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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think this social worker should have been struck off?

134 replies

SilencednotSilent · 03/04/2021 21:28

www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/child-social-worker-banned-year-20302285.amp?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar&__twitter_impression=true

He was given a one year suspension, instead of being removed from the register, for engaging in sexual activity with a schoolgirl he let drink vodka. He had been watching pornography and masturbating in a communal area before the act.

Their logic? “The panel is satisfied that a well-informed and reasonable member of the public...would not require an otherwise capable, committed and experienced social worker to be removed from the register in these circumstances."

The decision by Social Work England: www.socialworkengland.org.uk/media/3704/decision-kershaw-s.pdf

AIBU?

OP posts:
whoguardstheguards · 07/04/2021 05:55

Having read this a few times, I don't think he's a sexual predator.

I do think he probably has an alcohol problem, and that's a big issue in itself.

He's been convicted of drink/driving - never a good look on someone who works with vulnerable people.

He supervised a child trying alcohol and later that evening, whilst that child remained under his supervision, he thought it was appropriate to get bladdered himself, rather than remaining sober.

Reading between the lines, the girl was his (then?) partner's child, so he was in a sort of stepparent role. Parents do drink when their kids are home, but I think very few choose to drink when their children are ill or incapacitated. If he was supervising the girl's first taste of alcohol, he didn't know how she would react, and he should have stayed sober in case she felt ill/funny afterwards. Parents who drink at home tend to choose their moments carefully.

A normal teenage girl walking in on a trusted adult man having a wank does not react to that by initiating oral sex. She probably screams or shouts and runs out of the room, highly embarrassed.

A teenage girl who reacts by initiating oral sex is deeply troubled indeed, and if she is effectively living with a social worker stepparent, I would expect him to have identified those troubling behaviours beforehand and to have raised all kinds of safeguarding alarms. It doesn't sound like she was on anyone's radar until she reported this incident to the police. It sounds like she should been receiving support, and given his pseudo-parental relationship with her, he should have picked up on that.

I accept that he may have been shocked to have been caught masturbating and it might have taken him a few seconds to process what was happening and to push her off, but I question the judgement that even led him to be in that position.

The drinking at home that evening was a bad call. Wanking in a communal area of a house with anyone else in it apart from a partner was a bad call. I mean, even if he had been living with adult housemates, wanking in the living room would have been a bad call. If it's not your private home, you watch your porn in your bedroom only.

On the basis of the information provided, I don't think he had a thing for young girls, but I do think he makes extremely poor decisions, and that's not a quality you want in a social worker.

I really hope this girl got the support she needed. I do worry that she had problems before this incident, and it only exacerbated those problems.

HeadLikeAFuckinOrange · 07/04/2021 06:47

I think this case is an excellent example of why the age of consent is so bloody important.
The girl instigated the sexual contact, she wanted it to happen. Then a year later, the enormity of the fact her advances were reciprocated for "a few seconds" has tormented her enough to report the man for child abuse. This is a prime example of why teenagers lack the mental capacity to give consent.

I don't believe this man would have ever sought her out sexually - but now because he was blind drunk and slow to react to her, both their lives are a mess.

Still, the man clearly has significant issues, poor decision making skills and substance abuse concerns so has no business advocating for vulnerable minors in the first place.

Shehasadiamondinthesky · 07/04/2021 06:52

Urghhhh so its ok to masturbate naked at work now??? Disgusting.

Spidey66 · 07/04/2021 07:05

@Shehasadiamondinthesky
Yes, it's gross. Which is why he didn't.

Onairjunkie · 07/04/2021 07:33

He’s a fucking predator. He should be inside.

Jellycatspyjamas · 07/04/2021 07:47

Parents who drink at home tend to choose their moments carefully.

I think this is nonsense, most parents who drink at home aren’t carefully considering what else might be happening and covering every eventuality before pouring a glass of wine. I think his behaviour is ridiculous but there’s nothing to be gained in demonising what for many would be normal - eg a 15 year old asks to taste your drink and you let her have a sip. It’s hardly plying someone with alcohol to let someone have a taste.

In saying that I’ve know social workers to be struck off after a drink driving conviction so that alone would have happened in Scotland, deciding to masturbate in a common areas of a house occupied by young people is an utter nonsense and he should be struck off for everything that followed.

TheCrowening · 07/04/2021 09:56

@HeadLikeAFuckinOrange

I think this case is an excellent example of why the age of consent is so bloody important. The girl instigated the sexual contact, she wanted it to happen. Then a year later, the enormity of the fact her advances were reciprocated for "a few seconds" has tormented her enough to report the man for child abuse. This is a prime example of why teenagers lack the mental capacity to give consent.

I don't believe this man would have ever sought her out sexually - but now because he was blind drunk and slow to react to her, both their lives are a mess.

Still, the man clearly has significant issues, poor decision making skills and substance abuse concerns so has no business advocating for vulnerable minors in the first place.

