Children's services are unfit

[Sparkles224]

I work in safeguarding and have to call children's services very often to make referrals for families and children. However after working in my role a while now it has become very apparent that a child can be emotionally scared and unsafe but nothing can be done. They won't even send a social worker in to assessment the home.
It's apparent that there can be physical abuse but again nothing will be done unless marks are left on the child. We are not allowed to ask to see injuries unless it's an obvious face, arm, bottom of leg. So I don't get how that works because sometimes these children want to hide their injuries.
I've had social workers ignore my emails and calls for 3 months just for a basic update on the child's home situation so we can put into place support for the child.
Soooooo many times we have been told there's no role for social care. Even the police who I've worked with have bee shocked that they don't want to get involved.
It's like they have their own threshold inside of the institute that is impossible to reach.
So many times you hear of these incidents and serious case reviews. It becomes apparent social care knew about the situation and didn't do anything or enough to protect the children.
It feels like watching a slow car crash because you know these kids/families need help but they don't get it.

Also I know money is tight for these services and I know work loads are stretched but there needs to be a change.

Please report to director of social services and also the Cabinet member (who is the lead elected
councillor). I’d no response go to the chief executive and your MP.

Thanks. I do feel it might fall on deaf ears though. I guess it could be worth a try

The threshold isn’t impossible to reach, but it is very high. It’s high because it represents a huge intrusion into family life, so there needs to be evidence of significant harm or risk of significant harm. The concept of significant harm is subjective and different local authorities will have their own threshold of what constitutes significant. It’s also high because services are stretched beyond their limits so they only have capacity to work with the most serious cases - social workers are literally fire fighting most of the time.

The best way to have a referral accepted is to be very clear with your assessment, rather than saying there’s physical abuse being very clear about what you’re seeing in the child that’s concerning you - are they telling you they’ve been hit, have you observed an unexplained injury, are you seeing something in the child’s behaviour etc. I assume you’re in England given the comments about marks, it’s not (yet) illegal to smack children in England so unless there is a mark, the child has been hit with an implement or been hit on the head there’s little social workers can do about it - we can’t remove a child’s clothes to look for marks either and there would need to be clear grounds for a forensic medical.

Yes services are really struggling but it’s also about knowing how to make an assessment and present this clearly using significant harm as your reference point. It’s also knowing to escalate the referral through the team leader to service manager and head of service if you continue to have significant concerns.

yes a very close friend had to get a restraining order on a corrupt SW

all because she personally hated and disagreed with their lifestyle choices (which was home education and living in a giant tent on a farm, all fully electric) and used her position to try her hardest to change their beliefs and lifestyle

she came out because friend was 50 and PG with twins(her 11 and 12 baby) and as they are hippy eco, off the grid types the midwife referred because friend refused hospital birth as they don't do hospitals and midwife didn't like it that friend opted out
that's all it took

they were severely harassed daily for well over 2 years and her manager covered it all up
so many lies on the reports

it finally had a major internal investigation as friend went as far a stage 3 complaints with no help
but when a solicitor got a non molestation order out as friend had tons of evidence it got looked at

all come back as friend was right and SW and manager got fired and friend got compensation from the local council

we are rural Wales btw, completely different way of life to English cities, towns

Absolutely this.

The threshold to reach is very high but the way you report is crucial. I've just been involved in a case where children were saying XX hurt them and they had injuries. The way it was reported was wrong and so claims were not held to substantial enough and children were returned home even though there was a lot of evidence, the way it was reported was what failed the case.

SW are also over stretched. Too many case loads and cases taking far longer than the estimated 26 weeks.

Please try and contact the head of service regarding no response but also make sure your information is thorough.

@sillyseal and @Jellycatspyjamas how do you suggest is the "right" way to report then?
I believe it was reported in the right way but I'm open to other views and suggestions