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’ve lived with an electrician for 20 years couldnt change a plug if you asked me too

Just here to wish you and your family all the luck in the world, op. It sounds like things have been impossibly hard for you all - keep up the good work and I hope the future is much brighter

OP, well done on turning things around . Thank goodness you (and your kids) got good SW attention and support to keep your family afloat. It's working for you. In the current situation for the whole country, in your shoes I'd see that as my advantage, and hang on to full CP plan as long as I could.

In New Year, we'll ALL be facing dark days and a shit storm of stress; colder weather, higher cost of food, heating problems, more strikes, school closures etc. You're already at full stretch, bad timing for you to face yet more problems. Your SW may have that in mind when considering when to change the childrens' care status. She's looking out for you, and them, in tough times.

Keep strong and good luck.

She may not think her best is amazing but knows that it is her best, hence nothing more? Quite an aggressive question to someone making themselves vulnerable.

Despite the sneery comments here I don’t think MNers realise that their children could be put on a CPP tomorrow if they made a disclosure like my DD a few years ago. Not about me or her dad but about a family friend - it was a fucking shambles and an authority that has had bad press for the social care due to letting lots of kids die.

It was the worst time of my life. Even now we live in fear that an accident for example could trigger us being put back on.

Sadly SS do seem to like to keep people on these plans even if you’ve improved loads and been super patient. It’s a horrendous system that serves to destroy families and sadly if you object it’s a MASSIVE red flag against you that NEVER goes away

What an unhelpful comment. Your personal experience is not like the op. She clearly needed the support and has benefited along with her children. Don't encourage her to think something is destroying her family when that is clearly not the case.

I hope you were able to safeguard your dd appropriately. It sounds like you took her disclosure very lightly.

It's great that you are making positive progress, but it took 3 years of CIN to get to CP, why would you expect to go the other way in less than a year?
I know you can feel that the meetings and the visits are getting in the way of you making even more progress, but just keep grabbing input from every professional you can for as long as you can. At the moment it's laid out ready for you, just waiting. Soak it up.

As an ex CP worker, I can categorically state that this response is utter bollocks

If they are saying at the conference that they don't think it is likely but there is a risk, then they have not met the threshold. The thresholds very clearly that they are being harmed or likely to be harmed.

surreyscb.procedures.org.uk/zkyqzh/managing-individual-cases/deciding-and-recording-that-a-child-should-be-subject-to-a-child-protection-plan

The test for the likelihood of the child suffering Significant Harm in the future should be either that:

The child is shown to have suffered ill-treatment or impairment of health or development as a result of physical, emotional or sexual abuse or neglect, and professional judgement is that further ill-treatment or impairment are likely; or
Professional judgement, substantiated by finding of enquiries in this individual case or by research evidence, is that the child is likely to suffer ill treatment or the impairment of health or development as a result of physical, emotional or sexual abuse or neglect.

If the child is likely to suffer Significant Harm in the future, it will therefore be the case that safeguarding the child requires inter-agency help and intervention delivered through a Child Protection Plan.

A child may not be deemed to be at risk of Significant Harm but may require services to promote her/his health and development. The case should be managed as a child in need.

She's just warning you about what could happen.

You say they can always reverse their decision if you go backwards but in that time they won't be monitoring your children closely enough to help them straight away.
I'd take as much support as you can for as long as the professionals think you need it.

You say that things are improving and going really well which is great and so I do think you would benefit from it carrying on.

Why risk having it go backwards when you’ve come so far.

However, if you are continually getting above 7s and have no slip ups then I would ask to move down and instead of her coming every week, to start coming every other week.

It’s easy to maintain a high level of care if someone’s constantly checking up on you but you and they need to see that you can do it without their help, which is the end goal.
So reducing their involvement would determine this.

Speaking from your children’s POV, having these agencies are really beneficial.

Not only are you and their dad not being neglectful or abusive towards them anymore but they genuinely build up a good relationship with them and it’s nice having that support system in place.

I think my concern is on the focus on what the mother wants l how she feels.
The child/children are at the centre of decisions and what is best for them.

