I used to work in a role up till very recently that supported families going through allegations of FII (fabricated or induced illness) or ‘risk of future emotional harm’ (there didn’t need to be any proven harm that had already taken place and social services didn’t need to explain exactly what they thought the risk would be in specific terms just ‘risk of future emotional harm’
Prior to that role I thought social services were always correct and only investigated and removed children for proven abuse or where there was evidence or a disclosure. Cases where there was DV or severe drug issues or neglect.
These were often applied to families where children had medical conditions and/or autism.
Common ‘red flag’ conditions were:
-ASD
-ADHD
-EDS
-Allergies
-digestive or feeding issues
-ME
-anxiety / camhs involvement
Often the families were asking for additional support and/or an EHCP and schools made referrals. Low school attendance due to illness was weaponised against these families even with proof of conditions etc
Many had their children removed. We had to help collating evidence for court because these families were broken. In every case we found huge inaccuracies in reports from professionals and were able to counter each allegation or false info with evidence to prove otherwise but this was often deliberately overlooked and was extremely frustrating.
very limited contact was offered and sessions were always wrongly recorded.
in cases of FII the routes you would normally take to clear your name are blocked as they’ve been deemed ‘red flags for FII’ so getting a second or private opinion is going to make the situation worse as is making a formal compliant as it’s seen as attention seeking.
We advised all parents to covertly record all meetings. When we then had reports etc back it was inaccurate and full of false information-luckily we had recordings we could transcribe to use in court.
I don’t doubt in this case that they are probably trying to evade ss. What I want to get across to people that sadly it’s not always clear cut that social services are doing the right thing.
This could be a case of DV or something else and then yes we need SS to step in and help but I think In general people are very ignorant as to what social services currently are doing to a lot of innocent families and we don’t knew the facts here so can’t rule anything out.
Im not saying it is but if this is a case where it’s FII/risk of future emotional harm then i can understand why they have taken this action it’s obviously not right but these families get desperate.
there’s plenty of info re FII/ risk of future emotional harm out there ans children are routinely removed due to it.
The BASW guidance for social workers re FII and perplexing presentations By Cathie Long is a good read
the website ‘not fine in school’ mentions it.
’FIIghtback’ website is another good resource and supports parents