how are social workers allowed to talk to young children?

[LetterFromAnUnknownWoman]

I'm helping a friend who's going through a messy divorce and somehow CAFCASS has been roped in. The case worker has spoken to the children (aged 6 & 7) and asked what I think are unbelieveably direct questions of "do you like spending time with your mum", "how often do you want to see mum", "when you see her how long would like to spend time with her". I saw it in the written CAFCASS report and was taken aback with the unashamably direct questioning of such young children. The responses from the boy and girl was fine so no worries there thank god, but I'm still shocked with the manner in which they were asked. I've had a look on the CAFCASS website under there CIAF policy framework (child impact assessment framework) but couldn't find what their own internal rules are with regards to talking to children. It's not easy to search and navigate so am hoping someone here knows? thanks!

@namechangingforthis19586

My children could say absolutely anything. If I hadn't given them a treat that day they could announce they didn't want to see me much at all. I can imagine them not feeling able to say if they didn't want to see someone. It would never ever enter their heads that they could actually influence their environment with their answers. They speak what they feel in the moment and sometimes say utter nonsense. I don't think children should be put in this position.

Actually, children can and do tell me that they don't wish to see their parent

@Cactusesi

Such direct questioning is abusive. Poor kids.

Some children do find these conversations difficult, but that's because of the subject matter, not the questions IYSWIM

it's important to explain to children that it's not their responsibility to decide the arrangements, but vital their views are sought and taken into account

@namechangingforthis19586

beeep

The same would be true of every interview!

They would also find multiple interviews so upsetting, some more than others.

That's why it's not just interviews as I said above social workers also visit in the home and observe children without even necessarily directly interacting.

@Cactusesi

Such direct questioning is abusive. Poor kids.

How?

@namechangingforthis19586

beeep

The same would be true of every interview!

They would also find multiple interviews so upsetting, some more than others.

They also speak to the professionals in the children's lives to build up a picture of what the children are like and how they communicate.

[quote LetterFromAnUnknownWoman]@TestingTestingWonTooFree yup I know that which is why I couldn't believe those questions being asked. I've heard that normally for such young children social workers get the children to draw pictures, play games and talk more generally and through the things they say infer the relationship they have with their parents. But to point blank ask the child "how often do you want to the see them" is just out of order in my view.

Just because someone is a "professional" doesn't give them immunity from scrutiny.[/quote]
That is worrying if they base so much on one interview with the children.
I'm divorced with shared custody. Never had any CAFCASS involvement (so far). My DS (6) has days/weeks where he doesn't want to see his dad cos he's "grumpy & boring" and gets really upset about going then a day or 2 later he's the best dad ever 🤷🏻‍♀️
I hate sending my DS when he doesn't want to go (court ordered) but 5 mins after he's away he has a great time.

I'd be worried if CAFCASS interviewed my DS, one day he'd hate his dad and never wants time with him. Another day, he could want to see him all the time.

Would they get a different take on that if he drew a picture?

@melj1213

OP you are making it seem like the SW sat the child down across the table and just fired questions at them in some sort of interrogation, which I very much doubt was the case.

The child will (and should) have been asked direct questions so as not to be leading/biasing the child's answers but it will have been done in a way where the questions were framed naturally within the conversation not a Q&A interview. The written report won't have included that context, just the questions and their answers because that is what is relevant.

Exactly this.

I'd be worried if CAFCASS interviewed my DS, one day he'd hate his dad and never wants time with him. Another day, he could want to see him all the time.

Well they don’t just ask a question and write down the answer, anyone could do that. They’d have a gentle chat unpicking the reasons behind what the child is saying and whether the expressed feelings are rooted in bad experiences or (say) being fed up that mum/dad wouldn’t let them have sweets last time. This may be alongside drawing pictures, card games, various other resources used to prompt natural conversation.

