To wonder about all the press on Social Services taking children away?

[goldbracelet]

From good families and parents for no good reason. It is media hype or is there truth in it?

Talking with friends recently, some say they are careful about what they say to the GP for fear of what goes down on record. For example, they would think twice before saying something along the lines of, "I'm finding it hard to cope with my young children while sick with flu (or whatever illness)".

Amy social workers out there who could comment? Is it true that 95% of children are never returned to their parents once removed?

Scary. I can't believe this could happen.

most children who end up adopted are under the age of 3 so most will not have been spoken to about anything due to their age. alot are adopted before they reach 12 months so they to cant voice anything to anyone.

Another dangerous aspect of threads like this is that parents who are already involved with SS may choose to believe that it's all a big conspiracy, rather than them facing up to the fact that their addiction / violent boyfriend / complete lack of parenting skills means that unless they sort themselves out they may lose their children. And it is so much easier to believe that the world is out to get you than to make some big - maybe scary - decisions to change your life. But not the best for the children.

Actually, the average age for adoption is [[http://www.adoptionuk.org/information/103152/e_factsandfigs/ nearly four] years old, with only 2% of children adopted in England being under one year.

So large numbers of children are able to talk about their experiences. And also have been profoundly affected by their experience of living in an abusive or neglected family.

And why are so few children under the age of 12 months adopted? In large part, because the end to end process for removing a child and placing it for adoption is so lengthy, convoluted and subject to multiple review points. Surely if there really were a conspiracy to snatch children they'd be a darn sight more efficient about it?

Link fail - here

www.itv.com/thismorning/life/branded-an-unfit-mother/#.T4uohNREXzM.facebook

I KNOW OF 12 CHILDREN BETWEEN THE AGES OF 11 MONTHS AND 3 YEARS THAT HAVE GONE FOR ADOPTION FROM ONE SINGLE CONTACT CENTRE IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS.

THE NEW LAWS STATE THAT A CHILD CASE MUST BE FINISHED WITHEN 36 WEEKS FROM START TO FINISH. THIS IS A NEW LAW TO SPEED UP ADOPTIONS IN THE UK.

I know this is an emotive and terrible subject. I worked for SS for a few years and the SWs I met certainly who worked with families weren't interested in removing children without very good reason. It wasn't like there were lots of places for them to go immediately.

I now live in Canada and the situation is far worse. There are next to no supports for parents who are struggling, children are removed far more and the system is slow and heart-breaking. I don't think the British system is perfect, far from it, but it is worse most other places.

mysecretworld really over the last 12 months?

A few weeks ago you had no idea how any social service worked or the system in general.

Now you know what's been going on, in details over the last months?

Something isn't right here.

And posting in capitals is just rude.

i have met alot of people since it all started with my grandson. all have lost their children to adoption in the last 12 months (some are still going through appeals to get the adoption order revoked) all of their children were under 3 years old when adopted. some have lost 2 children (some of which the youngest was taken from them when they were only a few hours old).

And you know what about their cases?

I am sorry, but I don't believe and have reported your posts to mn.

In the last few weeks you have gone from someone who doesn't even know what type of facility your dd and grandson are in to someone who knows it all.

In the last few weeks while battling to get your grandson back, you have been getting involved with all these families that are in the next room atcyhe contact centre.

Sorry but I have reported and am out.

My experience like Chundles is where disability comes into it. It is almost like there is a second-class and unscrupulous service.

Possibly because it is less clearcut and more expensive to sort out I don't know.

A mother with ADHD had her daughter removed. I was very close to the case for some time and knew the mother well. She wasn't a brilliant parent tbh but her biggest problem was that her ADHD caused her to play to the attention she got from services with SS in particular.

So, for effect' she would tell the SW that she gave her daughter quavers for breakfast when I KNEW that was untrue and told the SW.

The consequences of all this was a parenting assessment finding her an unfit mother and removing the child. The child's gran stepped in temporarily and wanted to adopt, but SW seemed to have already got so involved and committed to adoption that it took a huge legal battle to keep this child with the gran. One of the problems was that the gran used the foster money to rent a 2 bed place instead of a 1 bed place so that her grandchild could have her own bedroom. This was used against her as abusing the money as it was supposed to be spent on the child.

