To think (hope) Eastenders portrayal of social services (Lexi & Lola story) is wrong?

[MoonlightShadows]

I am watching it at the moment and am finding the Lexi/Lola storyline quite disturbing, I can't imagine social services really carry on like this and think it's an unfair portrayal.

[MrsFlibble]

I had dealings with SS, 4 social workers, one of which was the most critical bitch i've ever met, she made me feel like a child most of the time.

I had severe depression, but they did was class me as a neglectful mother, i thought damn hard to get my DD back, but the way the messed her around in her early years, had led her to attachment issues, and being wary around females she doesnt know.

Some social workers are evil, i was told that a family had an SS visit, at this point the kids beds didnt have mattresses as new ones were being delivered that day, the SW put in her report that the kids had nowhere to sleep, another story of a woman who left a little plate of snacks out for DCs, SW reported the house to be untidy.

Another SW i know of, turns a blind eye to her daughter leaving her DC's home alone they are both under 2.

So no the SS are not perfect.

[Bellalowe]

I am amazed at how much blind trust we put on social services by people who have been lucky enough to never had encounters with social services. Perhaps it's only me as I have read up on the despicable lengths social services go to rip children from their loving parents up and down the country, often these children end up far worst in foster care never to see their families again until they turn 18 if they choose to. By then they have lost all traces of their heritage not knowing the full extent of the damage left behind on their real family embers, made by the social services who have by now moved on to wreck thousands more families.
Don't get me wrong there are children that are in dire need of help from the very bad situations however I can post 2 links from many from the top of my head that may or may not make some of you gain a newer perspective of Child protection services in the U.K. making the Lola & Lexi story line seem more of a real depiction of the draconian system our social services have now morphed into. MP's and other protestors consisting of both innocent grieving parents of legally snatched children and professionals alike are campaigning to change the secretive family courts into a more publicly scrutinised court hearing for the public so to avoid a misconstrued account or report from an overzealous approach I trenches into the Social carer's training and protocols.

I urge you all to read up on these links and research extensively on Social services child protection misconducts before giving any decision...informed decisions are always better than decisions on a whim...something I believe social workers should implement in their day to day workings with families they seek to make lifelong decisions on!
You may have to copy and paste...

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2121886/The-experts-break-families-The-terrifying-story-prospective-MP-branded-unfit-mother-experts-whod-met--nightmare-shared-families.html

publicityonline.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/haringey-council-worst-child-snatching-case-in-criminal-court-for-4-weeks-starting-today/

www.fassit.co.uk/ian_joseph.htm

Never trust social services being involved in any of your family affairs!

[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight]

Well you will get it here, start your own thread or post on this one, its up to you, but keep us updated if you feel able.. Or feel free to inbox me :) .. Good luck xxx

[Annmarks]

Hi,
Its not that I am not angry, more hurt, disappointed, so hard to do when it involves more than one person, on more than one occasion, Newham, just don't want to know. I will keep trying, I need support, help, not sure, just walking in to the police station right now, at this moment, is what I need to do, tell, someone, most definitely. from Ann

[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight]

Pixel They gave children back to a convicted murderer?
I am stunned. Hope those kids get a damn good upbringing or they will end up suing the local authority for putting them back in that position. On the deeper story, that of handing children back to the care of their mothers' murderer.. i have absolutely no words...

Crashdoll.. If someone did a freedom of information act request and it was actually answered, you would find that the majority of children in the system awaiting adoption or having been adopted come from care leaver parents. This is why they call it baby farming. My own DD was warned not to have any children by her care leaving team SW until she is out from under their radar at the age of 25. shocking stuff, shocking.

I was systematically erased from DD's life, if i hadn't had so much balls and fight in me, which some may not, i would have lost her altogether. SS actively practise and encourage parental alienation. Contact arrangements are at best difficult, and pitiful, at worst they are barely adhered to at all, or set at places a parent struggles to get to, or at times they can not do, i myself landed my dream job, ambulance technician, the hours were such that i had to request seeing DD on weekends, which was refused, and i was told to 'get my priorities right' as a result i gave up my job so i could carry on seeing DD during the week at times that were awkward no matter where i worked. I got another job delivering car parts, the contact times clashed with the hours there, i asked for evening contact, that also was flatly refused. I had to raise it in court, where it was granted, giving me 20 minutes to travel to the contact centre. I could just about manage that, with the help of my employers who allowed me to use their vehicle.

The SS, sore at being challenged and losing, promptly (straight after court and i mean right outside the courtroom) moved the contact to another area. Yes thats right, out of area. Leaving me travelling in rush hour, to a contact venue which was 40-50 minutes drive away, and i was expected to do it in 20 minutes.

Ann, i know its hard, but get angry about what happened to you and calmly but strongly take it to anyone who will listen. You have a right to be heard, and be believed. What happened to you is wrong, and should be put right xx

[Annmarks]

Hi (Thingsthatgobumpinthenight

If we had been given help as a child when we asked for it, then, as, adults, we
would not now be in this position, wondering, what to do. I am glad that you went a head did something about what happened to you, when, it involves, more than one person, its a lot harder. Do you know, whether, you can give statements or just write it down to the Police, without, being forced to take it any further, like you say, just telling, someone, in authority can help, although, I hate that word, then, I automatically, think of Social Services. Thanks for your love, help, support. I hope that you are OK. from Ann

[Pixel]

Back to the Eastenders thing, would SS REALLY give Phil Mitchell custody of Lexi? I mean really? Convicted criminal, how many investigations, son in prison for manslaughter etc?

I don't watch Eastenders but my answer to your question is "they might".
A member of my family was murdered by her husband, witnessed by their eldest child. When he came out of prison (after a pathetically short sentence) SS gave the children to him. I've only recently found that out as SS told us a pack of lies and said they'd been adopted. We even made albums to be given when they were old enough to find us if they wanted to.

[crashdoll]

I agree with this. They target careleavers, mostly.

I don't agree that SS targets anyone but there is a point in there somewhere. Care leavers are not well supported enough. My friend who works with care leavers says she builds up good relationships with her service users which continues but she said she frequently ends up seeing them again....in prison.

[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight]

Ann i wanted to reply to you separately and not in the same box as my other replies, sorry.

I wish you all the best of luck with taking this further. You will be taken seriously. I can't say it will lead to successful prosecution, i can not make that promise, but from taking my own abuser to court years after he abused me, i can tell you that it is freeing and empowering for you, conviction or no.
No conviction doesn't mean you aren't believed, it means there isn't enough evidence for the jury to be 100% sure, thats all.. i felt bad until the policeman on my case told me that.
You will be properly supported during your disclosure and any ensuing court case.
You may be afraid it will reopen old wounds .. sort of, but you will be ready to deal with that, and face it, also you have here for support :) and afterwards you will heal and be stronger and glad you did it :)

Much love x

[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight]

the posts i put are true real life about either myself or people i know or have met. yes there are some cases where the child is at risk or has been abused or neglected and needs to be taken from the parents but 90% of the people i know or have met have had their children taken and put for adoption (98% bieng babies under the age of 18 months when adoption order was granted in court) have not harmed there children and have had their own childhood used against them by the ss.

I agree with this. They target careleavers, mostly.

[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight]

I take on board all the other things you have said but unfortunately, while john hemming was willing to take this stuff further and higher, he isn't the kind of respectable figurehead you need in order to be taken seriously. He will end up holding the 'cause' back with his hysterics and arm waving.

Sorry to bust that particular bubble.

[thisisreallife]

www.false-allegations.org.uk/false-allegations.html another link thing for you all to look at

[thisisreallife]

Spared jail: Child-porn pervert from Hyde who was Scout leader, foster dad and social worker
Exclusive by Chris Osuh
August 22, 2012
| Printable Version Previous | Next

PERVERT: John McKenna was Group Scout Leader of the 3rd Gee Cross troop
A social worker who was also a foster parent and Scout leader has been shamed after his sick collection of child abuse images was discovered.

Dad-of-three John McKenna worked with children for most of his adult life and was a pillar of the community.

But a police investigation found McKenna, 58, had images of children as young as eight being abused on his computer. He worked as a children?s social worker for Tameside and Stockport councils for three decades.

Until his sick habit was exposed, he also fostered children at his home in Hyde and was Group Scout Leader of the 3rd Gee Cross troop.

