Early Intervention/HV, I think someone has reported us for something?

[PonfusedCarent]

Had a random message from someone from the Health Visiting team asking for a telephone appointment. I called and said I was a bit confused as the last HV during the 2 year assessment said that children are seen next via school so they won't be involved unless we need help. It's been a year and we have no issues to go back to them with so this has confused me.

The person I spoke to said they have some sort of special list that my DC3 is on but didn't have notes. She queried if DC has any illnesses which DC does so she said it might be that, not to worry about it and it could even just be a quick check in. There was something about the way she said she didn't have notes that has concerned me.

I'm worried about what this is really about and have read about "early intervention". I've got to wait a month to find out what this is for. Even if we have been reported, I can't think of any circumstances where something would have warranted concern besides one of my neighbours who is nosey and is constantly out whenever anyone is in their garden. We tend to stay away from most of our neighbours as they get very dysfunctional, antisocial and also want to know everything about anything. About a month ago, this neighbour asked me for a stick from my garden that DC had been playing with (pretending it was a broom, wand, etc.). I didn't think much of it until they said the sticks were dangerous for kids and could poke their eyes out and they were anxious about it.

Does anyone have any experience of being referred back to a HV?

If anyone had reported you for something it would be a social worker calling, not the health visiting team. Children with additional health problems or needs are often given a little bit of extra support which is no bad thing.

In my professional life I refer families to early help services for myriad reasons. A few off the top of my head would be: being recent migrants to the country and having a limited support network, not speaking English and having difficulty accessing the healthcare and benefits systems, having a child/children with challenging behaviour, having health problems themselves which might make accessing support and services difficult, being young parents... loads of things. But it’s not one of those things a nosy neighbour could just sign you up for!

Thats not true at all. I had all the HV checks with my first child and found them pointless. For my other 2 children I didnt bother. HV are not compulsory. I have certainly not been report to social services cos I didn't have my 2 yr check up!

Don't get to stressed it isn't urgent so work off that. I'd question the referral before the month. Try not to worry.

@Pregnantandredundant I'm not surprised. I would have done same too! The amount of money they must have wasted sending out irrelevant letters!

This is just untrue. They do not refer to you SS for refusing a voluntary service. Health visitor is not compulsory it’s a supportive service but one you can choose to not have without flagging any further investigation.

“Intervention” sounds such an aggressive word. Really it means getting things in place to make things go smoothly in transitional periods (nursery, onwards to school etc.), so everyone knows how to deal with health conditions, behavioural etc. For example if a child has hearing difficulties, it would be appropriate to get everything down on paper for any staff who might be working with them, to ensure they are able to communicate effectively. Making sure you are looking directly at the child when talking, for example, or the knowledge of ‘cannot hear anything at all’, so a verbal request for attention will not be heard.

@Emmelina my job is in healthcare and my role has the word "intervention" in it ... i honestly have the loveliest job which is all based around having empathy and supporting peoples quality of life .

The intervention part is about supporting people to improve their own mental health/ physical health/ social/ educational or work outcomes .

‘Early intervention’ is a term commonly used by anyone working with kids with conditions/ disabilities to ensure they are receiving correct support (physio/ OT/ SLT/ community paediatrician/ hearing or vision therapists/ braille tutors/ portage for play/ respite/ toy library access) - essentially anything that could be used to provide early additional support to a child that might need it so they don’t fall (further) behind their peers in any area (mobility/ language etc).
I am bloody grateful for early intervention services. If there is any suggestion that your dc is ever likely to need any help with anything, then get on the list as fast as possible. Once you are in the system, access to other therapies is easier. Getting into the system is hardest of all, and if you wait until school, you have missed a huge opportunity to give your child a solid start.

It sounds like you need a very high fence between you and your neighbour.

