Malicious report to SS

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Don't want to go into detail as outing

a malicious report has been made about me to social services.

given some of the information in it the report can only have come from someone close however it was reported anonymously.

has anyone dealt with this before? What did you do?

Yes this happened to us. First thing to do is stay calm (hard I know)

-engage fully with SS. Depending on the allegations they may want to do a home visit or a medical. Comply fully.

-Ask for full details of the allegation/s.

-Put together point by point each allegation and why it is not true. Attach proof if necessary. Eg we had to put ‘dc does have allergies to the following foods. Attached blood results and care plan for evidence. Attached email sent to school informing them of allergy (we were accused of making up allergies). If you can counter any allegation with proof this is immensely helpful for SS and they can deal with things quickly

good luck

Thank you.
fortunately I can prove everything they've said is completely wrong / made up.

im just so angry someone has decided to target my family.

did you find out who did it to you?

Yes ours wasn’t anonymous it was the school ! They’d spent weeks putting together all their allegations. Having meetings etc. it took the social worker about 2 weeks to pull the whole thing apart - she was amazing. She spoke to the consultants involved with ds, had a right go at the school for wasting her time - told them that rather than having meetings they should have contacted the gp and SS as soon as they had concerns but instead they exaggerated things and added things. The case was closed and the report she wrote told the school they needed to work harder to support ds and apply for an ehcp rather than trying to say he had no issues to avoid giving support

It happened to us twice. The first time was anonymous ( although almost certainly the same person both times), and the second time we weren’t told who made the report during the initial interview. It could only have come from one of 3 people due to the amount of information about personal household set up etc.
We were told when SS found all allegations to be unsubstantiated.

@LumpyandBumps so when the ss closed it they told you who made the allegations even if it was made anonymously?

My ex maliciously reported me. Social worker said it was v common. I said it was malicious but I’d happily engage as required. They did one courtesy call to her school to confirm they had no concerns and closed the case. I’m sorry though- it’s very humiliating and upsetting

It hasn't happened to me, but I have supported people in similar situations. Members of the public are allowed to remain anonymous and they won't (shouldn't!) tell you who has made the report, even if you believe you know. It may be possible for you to guess who it is depending on what information has been shared, but SS shouldn't confirm it.

Bear in mind that SS won't quickly close down a referral that is said to malicious, and please don't take this personally. The reason is there have sadly been child deaths where SS missed the issues because they wrongly believed parents claiming referrals were malicious - Star Hobson is an example. It's not to say that they won't deduce claims are malicious, but they have to scrutinize them a bit more than they might have done before.

My ex also did this. Made it sound so bad they turned up on a Friday night for a welfare check with the police. Fortunately (or perhaps not) the SW was used to that kind of thing. Chatted with the child, spoke to school, case closed.

Sorry to say but it's not always obviously malicious, its possible that the person you think it is has genuine worries and depending on who they are you could speak to them. My brothers ex has MH and other problems and wasn't engaging with anyone, my mum had no idea how her granddaughter was and any chance of help was ignored, so eventually she felt so worried she contacted SS. She hasn't seen her grandchild since, it wasn't malicious just genuine concern but my brother's ex has now cut all family out of their lives.

This happened to me.

A social worker came round for a chat and spoke to the school then closed the case. I was told that if another report was made then I could contact the police for harassment.

They won't tell you. You're going to have to accept you won't hear it directly from them.

This happened to me. It felt utterly traumatic for me at the time but the SW was very good, did all the necessary checks with school etc and the case was closed relatively quickly.

It happened to me. My DS was aged 14 at the time. I, DS and the (now ex) H were called to a meeting at the council offices. I worked at my DS's school at the time. I informed the head before the meeting. At the meeting DS was taken to talk to a social worker and H and I were interviewed. The allegations were put to us in full. There was enough detail given for us to know who it was. The social worker and I had a talk. I think she was the same one who interviewed DS. She put it down as a malicious allegation. At some stage they spoke to the school and asked the head if he had any concerns about me. He said none whatsoever. Case closed. Now exH was having an affair, and it was his primary school teacher mistress who made the allegations. I could t prove it but without giving any detail here, it was blindingly obvious from the info she gave. I'm so sorry this has happened to you, it is vile what some people will do, and I know only too well the feelings you will be having

• couldn't

People don’t have to give their name when ringing up.

bear in mind if your mum tells her friend something in confidence it could be a friend of a family member and not the actual person you think it is

if you’ve done nothing wrong then it’ll be open and shut within the day usually

We were told when SS found all allegations to be unsubstantiated.

I find that quite shocking and totally reprehensible unless it involved some sort of court case or ongoing complaint, eg, with an ex spouse.

Social services are not always correct and informing who it was could discourage them from complaining again if SS had got it wrong.

depends We had a false allegation reported to a professional (child coached by parent). SS rang up, told them it was in family court and it was malicious and they closed the case.

It happened to me and as PP have said work with social services and hand over evidence that disproves the accusation. As horrible as it is to have them involved even briefly it's reassuring that they are looking into any and all accusations that come in.

The first time they said it was anonymous and I never found out who made the allegation.
The second time she made the same allegation to various organisations, which all fed into the same MASH. I can only assume that she gave her name to one of them, or updated her initial report and did it then.
I also made a subject access request, but even though I knew her identity by then it was so redacted to protect her identity that it wasn’t worth having.

In my case it was the ex spouse. I don’t find SS telling me her identity nearly as reprehensible as her making the completely spurious allegation in the first place.
To the poster who said ‘ if you have done nothing wrong the case is normally closed within a few days’: you have no idea of the stress this type of allegation causes.
I knew we had done nothing wrong, but you try proving a negative. It’s not easy, and turns your whole world upside down until you are finally released from initial suspicion. The allegation, however, stays on record indefinitely.
Fortunately both of my children’s schools were very supportive when contacted. I still hated any contact with them as I was always concerned that some people would think ‘ no smoke without fire’
If I wanted to harm someone I really hated a false allegation to SS would be the way to do it. Fortunately I don’t hate anyone THAT much. ( and of course would never do it, this is just to try to show how horrible the experience is).

In my case it was the ex spouse. I don’t find SS telling me her identity nearly as reprehensible as her making the completely spurious allegation in the first place.

But the system isn't just about you. It's about all children, many in awful situations. Some complaints will be malicious, some will be accurate and some will be made with good intent but prove to be groundless. SS might very well find that there is no case to answer but that does not mean they're correct. Revealing the names of complainants could lead to physical retaliation and even if not, the fact that they've had their name revealed means they might very well not complain if they see something happening again. And if it's revealed that SS reveals names of complainants, a lot of people will never complain out of fear.
I'm quite shocked that that is happening to be honest.