Urgent help needed please - child protection/SW related.

[Reallyneedhelpwiththisone]

My son has a friend (both 15) the parents have washed their hands of him (substance issues from his parents) the friend stayed with his uncle in a different location for around 8 months.

The uncle also has substance issues and has been leaving this kid regularly and neglecting him. It turns out he has also been getting high and verbally and emotionally abusing him.

This kid has been at my house all day due to unsafe behaviour at the uncles. I called school who said they didn't know what to do, so they called SS who phoned me and told me there's not a lot they can do here.

They have tried to investigate before and the uncle told them to fuck off, so they did.

They have asked if this kid can stay at mine until they come up with a plan on Monday. I asked them to try and get something sorted by tomorrow really (I have cancer and younger kids and really don't want a junkie showing up being abusive) but they said they can't force the kid to do anything due to his age. They told me to call the police if uncle shows up high or gets abusive.

I can't put the kid back to uncles, he can't go to his parents, and I have no timescale or plan from SS.

What do I do here?

You call the out of hours duty team tell them you’ve had enough come and collect the young person that you and your family safety is compromised, in such case the LA will have to look for an emergency placement

We had a similar situation a few years ago and it was really difficult to get anyone to do anything.
In the end DS friend stayed with us for 6 weeks - I was told by SS that to get help with a safe place for this young person they would have to present themselves as homeless at the local council offices 😢
I had to walk this frightened 16yo through town with his belongings in a duffel bag and let him go into the offices to speak to the homeless team on his own - absolutely heartbreaking.
I had a phone call 15 mins later from the council team asking if he could stay just a few more days and I had to say no as otherwise there wouldn't have been any help.
He got a place in supported accommodation I guess because of his age and now has his own place

SS said that he wouldn't be eligible for a placement. His situation hasn't been assessed as unsafe so he has somewhere to go.

At the moment the choice is here or his uncles.

Neither are ideal.

Don't accommodate him, he isn't your responsibility. He needs a place of safety and tell them you don't feel able to keep him safe.

At this time of the day I’d contact the police and explain he’s unsafe and you can’t keep him, the police can take him to a place of safety and liaise with social work to find an emergency placement. The out of hours social work team are unlikely to have anyone who can attend and are likely to bring pressure for you to keep him. Be prepared for the police to do a welfare check on the uncle and possibly return him there. There are precious few emergency placements and a 15 year old isn’t likely to get one over, say, an infant who is wholly dependent on safe carers.

Zone2North London has given you the best advice. I certainly would say in Scotland SS would not be keen to place an almost 16 year old in care if there is no history of accommodation being required. That said, they may have no choice if another informal carer cannot be found.

I can't let him get put back to uncles. I saw the messages he was getting they were awful. The situation, in general is awful.

SS have told me its here or there, he's refusing to go back there, they won't help.

No, the local authority has a statutory duty to case manage CP and If that includes an emergency placement then so be it
As I said you call duty out of hours and tell them you can no longer facilitate this arrangement
Every C&F has a contingency budget code they access for emergency out of hours placement. it needs escalation to service manager for authorisation
Every LA has experience of arranging emergency placement at short notice, you cannot be compelled to continue if unwilling