
for
managers
of
the
Service,
and
upon
senior
managers
especially
there
lies
a
heavy
responsibility
to
sustain
something
of
the
Probation
Service’s
historical
vision.
And
there are
indeed
some
worthy
essays
here.
Philip
Whitehead
on
Information
Systems,
Cedric
Fullwood
on
Partnerships,
even
a
brave
attempt
at
an
’Agenda
for
the
Future’
by
Roger
Statham
himself
and
Philip
Whitehead.
So
what’s
gone
wrong?
Well
for
me
at
least,
once
the
editors
had
decid-
ed
to
invite
a
contribution
from
Bill
McWilliaxns,
the
value
of
the
book
was
To continue reading
Request your trial