To be upset an Independent Social Worker drove my 5 year old with no seatbelt???

[Sobaditsfunny]

Hi, me and the ex are going through a divorce. He's been told he has to have supervised visits with the children due to domestic abuse and concerns he struggles to care for the 4 children. He was also pulled up by cafcass for not fastening the 2 year old in his car seat on a jouney due to the seat being too small.

Him and his barrister appointed an Independent Social Worker whom he pays a hefty hourly fee to so contact could continue.

She's been fine with the children, no issues. This weekend she offered to drop the children to my house after contact which is a 5-10 min drive. She had bought a new tesla and could not find the seatbelt for the middle seat so according to the teenagers she said to my 5 year old 'Oh its just a short ride, you'll be fine' and off they came to my house with her having no seatbelt on or any booster/car seat.

Am I overreacting to think that was really unsafe and unprofessional?? I don't want to ruin the consistency of the supervised visits or cause trouble but all she had to do is ring me and I'd have popped down to collect them, as I'd done once before when the 2 year old refused to go in her car.

What are people's opinions??

YANBU.
That is completely inappropriate and not at all professional.
It should definitely be reported / recorded.

Outrageous.

She'd never be driving my child again.

Who are the people who think this is okay? Idiots.

Report her. Utterly unacceptable and illegal.

Bare minimum she should have put a teen in the front and strapped kid in on side seat.

That's terrible she should have called you.

Complain via your solicitor.

(As a newly independent social worker myself I'm also wondering how she's financed a Tesla)

Thank you, I'm glad I'm not overreacting. I just kept thinking if someone had crashed into them, she'd have gone flying straight through the front window. She's a tiny 5 year old.

@Mayhemmumma she had a corsa a few weeks ago and said she was getting a new car-was not expecting a Tesla!

@RandomButtons That's what I thought, she could have at least swapped her with the 14 year old who is bigger.

I'm going to inform my solicitor and I expect she will inform the other side. I'm definitely not allowing her to go in the car again.

I’m a social worker and I wouldn’t dream of transporting a child illegally! Could lose her registration and for the safety of other children in her care it does need to be reported!

Totally unreasonable. Make sure you write down/record what the children say. As you don't want her to saying it's not true.

Not that you don’t need another voice, but adding to 100% correct to tell your solicitor/record what your teenager said and don’t let them in the car again

Absolutely inappropriate. If she couldn’t transport them safely she should have rang you to collect.

Honestly in that situation ( only 5 minutes down the road?!) I would have set the 14 year old off walking in the right direction , or left them with dad for a few minutes,( unless there was a really good reason not to ) dropped the others off with mum and gone back for the other one.

or like you said , just called you to pick up !

All very strange from a professional - especially when I feel like there was lots of other options

no I don’t think you are over reacting- and I never say that on this forum 🤣

and I’m a farmers kid that grew up sat in the back of a land rover on milk crates 🫣

we know so much more about car safety , cars go so much faster car seats are a law not an option.
and not that I would ever generalise lol - but I imagine it’s very tempting to drive fast in a brand new tesla

Yes it is something that is reportable but what do you want to achieve,hopefully she just made a lack of judgement which luckily ended with no harm done. I would tell her this was said tell her not to drive them again or tell her to use the correct seats and belts next time. She may already know she made a mistake and know not to do it again.

I agree @Doingmybest12 .

I'm not convinced a social worker would do something so stupid and irresponsible. Kids, even teenagers aren't always the most accurate story tellers.

Also in social work and it was always made very clear that we had to be safe transporting children - eg if having issues with a car seat, phoning a colleague to bring one etc. PITA but its an absolute.
No reason not to believe your child, it's a specific comment and unfortunately plausible! Also while I can understand a last minute panic that you can't work out the seatbelt (not that that would justify taking them) why had they suggested dropping them if they didn't have a booster? At 5yrs it's not like they're on the borderline of whether they're needed or not.