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?

Jellyx Are you over 30?

Obviously not all bruises have a CP Medical - but suspicious ones in an area that is not typical are. So what if there were no other concerns. So should the child with the bruise living in poor home conditions, domestic abuse etc be treated differently by way of process to a child that has not been known to services previously. Of course not, that would be presumptuous and dangerous. The nursery should be transparent with the parent unless cause where there is reason to believe it would cause the child further harm. Clearly the concern is the bruise to the thighs - not sure what else they can elaborate on tbh.

I can understand bruises being investigated if they're on non mobile infants or unusual places. But is a thigh bruise on an active toddler particularly unusual or alarming?

With a suspicious injury, social workers are not medics and have to consult a Child Protection Medical trained doctor. That can only take place under the threshold of Section 47 Enquiries (investigation), without this, there would be no framework for the medical to be completed and therefore no professional opinion on the cause of the bruise.

No. it’s ridiculous that people are saying that this alone- one isolated case of bruising on the thigh of a mobile toddler- is suspicious enough that it should inevitably automatically result in a section 47 investigation.

So a child can only be seen by a properly qualified doctor in the field if a Section 47 has been started? If that’s the case it obviously wasn’t explained very well to the OP.

Hard to say without seeing the bruise. A small coin sized bruise light in colour probably not. A bruise the size of a hand that is black maybe? Particularly without an explanation from the parent (obviously kids get bruises all the time and the cause isn’t known but if it’s really severe the likelihood is the parent would know what would of caused it though not a one size fits all scenario).

This is the thing - social workers MUST acknowledge that they investigate completely innocent parents every now and again. And yet they expect ALL parents to be super grateful to have the awful invasion of privacy, effectively taking away their powers of parenting and forcing unpleasant conversations on their children. And if they aren’t grovelling with gratitude it’s seen as suspicious. SWs need to accept that there are reasonable reasons as to why they’re not wanted

Correct. The CP doctor will take into account the child’s background, parents account, observation of the injury and make a recommendation of accidental, non-accidental and unexplained (unexplained doesn’t necessarily mean a bad thing, just one of those things that can’t be determined). They’ll give a report to a social worker who will write up the findings within the Section 47 Enquiries (fancy words for a report) alongside likely a Child & Family Assessment, if there is no cause for concern or no further role identities, the case will close. It sounds like OP wasn’t kept well informed of the process which isn’t good enough as parents need transparency and full disclosure too.

I have just come out of the other side of a three week investigation similar to you and also unfounded, I feel reassured that social services are taking action to keep children safe. Yes my children are fine and the case was closed but they didn't know that until they investigated.

Rather innocent families are mildly inconvenienced for a couple of weeks than children slip through the net because of course "nice families don't abuse their children".

Of course they investigate innocent parents - how would they know if they didn’t investigate? No social worker wants to waste their time on families that don’t need it but without an investigation it wouldn’t be established who needs intervention and who doesn’t. Families absolutely don’t need to be grateful but equally don’t need to be as difficult as possible either, the more everyone cooperates and works together, the quicker an outcome is established, the family and the social worker can be off on their merry way as soon as possible.

I love the idea that these several weeks (or much longer) investigations are a worthwhile “mild inconvenience” even if unfounded. It can thoroughly destabilise a family, lead to employment issues, stigma and separation anxiety in the children involved. The constant downplaying of the negative impacts and the idea that people should suck it up and be grateful is alarming.

Rather innocent families are mildly inconvenienced for a couple of weeks than children slip through the net because of course "nice families don't abuse their children".

I’m glad you experienced it as a mild inconvenience. If I were to go through a CP investigation I’d be suspended from work, I’d need to disclose it to one of my registering bodies and would need to suspend my small business. I have two children with additional support needs who would find the process confusing and distressing because of their backgrounds and would need a lot of support at home and at school. My professional reputation would be impacted.

Its no small thing to go through and agencies should rightly account for their decision making, being aware of the havoc it can wreak beyond the process ending with no concerns.

Also even diligent co-operation is sometimes not enough if a SW is convinced that there is more going on than they can find. It can be framed as a parent just going through the motions for nefarious reasons.

If you are told as I was that SS can’t/won’t work with you without a confession/explanation of your child’s unexplained injuries what are you supposed to do?

Accept that your child will be adopted, based on inconclusive “evidence “ and the balance of probabilities? To save others from harm? Or would you fight tooth and nail?

So if judgement is required based on variable criteria (eg no “one size fits all”) why is OP unreasonable in wanting an explanation as to why her particular case was judged to be so alarming/ suspicious to meet the threshold for such invasive action? What is wrong with asking for accountability concerning decisions made by our public institutions?

Which is why OP should definitely request information so she can understand why action was taken the way it was, understand exactly what nursery said.

We don’t know what other information has been shared amongst those present etc we only know OP’s take on it. I’m not saying she is making things up but I also know that sometimes we only hear what we want to hear or we are so stressed everything is heard through a haze if ‘you’re going to take my baby/child’

I don’t think anyone is saying involvement doesn’t impact on families just that sometimes it’s necessary, and quite frankly based on OPs information we just don’t know.

I cba to go into the brokenness of the system, it is, all of us in it know it but we have to work with what we have got.

I know I get pissed off with these threads and peoples ignorance because I do take it personally, I hear ‘you’re shit’ ‘you lie’ ‘you have vendettas’ and so on, and I know in practice I don’t and the people I work with, they don’t. I know there are shit social workers but it seems to be the only profession where we are all viewed as liars who can’t communicate, take kids from loving homes for no reason or leave them to die.

There are so many families that are supported, where changes are made and positive changes happen because we step in and support families to make those changes that are needed, but no one ever sees or hears about this stuff because of confidentiality. The people that can and do talk about social workers and involvement tend to be the people who have had negative experiences or can’t possibly acknowledge their parenting may not have been optimal (for whatever reason) - most people find having to have Children’s Services involvement is embarrassing, that it means they are shit parents and there’s a huge stigma to that.

Anyway I’m waffling and I need to enjoy the rest of my Sunday before the myriad of paperwork/assessments/interventions/visits that start all over again tomorrow 😂

I expect all my families to fight tooth and nail for their children

I expect all my families to fight tooth and nail for their children

Yep, me too - I worry when parents don’t want to fight for their kids even if we have different ideas of what that means, I’d rather deal with the conflict knowing the parents are trying to fight for their kids than have parents who have given up.

What happens when you’ve pushed parents so far and inflicted so much trauma, there is no energy to fight?

Not to be a dick but can you expand on that?

What’s your definition of pushing too hard? Like I say I’m not being a dick but I have heard parents say that when in reality it’s the bear minimum expected, kids to have basic needs met, so fed, housed, clothed. Prioritised over the new partner, or drugs or alcohol for example.

Because IME it’s all about judgment and ‘do better’ without actually giving parents ANY tools to do better, or looking at why, for example, they can’t put their children in clothes that fit or they don’t have a bed and mattress for them. It’s all about admonishment and nothing about support

Exactly the same. It’s the thing that stuck with me from my student days - the SW I had been with on a visit said to me ‘I want her to fight for her baby, parents should fight for their children’

😢

I mean we can get philosophical and talk about the cycle on children who are let down, abused and abandoned by parents who then go on to displace the same patterns. How they’re understood and sympathised to be victims as children - but the moment they hit adulthood they’re completely culpable for all their actions and they WILL be punished if they get it wrong.

But I don’t want to take away from the OP’s conversation