The head of the children’s charity Barnardos, Martin Narey has attracted passionate criticism for seeming to suggest that had Baby P not been murdered his background suggests he may have grown up to become “feral, a parasite, helping to infest our streets”.  (Private Eye).  Reportedly Narey, a former head of the Prison Service, had previously stated that to label children was to reinforce their disadvantages.

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph Narey also suggested that more, not less children from problem families should be taken away from their parents and placed in care, rather than keeping the family together at all costs.