Child protection social worker- ask me anything!

[NynaeveSedai]

With the recent rash of social worker related posts recently which have been FULL of frankly bollocks I thought I would offer to answer any questions.

Disclaimer - different local authorities do things slightly differently though national standards should be followed, and I'm in England so can't talk about the rest of the uk

Do you think breaching court orders and parental alienation should be investigated as abuse?

Social workers have less power than the courts so if an order has been breached the courts have to deal with it. Social workers can't enforce court orders - we could write an assessment stating why we believe it is emotionally abusive but it wouldn't achieve anything.

Thanks Pasta

So if parents don't consent is that just it .. no action ?

NotAnotherHeffalump Our local authority used to have a basic rule that any DC out into the family should be two years younger than the youngest child as they had done some research on the impact on the structure of the family and decided that worked best. Fostering is a fantastic thing to do but is best looked on as a job, it involves a significant time commitment it terms of training, being available for the meeting meetings that LAC DC have, transport to contact, additional health appoints etc. You are going to know when you have the space to devote to that.

Why is consent an issue when making a referral to children services

Because we don't live in a totalitarian state and unless the threshold for CP/care proceedings has been met, parents have the right to withhold consent to some or all of an investigation.

No question, but just wanted to say that all the SWs we have come across during approval, placement and subsequent 10 years have all seemed professional, child centred and caring. Thank you.

Thank you. Most of us are I believe

Not really an investigation but just a referral by a non statutory agency about a child. That agency wouldn't necessarily know if there had been any previous concerns.

How is a picture pieced together ?

What do you think of sgo 's ? We were offered one but ended up having to sadly refuse it on the basis that we'd only get 2 years worth of social services support and the little girl would most likely need years of additional mental health support due to her childhood (alcoholic mother, negelct, violence, suspected sexual abuse, etc). We wouldn't have qualified for any financial assistance as dh earns too much, but the thing that really put us off was that the social workers explained that after 2 years we'd be in our own and if this little girl started self harming/developed alcohol issues as a teenager/etc then we'd be on our own with no help or support from them. She's had such a traumatic childhood and will probably be more vulnerable as a teenager, we have our own dc as well and when we asked for a guarantee of continued support we were told this was not possible. We just got the impression that placing her with us would be the easiest and cheapest option for social services, and not in the best interest of the child or our family.

Ps, thank you for the amazing job you do - having now met some social workers im in awe of your professionalism when dealing with very upsetting situations.

I have PND and anxiety. DS is 5months and thriving. The perinatal team come and see me every few weeks and I'm doing really well.

However, at the start I used to imagine DS dieing in really awful ways (never me murdering or anything I'd just get an intrusive thought of him laying dead after being hit by a car or falling down the stairs) it was awful and those thoughts aren't so bad anymore but now I'm really worried that he's going to get taken away.

I'd die before anything bad ever happened to him. He's the most loved little boy in the entire world. He's so happy and wants for nothing. I cuddle him all day and my love for him is so strong.

I just sometimes get a bit worried that someone will think I'm not good enough for him and take him away. Its heart breaking and keeps me awake at night. I'm scared to tell my HV incase it's a trigger to alert SS. Is that the case or am I just being silly? Will SS have been told already at the start?

sirlee66 I'm really meant to be catching up on the ironing, but I just wanted to say that no, social care will not be given a referral for every mother who receives medical support for depression, you would know if there was a referral because the agency making the referral would let you know. Social care would not get involved because of the intrusive thoughts you experience, they do not pose a risk to your DC. Please ask your team for the support you need. It would seem possible that your anxiety is triggering some of your thoughts, you are not being silly but you are focusing your anxiety on something that you do not need to fret about.

What do you think of sgo's
My violence worth, and the OP may have a different view, it's that they are generally ok but with there being a big push towards more SGOs and family placements (the basis of this push being for good reason) there will be some SGO placements that are likely to break down in the future.

In your particular case, it was clearly the right decision for you to make. However, I am not sure what support social care could have offered you as the support that the child may have been likely to need on the future would more likely be from CAMHS so she would have to access such support as any other child would.

Tuppence worth, not violence!!

What happens when children are violent towards their parents or younger siblings?

yes what happens when a younger sibling gets punched and emotionally abused on a regular basis?

