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

tworounds I have experienced being both the LAC social worker and a long term professional holding the knowledge about a dc as social workers cycled through the case. Stable teams produce the best practice, this is well known.

pasta the one who was the worst (although I must stress, the others weren't much better) left shortly after taking on her case. She was so disinterested and forgot to do most things she advised me she'd do, I'd turn up and she'd told her (child) she was doing something else and so she wasn't there (and was throwing a huge tantrum!) and talked to her like I would talk to someone I hated. It was truly awful to witness and is difficult to explain. And yes, I guess that's applicable across all institutions.

Also, when she left one home and went to a different one, the new one knew nothing about me, and didn't know that at this point it had been approved for her to see her Mother if I was present. This resulted in the child not being permitted to see either of us for about three months which (seriously) totally messed the kid up. She felt she was being punished, and I cannot say I blamed her at that point but felt so powerless. She didn't have a SW at this point after aforementioned one left, the temporary one never responded to my emails or calls.

Sibling relationships are seen as important and in my personal experience usually facilitated through contact. There are a number of reasons dc aren't placed together, some are practical, a shortage of foster carers or some dc remain in care and others are adopted. It can also be in the best interests of the children, they won't always be best suited to the same placement and can end up placed according to their individual needs.

tworounds that sounds very hard for everyone concerned, staff shortages have significant impacts.

It would be more usual for LAC work to be done by a specialist team rather than a CP team nowadays but the impact of staff shortages will be similar.

pasta I have to say some of my loveliest moments in life were seeing them together and getting to know one another again. I am with you on the sometimes it just won't or can't work. They were all in such close proximity though, but at different schools. It seems odd that they never got to even share a playdate. Until I came on the scene they'd not seen one another since the day they were placed. They shared bedrooms and reminisce about the times they had together now. It's bittersweet.
It was awful, pasta. It may sound melodramatic but by the time I did see her again she was a different child.

The cases I know where siblings had no contact there were clear reasons for this and they were discussed at LAC reviews. It would be the norm in all of the LA's I worked in baring specific identified reasons.

How did you approach dementia with a parent?

Apologies phone causing havoc.

I think that would be adult social care, they are totally separate.

Why are so many parents frightened of childrens services nowadays? For example, some are reluctant to take dc to hospital for an accidental injury for fear of child removal or some mums are afraid to visit GP with depression? What is causing this fear?

How is a picture pieced together ?

Children's services have records of all initial contacts and check their systems on every referral to see what has happened previously

What do you think of sgo 's ?

They need to be properly supported. In my local authority they give support until the child is 18. (Not an allocated social worker but access to the team) without that they are not going to work the way they need to

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?

If you haven't been told about it then social services haven't been told about you, don't worry. You would know if a referral had been made.
Your fears are real because they stem from anxiety but they aren't based in fact. Nobody can just decide you aren't good enough and take him from you. Removing children is a very strict process and can only be done with the agreement of the courts. In those situations parents get legal aid and lots of opportunities to make the changes necessary. But that's not you! You haven't even got social services involved. Try to be open with your health visitor, she will be very understanding and reassuring

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

Families are offered interventions to try to reduce the risk, safety planning etc. In some cases children do come into care due to risk to siblings.

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.

I had family members who were social workers and foster carers so I was familiar with it and was just drawn towards it. I always liked working with small children and found that I also liked working with teens. As I've got older and more experienced I've enjoyed more of the relationship building and assessment of parents. I find people interesting like puzzles you need to work out.
Social workers need to be organised, conscientious, principled, committed to best practice and emotionally disciplined I think.

If a non resident parent commits a sexual offence against an adult and is found guilty how would it impact on their contact with their child? Where would the resident parent get advice? sorry if this too specific.

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?

An apology? Children's services are bound by law to investigate allegations of harm to children. If those allegations are malicious it doesn't change the duty to investigate. Children's services aren't obliged to apologise for carrying out their duties under the law.
I'm afraid that once a case is closed it's closed, we don't have the capacity to offer support to people who have undergone an assessment for a malicious allegation.
I can't answer as to why all referrals stay on the system, that would be a question for a data controller type person not a social worker.

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

I didn't watch it but I'm fairly confident in saying definitely not. Soaps always get this stuff completely wrong, which is hideous as it sets up completely false fears in people's minds.

After hearing a really horrible referral how do you look after yourself?

Use my colleagues mostly. You need to share the load of something like this. Sometimes things don't leave my mind for days but I am very busy at home and keep my mind on other things - if I've had a really bad day I might take a sleeping pill and go to bed really early. For some reason going to bed on a bad day helps me.

How much do you judge an adult that has been in care if their child is then referred?

We really don't judge parents who have been in care. Honestly. However unfortunately the reality is that having experienced abuse or neglect can have a negative impact on someone's own parenting capacity. That applies just as much to parents who weren't in care. I assure you that nobody judges anyone for having been in care.

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?

In areas where there are too few social workers, too much turnover and poor management and supervision you have social workers who are carrying cases of 30+ children, going weeks and months without talking about their cases with a manager, barely seeing colleagues to say hi to let alone access support, working 12 hour days, depressed, stressed and burnt out. They are doing impossible work in impossible conditions. It's literally impossible to function properly in those circumstances.

I don't see that kind of thing myself because my LA has a very good approach to social services, good staff retention and low vacancy rates. Our caseloads are 18-20 children on average and we have regular team meetings and supervision.

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?

There are very few foster carers to start with and those that we have often struggle with big sibling groups. Certainly social workers should be advocating for sibling contact and making sure it happens. It is seen as important but again, poor systems don't allow for good practice.

Why are so many parents frightened of childrens services nowadays? For example, some are reluctant to take dc to hospital for an accidental injury for fear of child removal or some mums are afraid to visit GP with depression? What is causing this fear?

A big reason for this is the media. Stories about overzealous social workers taking children from loving parents (when the only source is the parents, and social workers can't comment) lies about adoption targets, misinformation about what social workers do (thanks eastenders), MPs like John H E M M I N G stirring up parents with lies and encouraging them to flee the country, distrust of secret family courts.
Plus some families have a history with social services and they remember terrible practice from the 80s and 90s and are terrified they will get the same treatment now, or they have had children removed from the wider family and the family script is that social services stole them so a culture of fear develops.

f a non resident parent commits a sexual offence against an adult and is found guilty how would it impact on their contact with their child? Where would the resident parent get advice? sorry if this too specific.

The resident parent would need to stop contact. They should consider applying to the family court for an order prohibiting the other parent from removing the child from school, taking them abroad etc. But in the first instance they can and should stop contact.

How has practice changed since the 80s?