No but they can and do set the precedent of a narrative that they believe is true and rely there on confirmation bias.
If one social worker has created a mutiny of false statements pelleted with a bit of truth, most people would imagine it may not be wholly accurate however it’s likely not that far off, that being said the next professional will trust what the sw has said, and the next and the next until the original narrative by the sw has now been replicated times over by other professionals and with the collective implied weight of trust they hold, and the chain of social workers and management that trail along after, it is easy to see how it happens.
They can and do take things out of context, and it only had to be small things but those small things put together rather than a big arse lie, end up painting a picture that doesn’t reflect the reality.
Example, your child is used to a SEN friendly dentist but your next visit, there’s a locum, child won’t co operate so a referral for sedation is made, when it comes through it’s four hours away and you don’t drive, your family aren’t in the same country, you can’t use public transport nor can you use a taxi as whomever drives you there had to remain in the hospital with you.
You have other kids and no childcare. So you ask the school nurse to have the sedation referred to the city you are in and they take a few months to action this. Eventually they do send off the referral but by this point your child is with their dad, none of this is mentioned just that mum neglected dental health. Or you are slightly late applying to a secondary school place because of SEN needs and you need the accompanying information for a particular school out of catchment with a low chance of getting in as it’s over subscribed.
Infer SEN ‘laws’ your child can be out of a catching for a school that ‘best meets their needs’ with distance irrelevant. By time your child is not being returned from dad, you’ve been given two school places inc the one you fought for outside catchment.
doesn’t matter, it will say mum failed to apply for secondary school. When a social worker has failed or aligned with the wrong parent, and you get that far along the way, it is unlikely that the social worker will admit or acknowledge they have backed the wrong horse.
We would all love to think that the system is watertight, social workers want to keep families together or they all do the right thing but I think in all manners of the system, it becomes more about winning at any cost than it does about putting the truth to the court.
When mistakes have been made as catastrophic as they were in my case, you’d like to think the social worker would be affronted they’d been hoodwinked or taken their eye off the ball and do whatever is required to amend and correct.
But they don’t, there’s thousands of parents in situations like this and it is extremely difficult to have a social worker held to account. It’s true that if you begin to complain during the early stages before PLO that things will get worse for you.
Then when in any kind of court setting, you’re not permitted to complain, after court you are then told your complaint won’t be looked at as you had a barrister so shrugs even one thing I asked the sw management to explain to me, I said why did you maintain I put my child at risk of significant harm by going against medical advice when you had my medical records, perinatal records and even during proceedings found nothing in child’s hair and no neglect of anything untoward in the child? The answer was you had a barrister, the matter is closed.
this has been the hardest situation I’ve ever been involved in that I just cannot understand how why what when and so on. All the guidance, procedures, laws, mandatory frameworks and so on designed to ensure that these things not only don’t happen, but can’t happen, don’t appear to be implemented and it is like pot luck if you have a social worker who is genuine in their vocation.
My friends and family, and myself, have always held social workers with respect and high regard for what they do. To see first hand what happened to me has thrown everyone of us into a million little pieces of shock, despair and utter bewilderement wondering how the f.877 could this happen in 2025? How can this happen?
I am going to tell my full story when it is safe to do so because if the LA aren’t going to answer as to why this or why that then the internet world will.
since this all happened, I have found my rights (which were completely ignored, and the situation prior will be subject to civil action against the LA) and in now initiating court and with the knowledge I now have in how to work with a system like this, and what I am entitled to under the law to be an equal in this process, when I recieved the allocated sw email this week I cried and I cried and I cried with relief that the energy I poured into advocating for fairness paid off.
I can’t correct the narrative from court prior. I never stood a chance. But I can correct it via Cafcass.
the reason so many posters think there must be more to it, social workers don’t do this, Is so disheartening and does nothing to expose the very real and ongoing systemic failures of ultimately, children. Family court is private, but that privacy allows for these catastrophic errors of justice to be made, I believe social workers should have body cams on so that there is no discrepancy when it comes to what was and wasn’t said. You are allowed to record meetings with or without their consent.
other posters who have said to send in a letter with your evidence are correct / do it NOW and nip it in the bud.
there is a charity called Impact Initiative who offer people to support you via the whole CP process, I wish I had known about them. They attend and make sure you understand what has been written and they can challenge / them being there makes it less likely that you will be framed negatively.
you have to get your ducks in a row here. Do a SWOT analysis on you and your parenting, get support from every and any where you can find or think of. Use Chat GPT (it’s free but I pay the £20 as it turns all my waffle into something normal) and I can also ask it to explain that I really want to work with them but the way I react or the tone of my voice when I am in a trauma response can come over as combative and lacking insight, this isn’t what is going on for me it’s X Y Z, what do you need from me so we can make sure to be fully transparent with no misunderstandings, for example. It’s been a hard hard slog and I’m not anywhere close to the end yet but you have my full sympathies and I believe you.