I don't think there is a one size fits all answer to sibling or child to adult violence, The responses vary hugely depending on the individual circumstances. I have known youth offending teams get involved with sibling abuse if it is severe and the perpetrator is older, other situations were the children with disabilities team get involved, some areas have specific intensive intervention teams that focus on teenagers with behaviours which are challenging. Children are obviously are not treated in the same way was adults.

I would like to know what it was that inspired you to do social work and what are the best or most necessary qualities or attributes someone could possess who is considering a career in sw.
Thank you x

I don't think there is just one kind of person who is good at social work, there are quite a wide range of jobs you can do in it. I know some very intelligent, thoughtful and calm people who are excellent therapists who have come through child protection social work. I know other people who are practical, focused high energy people who are excellent long term child protection workers. It is a good career for older people who for one reason or another didn't go straight to degree as they often have lots of valuable life experience and don't get the inevitable questions about how can you know anything you aren't old enough and don't have kids. More intellectually inclined people can read through recent research and work out how to apply it to practice. Ideally you want a wide mixture of people in your work place.
I pretty much fell into it by accident but I think that happens to a lot of people with their careers.

Why when a malicious and anonymous referral has been made, investigated and then confirmed to be so are the "victims" not issued with any support or apology?
And WHY would this remain on child's file without a fight?

Social care have a duty to investigate an significant concerns that are raised to them. It must be very distressing for the family if they are malicious but until they are investigated social workers have no idea if concerns raised are founded in fact or not. I am unclear where the apology would come in really. If concerns aren't investigated we have no way of knowing the validity of them, it is merely a necessary fact finding mission for social care although obviously more distressing for the individuals involved.
All contact with social care is kept on record, there are several reasons for this, the most useful one in terms of malicious referrals is that there is often more than one and it helps to build up a pattern. They can also come from more than one source but say the same thing for example. So proper records help social workers recognize what is going on.

In eastenders with the Stacey storyline when SS took the kids away because of Carmel's call. Would this of happened?

Not read the full thread so sorry if these have been asked but:

1. After hearing a really horrible referral how do you look after yourself? Obviously won't go into details but I work in a school, child told me something horrendously bad, I kept it together at work and handled it all as safeguarding training says I should but it was heartbreaking and I didn't sleep properly for ages.

2. How much do you judge an adult that has been in care if their child is then referred? I've heard from a few girls I was in care with who are parents now that social workers always seem to judge them more and be harder on them after they realise they've been in care which scares me.

I was an independent visitor for a girl in a children's home for 3 years. The care staff were excellent, but she has had 5 social workers in that time. The first one was excellent, invested in her as I am sure they were their other cases. The subsequent ones were utterly crap. One actively avoided me and my concerns.They didn't know the first thing about her-one I spoke to didn't even know she had siblings, I often had to remind them of things about her or tell them things she was involved in. I have become SO frustrated with their lack of care and compassion, the inconsistency, the mess, the losing track of important things that it is very difficult for me to not become adverse to the social work system. Do you see things like this happen? I admit, it is in an area with a bad reputation SW/kids in care wise. I assume this can be put down to cuts?

Are sibling relationships not seen as important? Once said girl turned 18 I facilitated meetings as she missed them so much (I am now involved with all of them as young adults)? Would it not be seen as important to keep siblings together in care or at least make it an importance that they knew one another growing up? Why?

@tworoundsofwaterplease thank you for doing that for her, my experiences growing up in care weren't that recent (13 years) but someone like you could have made it a lot better, SS are over worked and I'm sure try their best but they are also often very scary to a kid in care and having someone who is there to fight your corner must be amazing!

menolly not OP but they said other social workers could chip in. Regards managing distressing stuff, you start to adjust during training, you have supervision, supportive colleagues play a large role and having a really clear home work divide helps. Secondary trauma is a real thing you have to be careful to make sure you don't become too blase about things that should shock you. I was once asked this question in an interview and after saying the above I added a hot bath and a glass of red wine helped. There will be times you get upset.

It isn't my experience that a mother's who have been in care are judged more than others, it is true that this group can be more vulnerable in a number of ways. Good enough parenting is always the base line for every parent.

Thank you, menolly I've done a lot of stuff (for want of a better way of putting it) in life but being involved with her was by far the most taxing, moving, emotive and downright hardest thing I've ever done .She's 19 now and unfortunately very troubled. Which makes me wonder if I could have done any better. I also worry about her becoming pregnant.