This narrative of what happened is based entirely on his side of the story.
Nith · 07/04/2021 10:09

@Shehasadiamondinthesky

Urghhhh so its ok to masturbate naked at work now??? Disgusting.
He wasn't at work.
welliesarefuntowear · 07/04/2021 11:47

What about the girl who was sexually assaulted? Are we going to spend any time thinking or the damage he's done or argue about the semantics of whether he was at work or not?

Jellycatspyjamas · 07/04/2021 12:59

Indeed @welliesarefuntowear, a normal response from a 15 year old girl seeing a man masturbating wouldn’t be to start blowing him off - I can’t see the consideration given to what she’s been exposed to that would make her do that (if indeed that’s what happened) or the impact on her of a presumably trusted adult exposing himself in public. The whole thing is suspect in the extreme and I’m amazed he’s kept his registration.

MazekeenSmith · 07/04/2021 13:03

@hatgirl

I'm very surprised he wasn't struck off when other workers have been struck off for far less so on that basis I suspect that there is much much more to this than the article is able to report.

However I, am also reassured that the person in question hasn't actually been working as a social worker for many years and no longer appears to work in the sector at all (although they have chosen to maintain their registration which is why it's come to the attention of SWE).

He has been struck off for a year.

You have to practice as a social worker to maintain registration, so I'm not sure how this works
cheeseisthebest · 07/04/2021 13:03

"Having sex with a girl of 15 who is consenting isn't statutory rape."

Yes it is, especially if you are in a position of trust/power. But even a 16 year old boy having sex with a 15 year old girl is committing statutory rape.

MazekeenSmith · 07/04/2021 15:28

@cheeseisthebest

"Having sex with a girl of 15 who is consenting isn't statutory rape."

Yes it is, especially if you are in a position of trust/power. But even a 16 year old boy having sex with a 15 year old girl is committing statutory rape.

Actually there is no such offence in the U.K. having sex with anyone who isn't consenting is rape. Having consensual sex with a 15 year old if there is parity of age and no power differential is not rape.
cheeseisthebest · 07/04/2021 16:11

Really? But the age of consent is 16??

Yes I realise having sex with anyone who isn't consenting is rape, I never said it wasn't?

Jellycatspyjamas · 07/04/2021 16:16

Statutory rape isn’t a term that tends to get used in the U.K., there are other offences which relate to underage sexual contact - it’s semantics tbh because as an adult he could be charged with sexual offences relating to underage teenagers. It’s the underlying message that she was in some way complicit and him a victim here that’s distasteful to say the least.

cheeseisthebest · 07/04/2021 16:21

@Jellycatspyjamas

Statutory rape isn’t a term that tends to get used in the U.K., there are other offences which relate to underage sexual contact - it’s semantics tbh because as an adult he could be charged with sexual offences relating to underage teenagers. It’s the underlying message that she was in some way complicit and him a victim here that’s distasteful to say the least.
Absolutely, totally agree.
MazekeenSmith · 07/04/2021 17:20

@cheeseisthebest

Really? But the age of consent is 16??

Yes I realise having sex with anyone who isn't consenting is rape, I never said it wasn't?

Yes the age of consent is 16, but the law recognises that sometimes 15 and 17 year olds will have non harmful consensual sex and criminalising them is not helpful.
cheeseisthebest · 07/04/2021 18:31

Ok thank you, didn't know that. Smile

welliesarefuntowear · 07/04/2021 18:31

Is Jess Taylor on Mumsnet?

welliesarefuntowear · 07/04/2021 18:34

"Yes the age of consent is 16, but the law recognises that sometimes 15 and 17 year olds will have non harmful consensual sex and criminalising them is not helpful."

Is that what happened here?

MazekeenSmith · 07/04/2021 18:38

@welliesarefuntowear

"Yes the age of consent is 16, but the law recognises that sometimes 15 and 17 year olds will have non harmful consensual sex and criminalising them is not helpful."

Is that what happened here?

No I didn't say it was
hatgirl · 07/04/2021 20:36

You have to practice as a social worker to maintain registration, so I'm not sure how this works

There's plenty of registered social workers who aren't employed as social workers. You have to be able to demonstrate that you have kept your practice and knowledge up to date, which can be more difficult to do if you aren't working as a social worker but not impossible.

For example if you work in any role where you come into contact with vulnerable people even if it's not as a social worker, or by attending training, volunteering, doing open university modules etc.

SilencednotSilent · 08/04/2021 07:04

Actually there is no such offence in the U.K. having sex with anyone who isn't consenting is rape. Having consensual sex with a 15 year old if there is parity of age and no power differential is not rape.

The police brought charges of rape against him.

OP posts:
MazekeenSmith · 08/04/2021 07:11

@SilencednotSilent

Actually there is no such offence in the U.K. having sex with anyone who isn't consenting is rape. Having consensual sex with a 15 year old if there is parity of age and no power differential is not rape.

The police brought charges of rape against him.

Try reading what I said again if there is parity of age and no power differential
SilencednotSilent · 08/04/2021 07:29

Try reading what I said again
if there is parity of age and no power differential

Hasn’t the conversation derailed then if you are adding information not relevant to this case?

OP posts: