To think school have over reacted

[worriedmum2022]

So my girls are 7 and 9 and they were playing at home and got a bit rough, my husband separated them and one of them had hold of a game in a plastic box.

The girls were fighting over who had the box husband intervened the side of the box had split and youngest 7 year old daughter got a cut on her hand. Cleaned up, girls spoken too all sorted job done

Yesterday the headteacher of dd7 rang my husband at work to say she asked dd why she had a plaster on her hand and she said daddy snatched a box off me and it cut me

She has reported this as a safeguarding concern

I mean I get they have a duty of care but this just seems a total over-reaction

No previous issues or incidents with the school but my husband is worried sick as he works where he has to have a DBS and he's worried this will be on his record

Can anyone offer any advice on this type of thing?

*by injury I mean if she’s hurt herself in anyway, cuts from something or if she’s fallen and banged herself, etc.

@worriedmum2022 I understand that but honestly at the moment you’re making it into something that it’s not - I think it’s fairly usual for them to speak to children if they have said something unusual to the teacher - and then case is closed and it goes no further (unless there are other concerns that have been reported but you say there hasn’t been?)

My child took a bite out of a ceramic bauble on the Christmas tree last year and the hospital said they would have to list it as safeguarding because it was an accident involving a child, I never heard anything from anyone at all. Even if they would have contacted, it would have been just to clarify what happened and how to avoid it happening again.

I know you must be scared but you are slightly over reacting with the legal advise, and this is probably making you look suspicious, I would also advise co-operating with them.

On another note - I genuinely hope it does get sorted for you all

A very similar thing happened to a friend of mine. In her case and, I'm sure, in yours, it was a total overreaction on the part of the school. Resulted in the family having a social worker being assigned to the family who visited the house and interviewed the mother. The SW was satisfied that there was no real cause for concern and said they wouldn't do the planned follow-up visit. But they've been through hell with the stress and now are known to social services. Really feel for you, OP. I suspect friend's school had missed a big safeguarding concern and was now just being overzealous. Don't think they understand the way families work or the ramifications of their reports.

Have you read the update? Family has been assigned a social worker who will be visiting. Really not an overreaction on the part of the OP. But probably one on the part of the school.

@SuperMoonIsKeepingMeUpToo the child reported that the father caused an injury to the school, of course it’s not an over-reaction from the school to report this.

What world do you live in?

my dd didn't want to go to school today after yesterday's interrogation

Sorry to hear that.
It sounds like there could be something more going on that you’re not aware about yet.
Hopefully the accusations are false and your DD is ok.

From your last it seemed that you thought it was all staying in-house and that no more would happen. I accept that the school was observing their duty of care by investigating. You must have been relieved SS didn't get involved with what could have been a case of neglect with your child. Looks like OP has been unlucky in having an over-zealous school.

There was no need for your last remark. It was rude.

@SuperMoonIsKeepingMeUpToo And I think it’s appalling that you have such a half-arsed approach to children that make reports and the schools acting to protect them… if some of the poor children in the news recently had “over-zealous” schools maybe they would still be alive today and not tortured at the hands of their own parents and care givers

@SuperMoonIsKeepingMeUpToo people who have nothing to hide would co-operate with SS not seek legal advice within hours… sounds fishy AF if I’m being honest and I think there is more to the story.

It's nothing to be concerned about unless there is a pattern, just the school doing their job. DD fell off her bike on the way into school with her dad and looked a right mess. It was reported as a safeguarding concern (they have to) but if it's a one off no need to worry. Nothing will happen.

It will be a note on her file. There is absolutely no way that social services would be interested remotely in this. The teacher should also record what you said happened. The story you told is consistent with the injury and with what your dd said so that should be that. Teachers have to record everything now but that does not mean that everything is reported to social care. The thresholds are very high.

I am v surprised to read your updates. Unless there is a lot going on that you haven't disclosed here, nothing your dd has said should have raised any alarm bells.

@maddy68

Staff have to report on ceops any injury that was worrying them. Doesn't mean anything will happen it's just that if there were lots of little injury's occuring when daddy snatched something would be a pattern

I

I assume you mean CPOMS or similar reporting system, rather than CEOP which is for reporting concerns over website content or activity.

I think it does also depend on the school's DSLs. Some are more pragmatic and have more experience than others.

@neverbeenskiing

Ah just seen your second post. Sounds odd. There must have been other incidents to generate that response.

I am a safeguarding lead in a school and something really doesn't add up here. The threshold for intervention from Children's Services is a lot higher than many people think. I would be extremely surprised if a social worker came out to school to talk to a child based on a one off incident as described by the OP. I have never known anything like it. Honestly, if I made a referral to the MASH for the incident OP has described I would fully expect them to call me and give me a ticking off for wasting their time. It is the sort of thing that we would log on our internal system, have a brief chat with the parent to make sure their story matches the child's version of events and no further action would be taken unless it was part of a pattern of wider, significantly more serious concerns. Even if a referral was accepted the social worker would normally have to contact parents to ask for their consent to visit the child in school, unless the child had made allegations that were very serious and could potentially lead to criminal charges in which case it would be a joint visit with a Police officer and the parent and child would be spoken to separately. None of this makes sense.

