To think some posters are naive about SS?

[fudgeraisinbiscuit]

I see many posts where people seem to believe either that SS will offer support and that parents who are loving and coping but struggling can contact them for a hand-hold, or posts where people believe a not ideal yet normal situation can and should be reported.

AIBU to think posters are naive about what SS actually do?

This has been a very revealing thread, think I'll start copy and pasting.

tess obviously telling them every visit. The parents in question have been dead since the 70s. These are very elderly people in child phase. They think they children. They would ask us "wheres mummy? I want mummy." And we would tell them "shes gone to the shop and will be back soon. Come have a drink." Calm and relaxed and they would forget for half an hour and then it would start again. Until ss came in and would tell them "shes dead. She died in 1972 of cancer". Que hours of hysterical crting and violence. They would forget why they were so worked up so it was harder to calm them down.

No, don't bother replying, its easier that way isn't it?. Just accusations and venom and such, don't bother actually giving any info or trying to understand anything. Why bother?

Who was that aimed at ??

MarthaArthur

How awful, I wonder if that was some sort of training issue that was miscommunicated? Why were they coming in so often? I only ask because I wonder if it was part of a specific thing they were doing.

ante provided the information is accurate and up to date not seeing the harm. Don't do what a teacher at my dc's school did when writing school reports and forget to change the name tho 😉

That's terrible Martha. How disgusting, what the hell is happening to the mentality of some sw's in this country? Notice I said some, everyone.

Aunt I’m off in to RL, don’t give too much of your self to those two trolls they enjoy the energy from it. I believe you. Take care

I'm sorry, was I not clear when I told you it was aimed at you? Ok, it was aimed at YOU, optimus. Better?

Optimus and ethel, do you think that SW's do things that you have deemed to be bed for actual reasons, or do you think they are malicious and do it for their own ends?
Is there a reason you won't answer this question?

bad, not bed. dyac

Half the posts in here don't warrant a reply, but I'll comment on copying and pasting. Pretty much all computer systems used for social services records generate documents for social workers to complete at each stage. Many of these computer generated documents duplicate, are generated within a short time frame (eg contact to referral to assessment might be a matter of days). In some of them the computer system is set up in a way that automatically pulls through information from the previous document, to prevent information being paraphrased/summarised which can lead to subtle misinterpretations over time. An obvious example of this is detail of family history, the referral itself, a verbatim account of a parent or child response.
Other documents require the same information that hasn't changed, so there would be no reason to find a new way to rewrite 'johnny has had all his immunisations but wasnt taken to 6 doctors appointments in 2014'. And yes, when you're averaging 3 or 4 visits/meetings with travel every (supposedly 7hr) AND you've got to write about every meeting /visit you've been to AND you've got to write maybe 4 or 5 short reports a week, then Sws will find short cuts if they can. But not ones that change the nature of the report, because they'd be bloody idiots to do so, given how quickly they are hung out to dry if they get anything wrong. Career ending.

Court documents are standardised templates that social workers are not to deviate from, with the same subheadings and questions asked throughout. This is so it's a transparent format that the courts and solicitors are familiar with and ensures (as far as possible) that the courts get the information they need and no more.

I read earlier in here about someone being angry that a previous assessment couldn't be amended only updated with a correction. Thats also true. Its the electronic equivalent of not being allowed to use tippex, only cross through - transparency.

So what I've explained is a system set up for transparency. But if you want to interpret it to fit a conspiracy theory/lazy social worker agenda thats up to you.

I think it was really really bad training on their part. They had no idea how to deal with dementia and just saw that they were adults with capacity when clearly they didnt. I know some social workers were great but the ones who worked in my home had several residents under their care hence why they came in a lot. When dols (deprivation of liberty) were put in place ss presence increased. I was just very angry that day i was told not to question it so of course i kicked off. I dont think they changed but they did need training in dementia and mental illness.

It broke my heart the night i cane in and one of my residents was shaking in crying sobbing "they said my mummys dead." I had to hold her and tell her they were mistaken and mummy was asleep in bed with a headache. Took an hour to calm her down and have her supper and get into bed. When she said "oh thank god i only saw her this morning" i nearly cried myself.

Tess, to answer your earlier question, I think it's both the system and some of the workers. Also, complaints often don't get answered or dealt with so it just continues.

