failed by Social Services

[CuriousClaimant]

I’m wondering if anyone else here feels they were seriously failed by Social Services growing up.

I’m talking about situations where:

• you should have been removed from abusive or unsafe parents but weren’t,
• concerns were known but nothing meaningful was done,
• the local authority seemed to protect itself instead of the child,
• or you’ve since discovered that you’re “time-barred” from making any kind of claim or complaint because too much time has passed even though you were a child at the time and had no control over any of it.

If you’re comfortable, could you share your experiences?
How did you find out what happened (or didn’t happen)?
And how have you coped with the fact that the system failed you?

I’m looking to hear from others who’ve been through something similar - whether for solidarity, perspective, or just to know I’m not the only one.

Thanks to anyone who’s willing to reply.

Which paper are you from?

Op, I'm very sorry if you were failed by social services. Its terrible parents who were to blame first. And every single child failed by awful parents is a tragedy.

I had a neglectful and abusive childhood. Not enough to warrant social services. Enough to scar me for life. Now I have my own children, I realise even more how innocent and wonderful they are, and how each one deserves a protected and loving childhood.

I hope you can find a calm and healing environment as an adult.

I’m not a journalist

In which case, the person asking the question usually shares their own experience first.

Then why are you asking? It sounds like you’re wanting people to share traumatic experiences for some sort of research.

Unless you’d like to start with your own traumatic experiences, of course.

I didn’t see a rule anywhere that said I shouldn’t ask, but I understand why someone might not want to share their experience, and I’m not making anyone do that. I’m not a journalist I’m not going to be uploading this to any newspapers. I myself walls failed by social services, which is actually implied in the original post. When I say I don’t want to feel alone.

Hi OP, I'm sorry you were let down. I don't have personal experience of the situation you survived, but I have distant family links to the cases of two children who were failed by everybody in their lives. My partner is related to Rikki Neave who was killed in 1994. He was brutalised and neglected by his mother, his father was absent, and social services were slow to act to safeguard him. That created a situation where he was able to play truant from school without anybody noticing and be murdered by an older child. Police were so certain it must be his mother who killed him, despite that not fitting the evidence, that they didn't properly look for his actual killer for 20 years. He was missing for 10 hours at the age of 6 before anybody even noticed.

I'm also distantly related to Charlene Downes through my stepfather. She was known by social services in two different towns (Coventry and Blackpool) to be a long-term victim of sexual abuse both in and out of her home. She wasn't safeguarded and to this day 20+ years after her disappearance none of the men who groomed and abused her, nor the family members who neglected her, have faced charges. There were barely any photos in existence of her when she disappeared and her mum waited 48 hours to report her 14 year old daughter missing.