Homeless 16 year old vulnerable

[271726a]

This thread is linked to my last thread regarding my DS who is aggressive/ violent towards me.

So DS is temporary at his sisters place. This is short term as she had stuff going on herself.

My son is vulnerable, self harming, tried to end his life , having screening for ADHD. Emotional disregulation. Seeing a psychologist with CAMHS.

As my son is vulnerable I have asked the social worker to put him on a section 20. This would mean they have to give him the help and support he needs until he's at least 21. 25 if he gets a diagnosis. This would also mean he would be given accommodation by them and he would then eventually be housed as a care leaver.

The social worker is saying he's not vulnerable enough. For section 20. Which considering the above I think stew very wrong . She also keeps telling my son to go to SHIPS (single homeless intervention programe) this would mean he would automatically slip through the net. And stew making it seem like it's all simple.

If they don't agree to the section 20. This leaves my son very vulnerable. It means between the ages of 16-18 social services will pay his rent . Ad soon ad he's 18 thru mo longer have to accommodate him snd hew on a park bench.

Every time I mention section 20 to get she says she will look at it but it don't mean he will get it. Its coming across like she had already made up her mind.

So the reason for my posting is I'm wondering if anyone had experienced this or similar or maybe there are professionals on here that could advice?

Challenge it with Social Services, they never encourage anyone to go on a section 20 if they can avoid it because of cost but it will give him much more security. Even on a section 20 they don’t have to provide accommodation at 18 but being a care leaver would afford him much more rights than if not.

Yes that's my point. But its hard to challenge when all atexsaya is no, wr can't do that , no he does not reach the criteria, then we will look into it . But probably not

The only criteria is his age! Re A (court case) was very clear. Take advice from https://www.childrenslegalcentre.com/about-us/what-we-do/child-law-advice-service/

Thank you so much . I'm going to read it properly in a moment. Then print it and heigh light things on it . They must be allowed to refuse to give a section 20 ad well though. So I want to try and find the grounds fir that as well

I would escalate to a manager to look into.

I was thinking about it. But im not sure if its a bit early

They need to assess him under section 17 IF he's homeless but that doesn't guarantee he'll be accommodated under section 20
and if he's currently with his sister then he's not homeless. There isn't a lot you can do to challenge this really, he needs to be homeless to be assessed, that's probably why she's encouraging him to present as homeless...
of course he can have a s17 assessment as a child in need separately from being homeless but that certainly doesn't mean he'll be accommodated. In fact he almost certainly won't, as he has somewhere to stay.

I can almost guarantee it's already been run past a manager who has said no, because he's not homeless.

Ds own social worker has said my ds can't stay there. And she's having a meeting with my sons social worker. I tried to make it clear in the op. By saying my daughter can't have him stay there due to her own needs. Which her own social worker had confirmed. She has not spoken to her manager.

Not sure how you can guarantee that 🤷‍♀️

What county are you in?

Because I'm a social work manager, and these situations come up regularly, we discuss them in supervision and I generally respond pretty much like that ⬆️

She has not told me she's spoken to her manager since she knows how strongly I feel about it. You would think she would tell me she has spoken to her manager if that's the case. And considering he vulnerable my son is. I find Nissan difficult to believe he does not reach the criteria

He isn't currently homeless.
He will age out soon.
If there isn't a substantial history of SS involvement I can't imagine them wanting to step in now.

I don't think anyone is getting it 😔

You would probably have been better carrying on posting on your old thread or at least linking to it for clarity.
Take a step back, the more you do for him the less social services will see him as vulnerable.
He currently has his mother running around after him and his sister housing him, he will be right at the bottom of the pile in terms of needs.

I think you will have to leave it until things break down at his sister's. No one wants to go into care at 16, very vulnerable then to gangs/other influences etc

He would be in a youth type hostel. But section 20 will give him more support . Without the section 20 he will still be in a youth hostel type place. But no support.

Daughters social worker has already said DS can't stay at hers .

A few things.
he will need to consent to section 20. Your consent is not required if he's over 16.
If his needs are as high as you say and he's aggressive then he won't be placed in a hostel. They wouldn't take him if they can't meet his needs and keep him and the other residents safe.
he won't be placed in foster care for the same reason. He may be considered for a residential children's home but given the costs involved and scarcity of placements, not to mention the really negative impact on teens of being placed in such placements this is going to be very difficult to get agreement for.
he's not homeless. If he genuinely, really cannot come home (do you have other children?) then you will need to push for consideration of accommodating him. You will need to request a meeting with the manager. There will be things they will expect from you before any kind of planning of that kind, such as a family network meeting to explore family and friends support.

Thank you that does make some sense. He's never been violent to anyone else only me. So I'm not sure if that changes anything.

He can't come home yes because of the effort mentally and emotionally on the younger kids. But even if I had no kids it would be the same as it is a DV situation and I don't deserve to live like that.

It does sound very complicated . Thank you for explaining it in deep depth. I think it needs deeper exploring and discussion. There may be some stuff I don't fully understand. That needs explaining so I do. It's no good her just saying no. We don't do that no he don't reach the criteria bla bla. She needs to actually explain things