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

stillme indeed it wouldn't be surprising at all and reminds me I left women's aid and refuges off my first list, also the RSPCA as there can be links to animal cruelty.

Hmm. Fair enough. I see people out of hours in my job (NHS) and am obliged to do this one day a week to take account of working people. I was a little bit surprised that it was just assumed I would be available during the day.

Pasta - funny you should bring up animals. I am not at all sure that the animals around the scene are totally well cared for.

I doubt social workers would be able to see everyone on their caseload who worked in one evening a week. When I worked in a long term team I would sometimes see people at the very start or end of my day but that wouldn't be safe in an assessment team. I don't think I have ever had a clinic appointment at a hospital for any of my family that wasn't 9-5, or a school meeting etc, it's the same.

There are well known links between animal and child cruelty and a conviction for animal cruelty is always something social workers note.

Animals cant talk. Children may not know who to talk to. Senior adults may not be able to swallow their pride to admit the situation.

Jeez what kind of person am I dealing with here? Not a decent person to be sure.
To my shame I have been a coward.
Thanks for responses

What about isolation of child and senior person. Would that be significant?

I really don't know anything about adults but isolation does crop up in serious case reviews in relation to dc. It isn't an indicator of abuse or neglect but it does make it harder for others to observe what is going on. Multi agency work is very important in child protection, talking to schools, health visitors etc for this reason it is about getting a complete rounded picture from a range of perspectives.

What happens if you go to your gp for depression? Does the doctor tell social services? And if so, what happens then?

Child isolated from relatives and young friends. Older person also isolated from others. Isolation to me is something to worry about. Divide and conquer is a phrase I have heard of before. It also removes the possibility of anyone for the abused to speak to or even to say something which would raise suspicion.
I am more worried than ever.

aftereights91 It would be very unusual for a GP to make a referral to social services following a visit from a patient about depression. My own DH has been twice for this reason and we have never even considered social services would be contacted. This would only happen if it was felt that there was a risk to DC specifically in some way. Solely in my own personal experience we received very few referrals from GP's for anything when I worked on a duty team, they would mostly come from midwives, health visitors and sometimes a school nurse in the health arena. 1 in 4 people have a mental health issue very few of those have a referral to social services.

How often to LAC end up having children that become LAC?

I guess it's quite common. I couldn't say in percentages

What's the most rewarding aspect of you role and what's the worst?

Rewarding when you click with a family and get alongside them and really help them all communicate, work on their issues and come out safer and happier. The worst when you have a child who has been let down by everybody and can't settle with foster carers, and you just know they are going to suffer from the lack of attachment figure. Long term lac children without a stable placement don't do well.

Have you experienced many of these cases? Do you feel you listen more to the doctors than the families?

I haven't experienced anything like that. We do listen to doctors on medical matters.

How much of your work is straight forward abuse and how much tends to be well meaning parents who aren’t parenting well for what ever reason?

Most parents are well meaning. Cases of deliberate cruelty, sexual abuse etc are rarer then cases of neglect due to MH or substance misuse issues.

how many parents of children you/your colleagues have removed were in care themselves

Some - but it's more a case of parents not having the tools to parent effectively because of their own experiences as children, which may or may not have led to them coming in to care. Being previously lac isn't hugely common but having experienced neglect or trauma as a child is very common

How many children in care do you feel end up better off long term than if they had remained in their homes?

If they can settle with long term foster carers they have a good chance of doing ok. Some children never do - but that doesn't mean they are worse off than they would have been staying at home.

Abuse in care does happen but it's thankfully very rare

The report was badly written getting the children and his names mixed up and facts completely wrong. Should I bring it up or just leave it?

I would encourage you to put your feedback in writing but don't expect much to happen. At least it will be kept on record.

Just how? does it make you permanently doubt people? judgemental, cry into your coffee?

Actually no. I tend to think that most people are generally well intentioned but also everybody is flawed. The balance of intentions and flaws can get tipped massively in the wrong direction when situations are bad but people aren't generally bad. I don't cry over work very often, But it does happen

every child I lived with experienced abuse of some form... either by other children in care, by staff or by people who specifically target vulnerable children

Most children in care live in families, not residential children's homes. So I'm very sorry that you experienced this but it's not the usual experience of children in care, most of whom don't live with other lac kids and aren't necessarily identifiable as being lac.

Would neglecting to provide a child a hot meal because mum was too tired warrant investigation?

Surely it's obvious from the rest of this thread that it wouldn't?

What is the method of dealing with a situation where there is multiple abuse going on? If it is reported to Social Workers that a child or adult is being abused why would they not look into the full picture

You're asking about a specific case which is impossible for me to comment on without knowing the facts (and I'm not asking for the facts) but if you believe abuse is ongoing please report it again.

I was a bit surprised that SWs do not work out of hours at all. Is this not a thing?

Some will do late visits if they can manage it but our office hours are 9-5. I don't do ate visits because I have my own child to collect. Social services are not an emergency service and out of hours emergencies should be reported to the police and/or health services

I see people out of hours in my job

Bear in mind the nature of social work; it's potentially risky for social workers to visit people in their home and if you're visiting after your team have all gone home you could be very vulnerable. Likewise office buildings need to be secured (we have a security guard who secures the building and goes home at a certain time) so you couldn't invite people to the office out of hours either. We don't have the infrastructure to make lone out of hours working safe.

What happens if you go to your gp for depression? Does the doctor tell social services? And if so, what happens then?

No, not unless you disclose that you are harming your child. I personally have been to the GP and had a course of anti depressants. I told my boss but that was my own choice to do so.

Thankyou