@marthaarthur that's a real shame. When I trained (10yes ago) we had specific training re older adults which included experts in care and guest lecturers who were people with direct experience of dementia (eg caring for a partner) It was completely different, very much pick your battles and think about the needs of the person you're talking to. I remember them talking about care staff saying many female residents got jittery around 3pm and they'd worked out it was people having some sense they were due to collect children from school, so they started timing a reminisce or sensory activity in the afternoon to help. I think in the past 'honesty' was heralded over everything else, a nice aim at face value but if a person can't retain that information then it needs a rethink.

I dont know if I was just lucky but a lot of my university training included non academic lecturers who had relevant experience to talk to us about (eg adults living with MH issues, adults who had been in care, people living with chronic pain, people who had had children removed)

thread i agree as obviously we need SS. We especially need them to be on our side but its hard when budgets mean less training and more one size fits all approach and of course theres bad ones that give the whole service a bad name. I am shocked at other pp situation and am very sorry to hear people suffering like that.

Ss would have been such a valuable service in the home i worked in but sadly they were badly managed and badly organised and dare i say completely clueless. I hope there is an overhaul soon.

I haven't read all the replies but SS helped me a lot so I don't think people should be a fried to ask for help. I know a lot of people are worse off than me but I've read posts on forums before where people have had depression and are scared to seek medical advise from there doctors just in case SS get involved :/

But in my circumstance SS basically saved my life. They don't come in and just take children away. They assess and help then take what ever action needs to be taken. I always advise people struggling like I did to go to them
At 22, i came out of a long 6 year DV relationship mainly controlling (wasn't allowed to work, have money, go outside by myself ect) before and during that i was raped and i had ptsd, depression and anxiety, Tried to commit suicide twice, one of them i ended up in hospital. They got me councilling, into different projects, like how to understand what a normal relationship is like.
My home wasn't safe at all, ex took everything even the carpets and kids beds. SS helped me get a cooker and a bed then helped me with budgeting (ex spend money on everything except bills so was left in 8k debt) they helped me make my home safer, helped me keep my kids safe from dad and then made my mental heath no1 priority, it took a year for me to go shopping alone without having a panic attack and they was so patient with me, they came shopping, playgroups, doctors appointments with me when I asked. I've now got everything I need, I'm even going to work for the first time ever.

I had 3 social workers as one after the other had to go to more serious cases and they were all very 'straight to the point' kind of people, which I loved. I've had so many meeting and reports, I actually have a huge folder of them. They now how many doctor appointment you've missed and if you go hospital they know pretty much straight away, I mean I think my life was pretty much messed up completely at the point they got involved. My son and daughter had pulled elbow so dislocated arms was a regular thing they also have multiple allergies and I have a son who is obsessed with football so I've been hospital for football injures. They ring up or visit the next day but I like that about SS, better than them ignoring what could possibly be abuse.

Also, we've noticed that the stronger the parents evidence, the more it's not dealt with, either in the court or the complaints depth. LGO often won't look at complaints either, MP's and Director's of SS are lied to which is when parents start thinking it's a conspiracy.

Who's we Auntethel?

Have you tried the HCPC?

@marthaarthur I agree about the overhall but (and separate topic here) we need the general population to agree that care should be funded and a government will listen. I had originally planned to work with older adults but decided against it when the govt decided that to save money, the job of an adults SW would change to pretty much only signing off budgets and the majority of the work would be done by lower paid non qualified staff. Which is no criticism of those staff but it made Sws really ineffectual. Especially as the budgets they could sign off bore no relation to the real world cost of helping that person.

And now councils are told to raise money for adult care by increasing council tax, as if social services needed another reason to be unpopular!

@auntethel what do you mean by 'strong evidence'? Was that the solicitors view?

There us no transparency or self-regulation in social work and Family Courts sit in secret. This leads to a culture whereby SW are not used to being questioned or having to comply like a previous poster who works in Finance has to. It seems very woolly to me but I come from a business background.
The same standards as the corporate world wouldn’t go amiss.

the job of an adults SW would change to pretty much only signing off budgets and the majority of the work would be done by lower paid non qualified staff

Not my experience. Social workers only get the most complex cases, which are increasing due to cuts having a knock on.

Have to go now, more distraught parents to support. optimus thank you for caring and for your support

like a previous poster who works in Finance has to

Yeah, the financial industry is well known for it's legal practice and transparency.

I guess I'll just have to go with my initial assessment since no-one wants to offer any other answer.