To disagree with social services?

[Lilyfrilly]

I’m hoping someone here works in social services or just has some knowledge and advice.
name changed for this post.
my 4 children have been on a child protection plan since February this year. We go to core group meetings every 6 weeks with the professionals, to discuss how the plan is going and if we’ve done what has been asked of us.
we’ve gone from having a bad relationship with some of the professionals, to having a good one and working well together on the plan.
at each meeting, all the professionals are asked to give us marks out of 10. It’s gone from 3/4 to 7/8- the last few meetings have been really positive. Social worker visits unannounced at least once a week, and is always satisfied.
our next conference is in January. This is where the decision will be made on if we need to stay on child protection or can go down to child in need plans.
there is nothing more I can do than what I have done. Things are going well.
however, my social worker has said not to get my hopes up as although things are going well now, they have concerns things might not go so well again in the future.
bit surely in that case, we would just go back up to child protection again.
If that is the reason they use to keep us on the CP plan, then they could always say that reason since no one can see into the future. So my question is…. If at the next conference, it’s decided we need to stay on child protection, would I be wise to just accept that or can I challenge it? I can’t see how we would still meet the threshold but I’m anxious now.
i feel like I can’t do any more than what I have. I’ve also heard CP plans can’t last more than 2 years. But the thought of another year of this…

I would ask how can you improve from a 7 to a 9 to show you are being proactive. You might find you can do this without too much additional effort as you have already massively improved.

I agree with this. You've clearly worked really hard to get where you are, but it's complacency that they're worried about. At the moment you're focussing on what you've achieved, which I totally understand, because it's clearly taken a lot of work. But what they need to see from you is sustained effort and that you're not sitting on your laurels.

I think they'd take it as an excellent sign if you asked the question in that poster's first sentence. It speaks of you recognising that there must be more that you can do.

Sorry and to add you can challenge the outcome of the conference within 21 days stating reasons why. I would also encourage you to contact the chair and discuss your concerns with them in advance of the meeting (when you have received professional reports/are aware of the recommendation and why).

I really like this… thank you. I should definitely focus on the positives and the help my children have had. Since CP started

^ went to panel to ask for respite care for one of my children as he is disabled and I was at breaking point having never had a break.
*group mental health course for me which has completely changed my life. After being let down by MH services for many years.
*2 of my children now see a counsellor once a week
*school created ‘young carers club’
*2 of my children signposted and accepted to ‘young carers’ outside of school

• SW has been a safe and consistent adult in their lives. She sometimes picks one of them up from school (they all go on these outings but not together) she will take them to McDonald’s or the park. They can then talk to her alone and they enjoy it. *family support worker once a week *funded breakfast club for one of them *funded school meals for 2 of them *help with referrals, form filling, offering (but not mandatory) to come with me to any of the appointments my children have. *a chance to actually speak to the head teachers, pupil support managers and teachers of all of their schools. Every 6 weeks. So a close relationship with them. And able to address any issues quickly. *direct payments to pay a family friend for four hours a week looking after one of them.

Yes I’m the mother. I’m with their father.

This.

“If your child is made the subject of a child protection plan, it means that the network of agencies considers your child to be at risk of significant harm in one or more of the following four categories:

physical abuse
sexual abuse
emotional abuse
neglect.”

This is about safeguarding your children, not your convenience.
For whatever reasons, of which you don’t wish to disclose, you have failed to adequately parent/protect your children to the point that SS have deemed them to be at significant risk of harm.

You’ve had a plan in place, which you apparently failed to satisfy, to the point that they increased the level of protection needed to keep your children safe. These decisions are not taken lightly, and SS must have continued to hold a high level of concern to up this.

Work with them, not against them. Ask them for all the help, support and advice you need to achieve the goal of lowering the level, and keeping your children safe.

I don’t think it would be outing to say the categories they are under for CP.

emotional abuse / harm
neglect

Emotional abuse
neglect

Oh stop, you have no idea what you're on about.

i don’t think any case is easy for them on child protection. I imagine all of those cases are hard and often complex.

Is there any need for that attitude? The OP has acknowledged the issues that were there and by the sounds of it has worked pretty hard to address them.