Don't worry about the person you spoke too not having access to the notes. My OH who works in a hospital spent all yesterday totally unable to hold clinics as the computer system was down, so no access to patient records. Sadly not an uncommon situation

I wouldn't worry about this at all OP. If they were worried, they would be around right away and it would be a social worker not a health visitor. If it's just a telephone appointment I would wait and see what they say on the call. Good luck, I am sure all will go well.

Is it possibly a visit for the future school? To be able to correctly determine the support needed to put in the formal assessment with the council for funding?

What a ridiculous thing to say 🙄 Not only ridiculous but wholly untrue.

We’re getting ready to have our third baby and I have already told the HV we will not be requiring their services - for our 2nd DD we only saw one once.

@ Coldspringharbour ^^

Agree with above they might have deemed under or overweight possibilities ect so are mandatorily required to ask.

Where I live (not UK so a very different system) ‘early intervention’ is generally used to refer to programs such as occupational therapy, speech therapy, physio and family support programs for families with a child with a disability or illness. For example, my ds who has autism (not at all severe; mainstream school with no side time; participates in mainstream sports; very close friendships etc) had an early intervention key worker for several years from the age of 5. She was amazing; really made life better for the whole family with strategies and resources as well as direct access to specific programs. I’d wait to see what exactly they are offering before you panic, as while I’d never have thought we needed an early intervention service it actually opened up all sorts of other resources I’d never heard of.

You can decline the HV involvement. As for 'early intervention' - I can assure you there is no such thing in the UK (I have. severely disabled child and was begging for help for DD when she was little). It really does not exist esp not when you haven't asked for it and complained your way up.

Hi OP, I work in the Social Care sector; if there were any concerns regarding your children, you’d of been contacted directly either by the triage team (if a smaller area) or the MASH. I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

@dairyfairies

There is a level of Social Care support typically called Early Help/Early Intervention; it’s usually led by a Family Intervention Worker with the support of school etc rather than a Social Worker.

I don't understand why people are telling you to decline HV support before you've even found out what support they plan to offer! Yes, it's a voluntary service but you haven't lost anything by agreeing to a visit and hearing them out. You are then free to decline/ignore any support or advice given but at least find out what it is first.

Where I am they keep a record of children thought to have additional needs (and the eligibility is quite broad) it involves a yearly call to check all is ok and you have the services you need in place. If not, the 'intervention' may be to refer to another speciality for example. Not everyone is proactive in getting the things they need for their kids.
If it is this, you can just tell them you're fine and opt out of future calls if you don't want them.
I forgot how old your DC were, but here they also offer a telephone call for transition to starting school.

Hi. I’m not in the U.K. but just wanted to say I had something similar recently. Ds2 (6) is coeliac (and also has other food/eating related issues). I had a call from the psychologist in the Primary Care Centre. I panicked a bit until she explained that her job at the moment is to check in with families who are in the system during Covid. She’s simply offering support to families. She was very nice. Maybe it’s something like that for you?

There is a level of Social Care support typically called Early Help/Early Intervention; it’s usually led by a Family Intervention Worker with the support of school etc rather than a Social Worker.

I know, as I said I have a severely disabled DD. I just said they don't do anything. Pen pushers at most. I speak from bitter experience and I know what we had is fairly standard.

Thank you for all of your replies.

Reading the replies, I'm starting to think it's either DC3's condition or DH's dyspraxia which can be hereditary. We'd actually mentioned some traits on the autism spectrum last year during the last HV check so it may actually be that they're checking in to see where it's at now.

To the PP who suggested a higher fence, we're trying to do better than that and move. We really can't stand the behaviour from a few of our neighbours anymore.

I'm not in the UK but I couldn't imagine they'd be checking if DC has dyspraxia unless you or the gp referred.
I'd ignore the situation with your neighbour, completely ignore them silent grey rock we all have to co-habit.
I use to stress with the DC now I'm past caring.
As long as they are quiet early and late at night they can trampoline and play in the pool throughout the day. You'll never please neighbours judging by some threads here.