Locked up in August '12

A Manchester Crown Court sentencing hearing was told that McKenna, of Hepworth Street, Hyde, had claimed to have been researching child abuse when his wife confronted him about his internet use five years ago.

Justin Hayhoe, prosecuting, described how his wife had come home to find McKenna asleep in front of a laptop, which had the word ?sexual? on it, and had asked him what he had been up to. But in February this year, McKenna?s lies unravelled when police came knocking at his door, tipped off by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.

The centre had concerns about images being uploaded onto Microsoft?s Skydrive website, which allows users to store content online rather than on hard drives.

Searches of McKenna?s home led to the discovery of 484 indecent images of children. The majority were of the least serious category, but more than 100 depicted children being abused.

McKenna, who is wheelchair-bound by mobility problems, has now been sentenced to a three-year community order with a requirement to attend a sex offenders? treatment programme, after admitting 47 counts of downloading indecent images of children. He is barred from working or having unsupervised contact with children and his internet use is restricted by a sexual offences prevention order.

McKenna spent six months behind bars as a remand prisoner and was sentenced via videolink to Strangeways. He sobbed and sighed throughout the hearing.

Stella Massey, defending, said: "This is a man who is now 58 years of age. He has no previous convictions whatsoever, lived for many years with his wife and worked as a foster carer for many years, and now finds himself having lost his good character and most of what he has worked for and built up over many years."

Sentencing, Judge Robert Atherton said that for many years McKenna had worked for the benefit of the community, but had committed a crime which deserved a jail sentence ? but took into account his time on remand.

Explaining why he was not sentencing McKenna to jail, the judge said: "If I impose that sentence of imprisonment now you will not receive any substantial assistance in overcoming the problems which these images show you have."

[thisisreallife]

the posts i put are true real life about either myself or people i know or have met. yes there are some cases where the child is at risk or has been abused or neglected and needs to be taken from the parents but 90% of the people i know or have met have had their children taken and put for adoption (98% bieng babies under the age of 18 months when adoption order was granted in court) have not harmed there children and have had their own childhood used against them by the ss.

[Kewcumber]

The number of children NOT being adopted is unacceptable, because prospective adopters want cute babies , which are few are far between.

There are plenty of legitimate concerns about the care system in the UK without making things up. At the risk of repeating a comment of mine earlier in the thread...

The average age at adoption last year was 3yrs 8 months and only 2% of adoption (70 of them) were under 1. However 75% of adoptions were in the 1-4yrs age group and 21% 5-9 yrs, 3% over 9yrs.

What adopters say they want on the first day they apply to become adopters and what they accept as a match often bear little relation to each other.

[thisisreallife]

Horrible but very very true

[GoldenGeek]

The number of children NOT being adopted is unacceptable, because prospective adopters want cute babies , which are few are far between.

That is such an outrageous statement to make and does no where near apply to the majority of adopters.

Back to the Eastenders thing, would SS REALLY give Phil Mitchell custody of Lexi? I mean really? Convicted criminal, how many investigations, son in prison for manslaughter etc?

This whole storyline has been horrible to watch, really horrible.

[thisisreallife]

i think everyone on here should google STELLA MACLEOD and SOCIAL SERVICE VICTIMS. there are lots of things that can be read and proved about social workers and the way they work IN REAL LIFE. also there is a lady in boston (near skegness) who has been in the papers also MP JOHN HEMMING is at this exact moment in time in the house of commons debating about the family justic system/ courts/social services. he is backing people that have been wronged by social services and has seen proof of the misrepresentation of eveidence that they put into court about parents to get the judge to agree to an adoption order on the child in question.

also there is a case where a social worker who went against a judge and removed a baby at birth from its mother.

i know this as i was that mother. the judge said in court 3 days before my child was born that my child could come home with me when it was born but within 12 hours of birth (via c section) a social worker came to the hospital with 2 police officers and the baby was taken on a ppo even though the judge had said IN COURT IN FRONT OF ALL PARTIES 3 DAY BEFORE THAT THE BABY COULD COME HOME WITH ME. she social worker was ordered 2 days later by the said judge to hand me back my child which she did but i missed the first 2 days of my childs life cause a social worker did what she wanted NOT WHAT THE JUDGE HADE ORDERED IN COURT>

[Annmarks]

Hi,

I was not sure of your name. Thanks for that. I know, for a fact that one of the men concerned is a live, I could had told a long while a go, even though he told me not to. His wife is nice, her brother was my foster dad, although, I only thought of him as an Uncle, I have felt, since, I was little that I need to protect her from what her husband did to me, she's always asking to see me, because of him, I cannot go, their old now, that's no excuse of course, I hate him, it was a viscous attack, he would had raped me if his wife hadn't come into the room when she did, he'd been planning this since I was little, I was not quite 16 when he attacked me that time, in a way, what he did was worst, than at other times, at the hands of strangers, because, I had thought of him like an uncle when I was first fostered, which only lasted for a couple of years.
Thank you for saying you believe me, that meant a lot. I did ask the police for help to get hold of my files, someone, who, was responsible for having me taken into care, told me they were at Ilford Police Station, nothing, ever came off it. I recently, found my best friend from school, she remembers the other incident that I mentioned, what the couple were like towards us, I was about ten, they were father, daughter, she was a single parent with a baby, that's why, we went round their house after school, we both feel, that her dad fathered the baby, I blamed myself for a long time, Debbie, warned me not to go there alone, I didn't know, why, not, because, a woman was with him, I never saw the danger. As she said to me, "I wished we'd told Ann, even though, we were only children". I only, recently told Debbie about what happened to me, she was shocked, not surprised, he was always touching us. The baby was the big attraction. I was grown up for my age, very small to look at. I would like to get this out in the open, telling the right person, I guess. from Ann

[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight]

Aww thanks Sole

It was frustrating that all the made up or true-but-fluffed up-to-look-a-lot-worse stuff didn't go missing, but all the positive reports DID strange, that..

Ann I am so sorry :( It really does sound like you have been badly let down. Take heed from what is happening RE jimmy savile and co, you WILL be believed, its sometimes enough just to have someone believe you, possibly the person or persons in your case may still be alive to face up to what they have done.

You were innocent, and vulnerable.
If there are any files (some get destroyed after 10 years or so, some must be kept) then if you can't get them, the police should have more powers to find things out. I hope you get justice.

I believe you. x

[SoleSource]

Things is FAB x

[Annmarks]

Hi,
Thank you for your comments. Its kind of you to reply back to me. I'm glad that you were able to get most of your files. I am not sure, whether, I have complained to the information commissioner, as, I've did online complaints, as well as written ones, I am too thinking about a solicitor, if I can get free advice.
I am talking about 30 odd years ago. Sadly, I can see, that, not a lot has improved as far as social services go. The only, way, the police might help, if, I told them what happened in care to me. Its that, is disturbing, I've left it all this way, not, because, I wanted to, no parental love ect, am very much alone here in that respect. My family, support me in this, all this with Jimmy Savile, makes me feel, this is the right way to go. I was promised my files, it looks like Newham have destroyed them, although, they've never proved this. I've tried everything, I can think of though. Keep in touch, from ann

[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight]

AnnMarks, you have complained to the information commissioner i take it, about your missing files?

And i am looking into approaching a solicitor about what happened to DD and its all looking positive, but DD isn't ready.
Have you considered using the complaints procedure to address what you went through in care? If no joy there you can exhaust the complaints procedure then go to independent panel then onwards from there.

I say this although i had two complaints officers dealing with my numerous complaints yet one said i had exhausted the complaints procedure, and the other said 'no you haven't' and never put the complaints through to anyone else, instead dragging them out until they finally turned round and said they weren't accepting any new complaints from me, leaving me nowhere to complain to.
The police didn't want to know, they never even checked that DD was ok.

This cover up culture isn't just something that happened a long time ago, its still happening, and i know a lot of people who have said paperwork has gone missing or been accidentally destroyed. I thiank the lord that i managed to get hold of most of DD's with a few notable exceptions by making a DPA request.

[BloodRedAlienReflux]

sure is, social services don't seem to give a flying fuck in my very recent experience :(

[GossipWitch]

Stopped watching EE after the whole bianca being so skint even though child benefit etc is available. This new storyline doesn't surprise me one bit, funny how social services didn't step in when bianca was feeding her kids baked beans for breakfast, dinner and tea.....