You're correct apart from one thing, a visit from a section 47 enquiry doesnt always have to be joint agency, it can be single agency in which case either the police or the SW goes on their own, dependent on the situation.

I'm more concerned that school think it is appropriate to inform someone who they feel may pose a risk that they have reported a safeguarding issue. Totally out of order.

@Jellycatspyjamas

I’d be interested to know what the legal advice was in response to a routine social work enquiry. It’s hardly an interrogation to speak to a child about their home life when a parent has caused an injury, albeit a minor one. I had a similar situation last year, the social worker spoke to my child and to me and the enquiry was closed - no harm done. I’m a CP social worker, I completely understood why they needed to speak to her and explained to my DD what would happen and why. I really don’t see why it’s a problem given you have nothing to hide.

I find when parents say they have taken/received legal advice, theres nothing specific that then follows. So OP has taken legal advice and then what?

What a nightmare.

It might be easier to work with them. Your poor husband. My kids have argued over items and I’ve pulled it away from them both before. It’s just unfortunate it caused an injury. But if you’ve got nothing to hide, then they aren’t going to find anything wrong.

No wonder poor abused children like Arthur receive no help from child protection and social services if they are responding to minor childhood incidents throughout every school in the country. Why does everything have to escalate to a home visit by a social worker when the same social workers deem children who are being abused as living in a home that is too violent for them to visit. The system needs serious overhauling.
Heaven forbid you should question anything it then escalates to the family court which sits in secret. In the meantime seriously neglected and abused children get ignored by child protection.

I feel for you OP. I hope it gets resolved quickly. Just a thought - do you have an aggrieved relative or someone like that around ( ex- PIL or DH etc), who may have been reporting you for ages unbeknownst to you. That's all I can think of.

You don't understand that the difference between your experience and the OP's is negligible, and that you're just lucky that your outcome wasn't the same. The people who flagged a potential safeguarding risk in your case didn't catastrophise as they did in the OP's case. Lucky you.

Anyway, I'm indulging both you and myself. I don't really want to fight with you. I'm sure we both want what's best for the OP and her kids.

@Malibuismysecrethome

No wonder poor abused children like Arthur receive no help from child protection and social services if they are responding to minor childhood incidents throughout every school in the country. Why does everything have to escalate to a home visit by a social worker when the same social workers deem children who are being abused as living in a home that is too violent for them to visit. The system needs serious overhauling. Heaven forbid you should question anything it then escalates to the family court which sits in secret. In the meantime seriously neglected and abused children get ignored by child protection.

It is incredibly unusual for SS to be involved for a situation like this. So they aren’t being stretched by being called out for every cut or bruise.

As for children like Arthur, the only way they are picked up is by teachers and others reporting problems they notice.
Last week a child disclosed something to me which I had to report. I know the family well and get on well with the mum and know her to be loving and caring. However the child was talking about actions by his dad, who I’ve never met in 10 years of teaching the children of this family. I felt bad reporting it as the mum is so lovely but I’d sooner upset her than miss helping a child being abused. As it is, nothing came of it but it’s there on the system so if other siblings or this child say similar again it can build up a picture.

@neverbeenskiing

Ah just seen your second post. Sounds odd. There must have been other incidents to generate that response.

I am a safeguarding lead in a school and something really doesn't add up here. The threshold for intervention from Children's Services is a lot higher than many people think. I would be extremely surprised if a social worker came out to school to talk to a child based on a one off incident as described by the OP. I have never known anything like it. Honestly, if I made a referral to the MASH for the incident OP has described I would fully expect them to call me and give me a ticking off for wasting their time. It is the sort of thing that we would log on our internal system, have a brief chat with the parent to make sure their story matches the child's version of events and no further action would be taken unless it was part of a pattern of wider, significantly more serious concerns. Even if a referral was accepted the social worker would normally have to contact parents to ask for their consent to visit the child in school, unless the child had made allegations that were very serious and could potentially lead to criminal charges in which case it would be a joint visit with a Police officer and the parent and child would be spoken to separately. None of this makes sense.

Exactly this. SW in school interviewing the child the next day over 2 incident? Sounds like either a small part of a bigger picture or your child has said something/used language that has made school more concerned.

PriamFarri I’m sorry but I have to disagree with you. In Arthur’s case his grandmother, uncle and step grandfather all reported that Arthur was being severely abused. He wasn’t in school and wasn’t returned to school. I know of situations where people have tried to cause trouble for others maliciously and it does get escalated to social services.