This is the conclusion they came to in order to step you up to CP. It's serious stuff. It often takes far longer than 9 months to make the changes necessary to convince them that this is no longer the case.

Hi OP, I just want to add, you are getting lots of support at the moment. I know it may seem that life would be better if you were off the Child Protection list, but really, this support should be helping you. You should try to hold on to it - services will be getting stretched in the next 2 years and you should try to hold on to as much support as you can. It cannot be easy parenting 4 if 2 have additional needs.

This is why I think you should welcome staying on it. Whatever the reasons for being escalated in the first place it sounds as if your children have some complex needs between them. Having significant SS involvement makes it much easier to access support services. This can only be good for your family.

It is really a risk assessment for the children. While it sounds like you have been able to access more services and have made great progress in terms of using those services to better your family, you haven't yet shown you can sustain this without the frequent oversight and accountability of CPS. Your history also shows that you find it hard to make the changes that your children need for their safety and wellbeing unless required to by outside parties. They will look at your past and present and do a risk assessment. They may well decide that you need another year to show that you can maintain consistency and to reduce the risk of the children being in a harmful environment again. I am glad you were able to access services for yourself as well - you and your husband putting effort in to stay as mentally and physically healthy as you can is essential for the overall wellbeing of your children.

Your comment that you can't do anymore than you are doing is a bit concerning. I don't know if you mean time and resource wise you are stretched thin or that you can't see how you could create a more stable and healthy and safe environment for your kids. If everything was perfect, they would be giving you top marks and they aren't - so they still see room for improvement. You should be able to as well.

I lived with a SW for 3 years.

At your conferences/core groups, how do you score yourself OP?

OP it sounds like you and your husband are doing everything you can to look after your children and accept that intervention from professionals was needed.

Please don't give in to people asking for details about what the emotional abuse and neglect consisted of, it's nobody's business. What is important is that you're working with social services and not pushing against them.

You sound as if you are turning things around for the family, so well done.

@Lilyfrilly its all relative, but agree with the other posters, don’t get caught sharing the details online that would bd a huge set back for your family.

5

How do you give yourself a 5 but also say there is nothing more you can do?

I understand how tempting it is to want to be off the plan as soon as poss but given you said that you initially didn't work well with the professionals and given that your scoring indicates you're a bit more concerned than the professionals, I'd be patient and keep on engaging. As others have said, there needs to be evidence of maintaining change

First well done op for making lots of improvements. Also for being brave enough to talk here, it really might help someone else make good decisions.

Try to remember that social services want your family to stay together, they want you to move forward and actually they want you off their books! The support is all about setting up support and systems so you don't need them anymore. It's not a year yet, so do not rush things, take the help. Having your children grow into strong independent adults is the sim, and it seems with support you can help them do this.

Having kids with additional needs is very hard, I struggled with coping with 2, one sn, with 4 children I'm in awe of you. Keep up the good work and take that help, don't be proud it's for you!

Long term changes are incredible difficult to sustain. Particularly in terms of abuse and neglect. Quite right they’re thinking of extending it.

It’s great your family is benefiting from all those things, and sounds like you’re all in a better place because of it. Which might be why you need to remain on CPP.

What changes have you made yourself that are outwith the plan and the resources available to you via it? The SW is probably wondering if there’ll be a lasting positive legacy, or if the current improvements to your children’s neglect levels and emotional abuse are due to the continuing presence of the CPP. You’d need to demonstrate that you’re independently providing for those areas before it’s reduced.

You've done so well in obviously adverse circumstances op. Well done. In some ways I do think you're parent of the year!

I've fostered a bit so just a this is nothing not than a lay opinion but I would second everyone saying this support, while exhausting and intrusive, is also invaluable and a safeguard for your children were something to unexpectedly come up. I can think of social workers who simply wouldn't feel happy that the changed situation was going to stick after a relatively short time. They see so many nine minute wonders and have learnt to be a bit cautious about accepting that lasting change has occurred. I would imagine this is particularly the case if you were on the CIN before without a good result. I wouldn't agitate to move off as it looks like you're perhaps not as committed to the process as you could be. But good luck!