AIBU to be angry we were subjected to Social Services Section 47 Investigation?

[Morbihanmum33]

Long post - sorry: My husband and I have 4 children, 14, 11, 7 & 2. No prior involvement with social services whatsoever. No ‘risk factors’ - criminal records / addiction issues / mental health problems / domestic violence / no issues at schools. Both of us have enhanced DBS. Professional jobs.

Our family recently had to endure the considerable distress and intrusion of a Section 47 child protection investigation.

Our 2 year old had light bruising across his thighs. Both my husband and I saw it but did not know how he’d done it. We flagged it when we took him to nursery, he is very active, trying to keep up with his bigger brothers. In the last 6 months at nursery, the nursery has filed 6 accident reports for incidents in their care, so they know what he’s like.

They rang me to tell me they had a statutory duty to report the bruises as they were unexplained and on a part of his body not normally associated with bruising. However, they assured me it was routine and nothing to worry about. They told me they made it clear on the referral that they did not believe we were responsible for the bruising.

The next morning a social worker called me and told me I had to take my son for a medical examination. This had to be done at the hospital - 45 mins away - immediately. I was due at work and had an important meeting so asked if it could be another time. I was told they could take my son into care if I did not go.

My son was given an examination by 2 doctors and I was interviewed at length. While waiting the social worker told me this was a Section 47 and that they would also have to see my other 3 children, and could go into their schools that same day if necessary to interview them! They also told me they had chosen not to involve the police at this stage!

The Drs found no evidence of non accidental injury. This was communicated to me and the SW at the time.

Despite this, the investigation still had to run its course over a number of weeks, with a visit to our home and interviews with the other 3 children, and them speaking to our GP and schools.

We all found the whole process deeply distressing and a total invasion of our privacy. I was fraught with worry the entire time. We were made to feel like criminals, with SS adopting a ‘guilty until proven innocent approach’. I’ve been left traumatised by the whole experience.

Having read up on this I understand that bruising in a non mobile infant under 6 months is always a major cause for concern, and some local authorities authorise automatic Section 47’s for referrals like this. However, government guidance is that (even with a non mobile infant) an initial enquiry or assessment should be made with the family before initiating an investigation.

Secondly, my child is fully mobile and the original referral explicitly said the bruising was not considered suspicious - so I do not understand why this was escalated in this way.

The cases (against all 4 of my children!) have been closed, but I’m so angry we were put through this. I also understand the fact an investigation was carried out will stay on file for a long time. I’m considering pursuing a judicial review on the basis an initial assessment should have been carried out and the lack of medical evidence did not warrant an investigation.

AIBU to feel like this - or should I just let it go?

I imagine it's horrible to go through that and the fear that they may, wrongly, determine your children at risk and potentially remove them from your care. But what if it was a neighbour, not yourself, who had not been reported when the bruising was actually as a result of abuse and the child wasn't protected? They do these things to ensure child safety, not to hurt or upset families.

OP we recently had an almost identical investigation. It was awful - genuinely the worst two weeks of my life. I had panic attacks every time I drove towards my house and I haven't had panic attacks in the 25 years previously. I knew that there was no cause for concern but from the initial call from SS to them closing the case we were absolutely treated as though we were to blame. The allegation was for my youngest but they wanted to investigate all the children. My oldest has severe mental health difficulties and ocd. Since the investigation he has new tics and isn't sleeping.

Awful, awful time. I hope you're all ok

It seems astonishing that they wasted all that time investigating you, when children who are really being abused aren’t identified and sometimes die as a result.

Same thing happened to my sil and nephew. It was awful and distressing for her and her kids and us as we had to come down and assist as English wasn't her first language

I understand that. But the process and the fear is horrific. And there are things that could be done to help "innocent" families caught up in this. For example, they closed our case on a Monday but I didn't get the letter letting me know that till Friday. That's a full working week of extra worry. A quick telephone call would have saved me from five extra days of panic attacks.

I think anyone would feel upset and annoyed at being out through that. How do SS know it didn't happen at nursery? Why weren't the nursery investigated? Perhaps they should be. Maybe they were rough with him when nappy changing?

I hate the excuse that they have to investigate all cases crap that’s trotted out every time an innocent family gets caught up in this.

You hear about children who have multiple injuries, show many many signs of neglect and abuse, yet they work to keep the family together . Then instances like this where a child who has a few bruises, is examined and nothing suspicious is the finding the family gets put through hell.

And the bullshit, lessons will be learnt line gets repeated again and again.

It really pisses me off that innocent people go through this and then kids that are actually being abused get missed. You always hear the stories of how there was x amount of chances to save so and so but it was all missed. The system is broken for this well and truly.
I'm sorry you had to go through this and yes you are quite right to be annoyed

I understand that it was distressing, but social services can't do right for doing wrong. Just because you and your husband have dibs checks doesn't mean you aren't capable of abusing your children. It happens every day.
My step mother was a head teacher at a special school but she still used to beat me regularly with a wooden coat hanger.

I understand and sympathise but I think social services were correct to investigate.

SS are an absolute joke. They'll go after decent families with much loved and cared for kids for spurious reasons, but the families where the kids are genuinely at risk are pretty much left alone.

Sounds awful, so sorry you went through that

Autistic/adhd anecdote.

Long time ago, my dd aged two had unexplained bruising on her lower legs. I took her to the GP. We were given lots of hospital appointments. I feared leukaemia but they clearly thought the child was being abused. One of their stupid questions was 'Does her father pick her up by the legs?' Dd was right there so I said to her 'Does Daddy ever pick you up by your legs? 'No! Never!' she replied.

Later I found that she used one of the wooden parts of the settee to help herself climb up, pushing her legs against the wood and causing bruising.
It might be something like that, OP.

I think you should let it go. And I say that fully appreciating how distressing the process has been for you. SS had to investigate, particularly as there was no explanation for the bruising.

How awful for you all. I would be furious and very upset.
As the mother of several robust sons, as soon as they were mobile they were covered in bruises regularly.
I would seriously consider making a complaint

OP I really feel for you and its so wrong that social workers are having to waste their time on this. I'm sure it wasn't any of them personally who did this, but instead some kind of initial paperwork error or miscommunication. Also, unfortunately you don't 100% know what the nursery wrote, I know from handovers that nursery often tell parents things to keep the peace and avoid potential conflict. They could well have been much harsher than the person who spoke to you made out.

I think its worth exploring a complaints procedure with social services. Not against the social workers personally but if procedure wasn't followed this could prevent time wasting with other families in the future.

I guess try and move on from it and know that social services are just trying to protect children and it's the system that's broken, not the people who actually had to investigate you.

How are they supposed to know which are which if they don't investigate?

And how do they know whether children are or aren't being abused without investigating?

I had one engagement with SS. Relatively minor. DD at the time safety netted by a consultant adolescent psychiatrist when CAMHS had refused all services, took a very small od and took herself to a&e 36 hours later to confirm she had caused no harm. A&E went completely overboard insisting on an overnight admission fkr CAMHS assessment. CAMHS then did fa for 8 weeks and only then after a formal complaint.

A&E were accusatory, ott, rude and told lies. The matter was reported to MASH and SS. I received a call from SS about 3/4 days later from a very curt gentleman, clearly ticking boxes and unable to tell me what support could be provided if I'd said yes, thank you, that would be lovely.

We were low risk. The Director of Childrens' Services confirmed that and apologised. The hospital consultant told me at 8pm, that when we spoke at 7.30pm I had given permission for the matter to be reported to SS. I had not. He got exceptionally arsy when I stated I had not. It transpired that the hospital had reported the matter at 2.30pm that afternoon.

These people are heavy handed, lying, incompents as far as I am concerned. I received apologies from the CEO and the Director of SS. If I had to do it again, I'd engage a solicitor immediately to deal with them. Fortunately this was 9/10 years ago and dd is now well.

You have my sympathies @Morbihanmum33. You should complain and you should get your MP involved.

@Morbihanmum33 it sounds very distressing and it's horrible that your family went through that.

I hope you can all process and heal from your experiences.

I just don't know what people want or expect from social services though. There will always be cases where concerns are proven to be incorrect but that doesn't mean they shouldn't have been pursued in the first place.

These types of investigations are very harmful on two levels firstly they take rescources away from children who are being abused and secondly the stress and anxiety on the parents impacts the children who are then through no fault of the parents patented less adequately during the investigation. Currently even if it is found at the beginning an injury has not been caused my parents and the child is not at at risk they still go through the process of investigation this needs to stop.

Secondly, my child is fully mobile and the original referral explicitly said the bruising was not considered suspicious - so I do not understand why this was escalated in this way.

I’d ask the nursery for a copy of their referral to see what was actually said - if they honestly had no concerns I don’t see why they would have made the referral, and it’s usually difficult to get social services to accept a child protection referral without an indication of significant harm, because that’s the threshold for child protection investigation.

That aside, once they have accepted the referral they have a duty to investigate. Social services receive hundreds of referrals a week - some will be malicious, some will be mistaken, some will be for parents who are struggling and need a bit of support, some will be for parents who are actively and purposely harming their children. Some will be families known to them and some will be families with no previous involvement - where there does need to be some level of investigation because the family is unknown so services are starting from scratch.

If you know of a way to determine which category a referral falls into without undertaking any enquiries, I’d love to know it. It is intrusive, and stressful and unpleasant - it’s also the process that acts to protect children, flawed as that may be.

It's good that ss pick up on these things BUT they miss an awful lot and kids die as a result.
I guess it's quicker to look at 'easier to deal with parents' than the so called ones who will find every excuse under the sun not to engage with the authorities and tell the sw to fuck themselves or don't answer the door when sw calls.
My dc were always taking tumbles and bruising themselves but I was never investigated. Kids take tumbles and knocks it's part of childhood.

Awful as it was I think you probably need to let it go. If you try to do sone kind of legal case it won't change what has happened and the incident will still be on record anyway. I do however understand how awful it is. My autistic non verbal ds , who is now an adult, was always getting bruises that I had no idea about. It caused me huge anxiety as I was always worried that we would be accused of something. We never were but it could have happened. I see on here constantly people saying that innocent parents have nothing to fear from these investigations. This is because they think it happens to other people, not people like them.

"the families where the kids are genuinely at risk are pretty much left alone."

They don't. We only hear about the tragic misjudgments/mistakes. In both directions.

I think, if you can do so calmly and factually, a complaint would be wise. From the point of view of the impact on the children and your family life, the disproportionate response. This could have been conducted in a more proportionate manner, and better. Complaining won’t help you, but may help another family by getting practice looked at. It will also help children genuinely at risk by focusing the limited resources on them.
As a teacher I saw many many times genuine reports and disclosures not followed up or abandoned due to resourcing. A better framework and guidance helps everyone, an inconsistent and unconsidered approach doesn’t help. Resources are finite