Also sorry to be That Person but, OP, your friend shouldn’t be sharing Cafcass reports with you or anyone else outside of the active proceedings. They’re legally privileged court documents (and say so) and your friend could be considered in contempt of court if it comes out she’s been sharing them.

@TheCrowening

Also sorry to be That Person but, OP, your friend shouldn’t be sharing Cafcass reports with you or anyone else outside of the active proceedings. They’re legally privileged court documents (and say so) and your friend could be considered in contempt of court if it comes out she’s been sharing them.

This...

Well they don’t just ask a question and write down the answer, anyone could do that. They’d have a gentle chat unpicking the reasons behind what the child is saying and whether the expressed feelings are rooted in bad experiences or (say) being fed up that mum/dad wouldn’t let them have sweets last time. This may be alongside drawing pictures, card games, various other resources used to prompt natural conversation*

That's what I'd expect but I thought OPs point was that this wasn't happening

@Soontobe60 after my daughter's cafcass interview the SW asked if she thought my ex would have been coaching my dd on what to say. To which I replied it was very likely he had. The cafcass report was so damning of him, he has always been his own worst enemy.

@LadyWhistledownsQuill pussyfooting about with crayons is actually a very effective and widely practiced tool used to include the voice of the child in safeguarding.

For those who think drawings are pointless;
www.partneringforsafety.com/uploads/2/2/3/9/22399958/three_houses_booklet_updated.pdf

We don't know if that is or isn't happening.
The report from Cafcass isn't going to include the whole interview including all the chat before and after a question.
It will contain a distillation of the key points of the interview.

The social worker won't just have come in, sat down asked three questions and left. But if the three questions were the nub of the interview they will be highlighted in the report.

@lucy5236

Well they don’t just ask a question and write down the answer, anyone could do that. They’d have a gentle chat unpicking the reasons behind what the child is saying and whether the expressed feelings are rooted in bad experiences or (say) being fed up that mum/dad wouldn’t let them have sweets last time. This may be alongside drawing pictures, card games, various other resources used to prompt natural conversation*

That's what I'd expect but I thought OPs point was that this wasn't happening

The OP isn't even the parent of these children and wasn't there so she has no idea what's happening

Coming from the same field, those questions are perfectly normal and you have a cafcass sw because you have a custody dispute. They didn't just get roped in to completing an assessment! You'd be well aware of their role before they met your children.

It's direct questioning about contact, not everything is toys and worksheets. Sometimes you need to be direct and would be dependent on the circumstances of the case.

I've seen it all now 😂

Cactusesi

Such direct questioning is abusive. Poor kids

That's what I'd expect but I thought OPs point was that this wasn't happening

The OP has only seen the report and heard her friends version of what happened - she didn't even know where the interview happened - so I doubt she has the full facts of the interview (ie that it wasn't just a sit down interview where the SW fired off preset questions, wrote down the answers without any follow up and then left)

[quote Faevern]@LadyWhistledownsQuill pussyfooting about with crayons is actually a very effective and widely practiced tool used to include the voice of the child in safeguarding.

For those who think drawings are pointless;
www.partneringforsafety.com/uploads/2/2/3/9/22399958/three_houses_booklet_updated.pdf[/quote]
In court our SW said she'd been playing playdoh with DD while she spoke to her, DD had no idea what was happening (and at the age of 3 playdoh was her favourite thing to do in the whole world).

DD has always had communication issues and her interview was written as DD, so when asked if she missed daddy and she nodded that was put into the report.

And DDs keyworker was there when they spoke and said it wasn't all questions on the court case, she asked her things like "Do you like Nursery?" "Whose you're best friend at Nursery?", it's not all questionning about the case.

@WhathappenstoDD I imagine the SW in this case took a similar approach. It's certainly the one I always used to use.

It's amazing what children will happily talk about when they're busy beating you at a board game and you've mixed the questions into general conversation.

notanothertakeaway

Doesn't mean mine would.

Good to hear that someone is trying to listen to the voice of the child.