to be annoyed with Mner's suggesting ringing SS for the tiniest things.

[Fluffanstuff]

I don't know how many posts I have been on today but Its like an epidemic .
Am I being unreasonable to get annoyed about people suggesting or asking if they
should ring SS about ridiculous things.

No wonder some parents are getting so het up about social services turning up on
their door. I work in the sector and just want to say if you spot or hear something
in the play ground take it to the school / head not directly to SS yourself !

They are honestly way too busy to get involved unless there is decent evidence , its not your job to ring them !!

Am I the only one to feel like this ? Schools / groups etc have their own systems ,It bugs me as much as people ringing ambulances for things that can be dealt with at doctors or walk in centres . Its such a waste of resources.

OFGS! This is about one thread you skim read ...and another where MN verdict was do not ring SS.

Heaven helpSS if you really do work for them (which I doubt because of your attitude)

Yes I can't understand her jump to 'ex has young gf I might call SS because of the impact on my kids' I do agree it was strange.

But if you read her later posts about how he would have laughed at man his age dating a 23 year old. Its clear she is hurting and had a stupid thought. But she didn't do it.

And there was something else about a mum debating ringing because her ex was 40 and going out with a 23 yr old and she didnt want her children exposed to it

Oh come on, don't tell me you took that thread seriously?

Its not just one thread on here , its just the general feeling ,
for instance in the play ground a few weeks ago - Dad swears whilst in conversation with child - Not at child , not aggressive . Another parents hears and suggests to her friend should they ring social services .

Personally I feel , theres no indication that the child is being abused , morally I have a problem with the swearing , but I would take it to the school not be on the phone to the emergency team ? I just don't understand when it has become the norm.

And just for the record I said I work in the sector , not actually as a sw.

Ok, I accept you didn't mean not to ring at all, but that is what you said, and if you are actually in that sector then it doesn't look good, maybe you should think carefully before putting things down like that. Glad you don't have that attitude, though.

I get what you're saying OP, it is a bit silly at times.

The other day someone suggested an OP contact the Police because someone kept sending her Facebook requests

But I doubt anyone really picks up the phone every time another MNetter over reacts.

If I had taken the thread seriously in the sense that even after all the Mners putting her off it I would have posted something to the thread.

I think it was just the tip of the iceberg after a very busy week and few things on here and off here that just made me think 'what an earth has happened to the world'

And I needed to vent , we all need to vent sometimes. This is the whole basis for somewhere like this !

I think it's a really good comparison saying ringing SS is like ringing an ambulance when you could call your GP. Absolutely call if you think the child is at significant risk of harm but if you really want someone to provide immediate support for the child and family tell the service closest to the child e.g. the school because then the school has far more resources to work with the child and their family than SS. SS are stopping children being at significant risk of abuse or neglect. Schools are there for all round welfare and child wellbeing. If the child could not go home that night without being seriously at risk then phone SS. If the problem is more long term or the risk is only a potential one rather than an imminent one then talk to whoever is closest to the family. They'll get help quicker so it's for the best.

YANBU because people are using SS as an emergency service when a different service may be more beneficial.

I do know what you mean, and I sometimes raise an eyebrow at posters who suggest that.

Sometimes though, they are seeing that there may be more to the story than meets the eye. They may be wrong, and that is for the OP of the thread to work out, and perhaps keep a closer eye on the child.

The friend in the playground talked the other one out of ringing btw. With the attitude of your being silly , I swear infront of my kids by accident sometimes.
But I do wander how many silly calls do get made .. you hear the emergency service ones like help I dropped my ring down the sink etc. on those programmes sometimes .... I wander what some of the calls to ss are like !

You 'work in the sector' but aren't a SW. My mate 'works in the same sector'. He's the maintenance man.
Perfectly entitled to vent. As long as you take the majority view that YABU on board

I think YABU to use two examples - one of which is more complex an issue than you choose to portray and the other where she was not told to ring SS by 'MN'ers' as proof - yes!

I agree with you OP, every school has a teacher trained in child protection ( usually head) and that's where concerns from school children should go first.

Genuine concerns like the thread about a neighbors DV situation and little girl was a right reason to run them.

I work in a contact centre on top of my normal day job which is in children's services anyway.
Perhaps my stance comes from sometimes finding it difficult to contact someone when I need to in my job role ... Persistence pays off but it is hard . And hearing a few things over the past few months including the playground situation.
I related it to the Mums net situation because I just felt it would be easier to relate to. In hindsight (a wonderful thing) they perhaps wern't the best examples I could have given,

My feeling is on here there is a decent mix of people from different backgrounds and different jobs. Im happy to accept I am being unreasonable if thats what the majority think. Sometimes these things grate on you and you need an outside perspective , and my feeling was on here I would get that from a varied source. Theres no point in bringing it up at work everyone has a vested interest. It was just a discussion topic , and probably a bit of a controversial one,

I am new and perhaps my reflective bit of this would be to make things clearer when I post next time !!

Its five minutes of already stretched budgets though.
Like I say above I related it to MN to make it relevant for the people I was asking.

MrsDeVere I suppose you are right about that , Its easy to get swept up into when most of your friends work in similar roles !

In my LA all the SW assistants are gone due to budgets , its now SW who case hold who are working the phone in shifts. Perhaps that also messes with view.

• my view

ooh, are you new to MN. Congratulations, you have survived your first flaming.

You're a REAL MNetter now. :)