To be shocked at "Protecting Our Children"...

[soozlewoozle]

...and the social workers' apparent inability to use child seats properly? I was appalled at the number of times they had children and babies in cars and the straps were really loose or the seat was just way too small for the size of child!

I would have thought of all people, child protection officers would get that right!

Poor little boy. It scares me to think he might be returned to him mother.

too true, there is a little core on MN who worry about the MOST PETTY SHIT EVER , I have a particular dislike for the car-seat-mafia for some reason

That poor baby was living with an alcoholic and a paedophile. His mother thought it was better to let someone take her baby away, than for her to leave her paedophile boyfriend.

I think a 10/20 min journey in an ill fitting carseat was worth the risk.

I thought that social worker was fantastic.

I didn't even notice. Maybe I was too busy looking at the bigger picture...
YABVVU

sounds to me like the OP just wants to find some way to have a go at social workers.

I just wanted to say about the foster parents too, how nice to know that there are such selfless people around - there was a comment by the social worker at the end saying tht he felt the foster mum wanted to keep the lad, i really hope she was able to do that. It restores your faith in what can be a vile society sometiems

Grasping at straws here op to do your 'social worker bashing'

Some people will always bash the professsionals - was the same on OBEM last night - obviously someone watching the programme will have a better grasp of the situation than a health/social professional on the spot, with all the information and a wealth of experience and training. Tbh I don't know why they bother with the professionals, perhaps they should just broadcast these things, and people could phone in with their ideas of what to do.....

Haha I knew someone would raise this! It was hardly the most shocking issue in the programme. But to be fair to OP, its not good if a child gets injured regardless of whether they've just been removed from a more abusive situation or not. I was actually more surprised by the baby being in the front seat facing backwards- thought that wasn't acceptable? Presumably it would have taken the same amount of time to put him in the back as the front? If not, please forgive my ignorance. I don't drive, and D Bump doesn't need a car seat as yet.

Seriously though, what Birds said raises an issue. It sounds like maybe some training on this would be helpful. Social workers need and deserve the right training to safeguard children. Children need and deserve them to have it.

I think the seat is fine in the front so long as the car doesn't have airbags.

Yes Rita you are right - many cars don't have airbags in the front or they can be switched off. I think that poor guy just wanted to get that child away from those monsters with as little as trauma as possible. There thankfully was no injury and maybe he wanted to have the child in the front so that he could interact and reassure him.

I just don't know about this program, i watched it last week and was heartbroken for the parents showed as they clearly had learning difficulties and had had a terrible life themselves, i could have battered the woman myself when she took the child and returned to her drunken boyfriend after she was doing so well, but they were not monsters, just fucked up people, failed by their families and societies. Then you have utter monsters like those on the program the other night and it turns your blood cold - i wouldn't be a social worker for all the money in the world, all that pressure, hands tied by budget limitations and red tape.

Im willing to bet there is training about car seats but that in the heat of the moment he just wanted to get that child the hell out of the situation.

Desperate, upthread Birds mentioned not having had any formal training on car seats. Not sure if that's usual.

Sorry its taken me a while to get back to this - I totally agree that the car seats isn't the most shocking thing in the programme by a long way - and I am not SW bashing, there is no way I could do their job, I have so much respect for people in that line of work, who I would imagine very rarely get thanked for their very important work - however the risk to a baby/small child in an accident due to loose seatbelt straps (which take 5 seconds to do) is enormous.

I would assume that if you are physically shaking from the stress of removing a child your driving isn't going to be at its best, which surely makes it even more important to strap the child in properly..

I wouldn't have been too bothered by a one off, but it was a consistent issue throughout all three programmes... Maybe social workers should know how to transport the children safely!

I haven't seen the programme yet but given what birds says there is an issue there. It would make sense to have - at least - a poster up in the office explaining the rough ages for each group of car seat.

And yes, of course, the whole series was upsetting. But that doesn't mean it's not a valid point.

also, SWs are professionals - I assume in CP they transport children on a regular basis, so surely strapping a child in properly and checking it should be just routine, not something that is done wrong frequently.