It was a mess and SS acted appallingly, because it would have been a heck of a lot of work to get to the bottom of the parents ADHDness and give her the support she needed not to lie to social workers for one thing.

I don't know what happened in the end because I was in the midst of my own battle with professionals which meant I had to flee, twice, but I wonder what happened and hope that there was a reasonable outcome for the poor child and her mum.

Hi, I'm a fc and have fostered lots of babies and children. I haven't had a single case where the children's parents haven't been given loads of chances and support - about half my placements are children whose families have been under SS supervision at home, but after an incident have been taken by the police, who are usually bemused that children could have languished so long in the homes they have visited. I would also add that whatever the circumstances, most SWs are very distressed by taking children into care, I have had many in tears as they fill in the paperwork. Sadly, the vast majority of children that are returned to their parents end up back in the system, more damaged than ever.

In my experience, parents are given home support, money, washing machines, furniture, nursery places, phones, new housing and many other things to help keep the family together. Children are not stolen, anything but, and I work with an LA who are seen as strict.

They don't just run in and grab babies. I hate all the negative press and scare mongering you hear about social services.

Personally, I only ever found social services to be very supportive, and I have a series of health conditions which do affect my ability to parent. When I was first told they would be involved during pregnancy, because of my mental health condition, I was terrified. They couldn't have been nicer, more reassuring, or more practical about things.

A also have a friend who had her child removed in very dramatic circumstances. I was horrified for a long time, still get upset about it now, and do believe that the health visitors fucked up, and that the first social worker broke several rules. However. I do also think, after a lot of thinking, that the child is probably better off being adopted.

so what your saying is they DO NOT take new born babies from their parents within a few hours of birth ??????

if you are saying the above then you are most definatly mistaken.

this does happen and will continue to happen.

to sirboobalot ...............

so your saying that your friend should not have had her child with her....

im sorry but if you was a friend of mine and you said that then you would no longer be a friend.

They don't just take children without reason, is what I am saying. They do everything they can to keep families together. Removing children from parents is the last resort.

I love my friend, dearly, and I have been supportive of her throughout. She's recently gone completely off the rails again, however, and so yes, I now feel that SS actually made the right call.

Yes, SW can remove babies within a few hours or days of birth, but only where they have legal authority to do so.

So mysecret, essentially you are saying that ss should never take children from their parents, it is never the right thing to do and Sir Boobalot is simply wrong to conclude ss acted appropriately in her friend's case? Can you not see that you are wrong? Things may have gone wrong in your case (although I still maintain that ss were right to investigate) but you can't possibly say that ss should never intervene or remove children?

Babies can most certainly be removed at birth but not without very good reason and as already pointed out, not without a legal order. This will usually be done after lots of pre planning during the pregnancy.

some are still going through appeals to get the adoption order revoked

You are talking out of your arse entirely. You cannot appeal against an adoption order, it cannot be revoked.

Some babies are removed at birth. Some children are adopted. Some parents are a danger to their children. I'm not sure what you are struggling to comprehend here.

mysecret
I posted earlier about the woman I know who had her children removed. The second was removed at birth because she was still a drug addicted prostitute (which was the reason the first one was removed). As I said in my previous post it was her own family who told social services to remove the child because they didn't want to see a vulnerable member of their own family be neglected and possibly die. The children are with other family members.

A BABY CAN BE ROMOVED FROM THE HOSPITAL WITHIN HOURS OF ITS BIRTH WITH JUST A PPO.

I AM NOT TALKING OUT OF MY ARSE WHEN I SAY I KNOW PEOPLE WHO ARE FIGHTING TO TRY AND REVOKE AN ADOPTION ORDER.

THERE IS A GROUP OUT THERE THAT HELP AND SUPPORT PEOPLE FIGHTING FALSE CHILD ABUSE CLAIMS WITH THE HELP OF MCKENZIE FRIENDS.

THE GROUP IS CALLED THE ANONIMUS FAMILY ARMY.................