I don’t know if you have had a challenging time etc . I know people are saying well done, but your children were seen as needing child protection due to emotional abuse / harm/neglect.

I get you want off the plan , but my focus is in the children. This will stay with them for life .

If you want to give your children the best chance of recovering from the abuse, why the hurry ? What is the problem

This poster has described the SS as a trusted adult who the children enjoy spending quality time with. Not everything is an echo of your experience!

It's clear the disclosures by your child were taken seriously one way or another if it led to SS involvement - it's the content of the disclosures that would harm children and destroy families, not SS. It's not a perfect system but obviously the op won't be helped by paranoia. She clearly needed help and I'm sure you would want her children to be protected regardless of your own feelings.

@cagoule ex CP worker ? Couldn’t stand the heat juice of all the cases that were loaded onto you the moment you’ve got rid of them ? The social worker I lived with was meant to have eight, actually had 14 and if you have solved, fixed whatever you want to call it, any of them he’d have been given another to replace it. No way was he going to allow that to happen. And that was right across his team.
He much preferred to go and have tea and biscuits with the middle class families than be stepping over dog shit and hypodermics in the less enjoyable environments.

I suspect your SW is just managing your expectations. It has to be a decision agreed by a majority round the table and that is not always a given. I am a retired SW and I would always have been as positive as possible with families but also be careful to say that things might not work out as expected. If it is deemed to be in the interests of the children to stay on the CP plan then you need to accept that. It will certainly allow for access to any services needed.

Ex as I have retired. Naice MC families also have children on the register. My colleagues and I would far rather help a child in need/danger than sit around and eat bloody biscuits. But as you lived with a SW, that obviously makes you a CP expert

The social worker I lived with was meant to have eight, actually had 14 and if you have solved, fixed whatever you want to call it, any of them he’d have been given another to replace it. No way was he going to allow that to happen. And that was right across his team.
He much preferred to go and have tea and biscuits with the middle class families than be stepping over dog shit and hypodermics in the less enjoyable environments.

Did you dump him because he was a shite person who wanted the easy life rather than actually helping children who needed it?

Cagoule
Well we will find out just how useless or lazy SWs and Teachers (another popular MN target)are as more and more of them leave won’t we. If they’re such easy jobs to doss around in lots of people will want to do them and stay. Oh wait......

I get you want off the plan , but my focus is in the children. This will stay with them for life .

If you want to give your children the best chance of recovering from the abuse, why the hurry ? What is the problem

I completely agree!

He much preferred to go and have tea and biscuits with the middle class families than be stepping over dog shit and hypodermics in the less enjoyable environments.

No wonder he’s an ex, he sounds like an absolute waste of space.

Fortunately, people like him are very rare and the majority of SW are not like that at all.

TBH he probably wasn’t even anything to do with SS and he just told you that as I doubt anyone would actually admit that.

@Justthisonce12 you are talking absolute nonsense. Social workers aren't in the job to sit and eat tea and biscuits. We are there to make life better for children and their families, often working UNPAID overtime to keep children safe and giving up time with our own families. You are being ridiculous.

No - we'll be fine . Their expert ex-partners can take over. I once lived with a cardiologist...

You have managed to reach an equilibrium right now. It sounds like your family is one that faces additional stressors. Kids grow and change. Your children’s needs are going to change. That is going to throw your hard fought equilibrium off balance.

as stressful as the oversight might be for you, unless it is causing stress to your children, you need to leave it in place as long as possible. Every age change comes with unique challenges. If you are just managing now, it’s going to be harder for your family to adapt than the average family. That isn’t meant as a criticism. Something like a child hitting puberty or being in an exam year can stress parents who have no other demands on their attention.

I would be asking the social worker to help you work at early identification and early mitigation for if things do start to go wrong again. See if you can (yourself) draft a plan of all the potential places things may go wrong, and all the potential support you can ask for if they do so you don't get to the CP stages again.

I would also ask them to help you work with the children so that they know how to reach out for support too if things go wrong, and likewise any close family members or supportive friends you can rely on.

It does sound like you have really engaged with them OP, which is so great to read - I hope you are really proud of yourself.