Non-Verbal DN hurt at SEN school - police involved - no other info; advice?

[adviceplease2104]

I’m posting on behalf of my sister, as she’s going through a horrible situation and we’re desperate for advice or insight - especially from anyone who’s worked in schools, safeguarding, or the police.

Her son (my nephew) is autistic and non-verbal. He attends a special needs school and also gets 1:1 care outside school from a staff member he’s really familiar with - I’ll call her Ann.

Earlier this week, Ann told my sister directly that she had accidentally thrown something across the room at school and it hit DN, causing a tiny cut on his head. She was very apologetic and said he was laughing and fine afterwards, so at the time my sister wasn’t massively concerned.

Then yesterday, the school suddenly called saying Ann has been suspended, and the incident has been reported to safeguarding and the police. Apparently someone witnessed it and interpreted it seriously enough to escalate. My sister was totally blindsided.

She’s been told absolutely nothing beyond that. The school won’t answer any of her questions - they just say it’s under police investigation and the police will call her at some point. DN obviously can’t tell us what happened, and my sister is now completely in the dark. She doesn’t know if it was an accident or something more deliberate.

She’s going to call 101 to see if they’ll tell her anything, as the school won’t even confirm who was in the room, or what hit him. They’ve also told her to cut off all contact with Ann in the meantime.

It’s such a helpless situation, and she’s heartbroken not knowing if someone she trusted hurt her son. But also wondering if it’s all just a huge misunderstanding and this woman’s being wrongly accused.

Has anyone been through anything like this? Or can anyone shed light on:

What the school/police are actually allowed to say to parents while this is ongoing?
How long these investigations normally take?
Is she within her rights to push harder for information?
And if you’re a teacher or have dealt with safeguarding cases - do schools really have to go totally silent like this?

She’s just desperate to have more information on what has happened, as naturally she’s worried that Ann might have been hurting him outside of school, when she’s often alone with him. Any advice, or insight into how these processes usually work, would be so appreciated. Thank you!

I don’t have any advice but I couldn’t read this and not say that I’m so sorry your nephew and sister are going through this 😢

The school have taken the right steps. They won’t be able to comment any further as they will be waiting for the police to advise them. It is a small comfort that Anne won’t be at the school until a decision has been made by the police and then the school, as to whether a crime has taken place and/or she has adhered to the schools policy.

The police will probably get in contact with your sister at the very least to see if she’s had previous concerns etc. There is no harm in her calling them but she might have to wait for the police officers involved to come back to her.

Tell her not to worry (easy to say) about Anne being wrongly accused. It’s not her decision to make and it appears everyone is following procedure which is a positive.

I would also advise your sister to take a photo of the cut as the police may want to see this.

Its obviously a worrying time for you all but it’s good that so far the school have been transparent and followed procedure.

She does need to know who is giving the statement on behalf of her son. Does her son communicate in any other way (just because he isnt verbal doesnt mean he cant communicate a situation), what are the police using to establish from him what happened?

Sometimes things happen in settings like this, care homes, schools etc, which are not abuse or neglect but a practice concern about how someone made a decision to act, which then turned out badly. ie she might have thought it was fun or convenient to throw something over the room for some reason but it was poor judgement which then caused (unintentional harm) to a child.

Harm was caused, but it doesnt mean it was abuse or a criminal matter.

On the other hand Ann might have done it angrily or something.

Your sister needs to contact the LA and ensure that LADO are involved (my ds has severe autism and had an incident with his PA's so a similar circumstance). She needs to do this especially if Anne is paid for via direct payments or for any funding via the LA for respite. The school should have done this but I wouldn't be surprised if they haven't.

LADO or likely a social worker will then liase with yourself as well as the police. If she is sacked she will likely be put on the dbs barring list so she can't work with vulnerable people in the future regardless of if the police take action.

I'm sorry your nephew and your family are going through this.

Just to add, definitely take the photograph of any injury and keep track/ diary any change in his behaviour.

Yes, of course Ann being wrongly accused is the best outcome for everybody! Or even that she was just careless/ unprofessional in her actions, but not acting deliberately.

no, he would not be able to communicate what happened - he will pull you over to something he wants etc. in the moment , but there is no way he could shed light on a past incident.

He does go with Ann happily outside of school which feels like a good sign (eg if she was unkind in secret then he’d maybe be more reluctant) - but my sister is worried that this is maybe just because he’s so used to being with her as she looks after him regularly through the holidays (as there are no other options for SEN kids in her area).

Ann does often comment that he has scratched/ hit her, which he does do sometimes - obviously not easy behaviours to cope with (I’ve worked in the field myself) but she works in a SEN school and has chosen to look after him outside of school so seems strange to continue doing this if she was struggling to cope.

My sister says it’s so difficult as Ann would be the last person she’d suspect of this & previously, she would have trusted her more than almost anyone to look after him properly.

So does anyone have any idea on timescales for either the investigation to conclude, or when the school/ police may share a bit more info? We’re mainly just desperate to know whether the witness thought it was deliberate/ done out of anger, or accidental (but careless/ negligent).

Really feels like she has the right to know at least this, to be honest.

There should have been a strategy discussion held with social services and police (and other relevant agencies such as the school and LADO if the referral came in on time). Ask SSD for the date and outcome of this.

Thank you - what/ who is SSD?

Social Services

I’m guessing it wouldn’t be appropriate to call the out of hours number for social services? So I guess the police are her only hope for getting more information before Monday?

She could call OOH but all they'll probably do is leave a message for the day MASH or front line teams to call her back on Monday. Given its earlier this week this happened its a bit of a surprise that no one has been in touch.

I wonder if she can ask for a family liaison officer to be assigned to the family. This is a very challenging situation for your family to be put it.