WHILE the debate over the fate of Baby P continues to rage it is simply not enough for official heads to roll.

Many of us no doubt felt physically sick hearing how the 17 month-old was found dead in his blood-stained cot, bearing the effects of systematic and awful violence. And all this in spite of 60 visits by Haringey social workers and being seen by medical staff who missed the catalogue of injuries.

Once more, there is anger, disgust and sheer heartache that a defenceless child has been allowed to die after months of torture under the very noses of the welfare system supposedly designed to prevent it.

Sharon Shoesmith, Head of Children’s Services for the authority, insists that evil people who want to kill children will always do so. Frankly, that’s not good enough.

It would be very easy here to look for someone to blame — Ms Shoesmith, the social workers involved, the paediatrician who missed internal injuries. But that will be absolutely no use unless the system changes dramatically.

Seeping Political Correctness has long meant children being kept with their natural parents if at all possible, to avoid going into care. This may seem, on the face of it, a sensible approach until the lengths that the system is prepared to go to do this are exposed — usually in murder trial evidence of yet another poor little soul.

No-one wants children taken away from their parents needlessly, and I am certain that the officials involved considered that they had made the welfare of the child paramount. But, the criteria for keeping children in previously identified at-risk situations must be at fault.

It has to be, or so many young children would not die or be consistently badly abused at the hands of parents, partners or relatives.

The inquiry into this latest death must not be conducted by the authority involved. That is plainly ridiculous. Investigations must be transparent.

Instead, bring in children’s experts from outside the local authority set-up, like the NSPCC and Barnardos, to study just what is wrong with the way we monitor children’s safety in 2008, and make changes.

Only then will we stop having to shed tears for yet another beautiful child left in the clutches of sadists while officialdom studies its tick boxes.