I am quite frankly shocked by some of the messages on here. Would you be happy for your child to be driven around in an unsafe manner? I wouldn't. And before anyone comments I wouldn't allow my child to live with a paedophile or in a flat with a bath full of sh*t, either!

I do agree soozle that in an ideal world, every child should be strapped in correctly.

However we do not know the circumstances which led to that particular car seat being used. What if that was the only seat available at that time? What is a CP officer supposed to do in those circumstances? Stand around waiting for a correct car seat to turn up??

And as far as the loose straps are concerned, yes the SW should have stopped and fitted them correctly, but he was taking a child away from its mother. We don't know if the police had told him to leave quickly. It makes perfect sense to remove that baby as quickly as possible before neighbours/relatives etc become involved.

And as someone said upthread in an emergency/bus/taxi, a child does not need a car seat at all.

you were shocked at the car seat size a baby was taken from its drunken mother who was living with a paedophile and the police had to intervene but you were shocked at the carseats , Im sure the car seats were to a safe standard ,

soozle you are right but think about it this is an emergency situation the child I saw in the seat , the baby was safe enough and in a much safer situation than where he was living , this isnt about our children its about other children who are in danger those car seats looked fine to me ,

social workers are trained in car seats and transporting children safely , im not a sw but work with small children ive been on a whole day course on how to transport children safely and i dont even DRIVE , how many parents go on courses to work carseats ,

well I am still shocked at you OP. most of us had our hearts in our mouths at a baby being hauled away from a paedophile, but no, not you! No all cats bum mouth about a farking car seat, nowt as queer as folk

If they had gone in the police car then no seat would be available

A seat would have been brought by another unit from the patrol centre. We have car seats - just not in the patrol cars. We would never transport a child without a suitable seat

I have always said that I could never be a social worker in child protection because I would end up wanting to slap people who abused their children. but having watched this programme I actually can see why people want to do it. And I still don't think I could, but ykwim.

I loved that male social worker, and the way he talked down to that paedophile "well there's a difference between being found not guilty and there just not being enough evidence...."

I agree re the previous week's programme - I felt sorry for them, but that couple I just wanted to slap her for putting her boyfriend above the welfare of her child and him ... well there are no words really for scum like that. Which is why there are other people doing these jobs and not me.

In fairness to the sw, someone said in the office that it was actually very rare for a sw to come back to the office with the baby like that, so presumably if you don't have much experience doing so then you do what you have to do.

My ds is nine now and it's been a bloody long time since I strapped him into a carseat. I'm not sure I could hand on heart say I would do it 100% correctly if I had to do so in an emergency.

"social workers are trained in car seats and transporting children safely , im not a sw but work with small children ive been on a whole day course on how to transport children safely and i dont even DRIVE , how many parents go on courses to work carseats"

They're not. I have a masters degree in social work and transportation was never even touched on (too busy focusing on petty stuff like learning the legal framework and child development), I've also worked across several LAs (both up North and in the South) and not ONCE have carseats been mentioned to me or my colleagues.

Christ, I don't even drive, the one and only time I've had to remove a baby the poor mite was curled up in my arms in the back of a taxi.

My blood runs cold just recalling that case, removing children is a deeply deeply unpleasant thing to have to do, you're conscious it is an absolutely seminal moment in that child (and parent's) life and you're having all kinds of profound thoughts about the sanctity of family and the power invested in you by the state to intervene in that family. You're desperately trying to comfort the child and wondering what sense they're making of it all, you're haunted by the abuse and trauma they have experienced.

And on top of that emotional cocktail you have to remain conscious of your legal remit, and will be making a million phonecalls to sort out a placement, and maybe even have to go back to the office to pull together some paperwork for the foster carer, you're possibly having to get agreements signed, medicals organised and will often be liaising with Police and your manager. It doesn't happen in the smoothly edited way as shown on POC.

Please don't think that the social worker failing to tighten the straps correctly was being sloppy and absent minded, you could see him shaking, he was clearly consumed by this awful and profoundly moving experience. Contrary to popular belief we don't remove children every day, it can be a real shock to the system.