Social worker is writing false reports

[ImNotARegularMomIACoolMom]

Hi so basically my social worker is writing false reports
as far as I’m aware the social workers have to write reports on what they’ve seen and not what they have heard is this correct?
so my social worker has written that I never have food in nor do I ever have gas and electric, I’ve met her 3 times and not once has she been in my house without me having any of that, I have all my receipts from food shopping every fortnight, and I also have my utilities app which shows me making regular payments and my gas and electric is never off
also my son had an operation end of January of this year on his left testicle as he had a cyst, we thought it was a twisted testicle, he had a minor operation and 2 weeks off school and he has been right as rain, as soon as he started comparing of pain I took him up to the hospital and within 2 hours of him complaining of pain he’s all ready gone down for his op in her report she’s wrote ‘Oscar’s operation was more then likely due to neglect’ how can she give a medical opinion she’s a social worker???! also how would my child having a cyst on his left testicle be because of neglect?! This is a common thing for young boys
so for that basis my kids have been placed on child protection I’ve tried to show her my receipts and my gas and electric app but she’s not having none of it can someone give me advice? Also she is siding with my kids dad who has never been in regular contact he doesn’t see his daughter only his son, has issues with drugs, and is abusive to his gf and her children, he also disappears for weeks/months at a time and constantly lets his kids down AIBU and if not what do I even do? I’m scared to complain incase she escalates things

This looks really good to me OP.

However, if you still don't feel able to cope with the situation, may I suggest that you make an appointment with your local Citizen's Advice Bureau, they should be able to help you, I would have thought.

If youre acting as hostile and confrontational to the SWs advice as you're acting on here then that's probably not reassuring them that you're capable of making the necessary changes.

Trust me on this-
First step is to make a complaint via the councils complaints procedure. Take screen shots etc so you have a “receipt”
Make the complaint short and clear. SW X, has made false reports give examples. Say this is unacceptable you want the record to reflect corrections. (Apparently they cannot change records … you must request official addition to file stating what was incorrect and what is correct)

They have to reply writhing a certain number of days. And you get a reference number.
There is a process & escalation process. If you don’t follow their procedure then complaint isn’t official.

If it’s still a problem you can make an Ombudsman report. It’s easy, but you will need your documents and record of official complaint.
——
you can also request all files at social care where you are mentioned, by full name, by initials or referred to as “parent or carer or mother”
Keep record of date of your request, they must supply data within certain number of days & they often “lose” or “don’t receive” your request do you must be vigilant and keep track. You can use records to support your complaint.

Mostly the social workers, imo, investigate each other, and will likely not support your complaint which is why it will prob need to go to ombudsman.

we made a complaint about our GP once . Next minute Gp referred to Social services and made a load of lies up about me and my daughter. Fortunately the SW’s couldn’t find any issues with us as parents and told the GP practice so. Liars are unfortunately found in all sorts of professions . I believe you OP. People who don’t believe are both naïve and lucky not to have suffered.

I am not being hostile or confrontational crash is basically accusing me of lying?

I only do a big shop (which I call the food shop) once a month. I top up the fresh food in between, but don't consider buying a couple of things as a 'shop'
Eg I went to the co-op today. I bought bread, milk and some reduced veg for tomorrow.

May I add to the excellent draft letter that has been produced

the report states that my childs operation was needed as a result of neglect.

Please can the report writer

1. provide details of their medical qualifications, and
2. Explain how they reached this conclusion.

I might also suggest

The report states that there was no gas or electricity in the property. Please can the date and time when this was observed be provided in the report.

You can then when you have these details provide your account details that shows that the supply was on

And dont forget

https://www.socialworkengland.org.uk/concerns/raise-a-concern/

when they reply

@FairlyTired She obviously is not.

It's clear from everything op has written she is not comfortable challenging the SW in person, but it is 11.50pm and she has had a fair few snotty responses stating that she must be a shit mum and too thick to realise it.

SWs are authority figures who can remove your children, this creates fear and Sws should be aware of this dynamic. Frightened people are not always polite and by the book, OP has also stated she is vulnerable.

OP came here for advice and received a lot of judgement. Being defensive when unfairly judged is entirely normal behaviour. Why would you try to suggest it isn't?
Would you simply sit back and trust the system if a social worker turned up? Trust me you would not.

The father of my child is high up in SS.
He is abusive. He came up with every excuse not to see his child, but made out I was withholding contact. He ignored my child's mental and physical health needs despite ongoing struggles. He even went as far as to try and pay me off and then disputed DNA when I sought legal advice.
This is just the tip of the iceberg.

So I promise you, all kinds kind be SW. Not everyone will be truthful and in the case of my ex some can't even practice what they preach.

Thankyou exactly I would never speak to her in that way because I’m frightened of what she can do🫨

and yes some of the comments here they clearly don’t live in the real world to believe this doesn’t happen

Yeah I can believe that there’s a social worker that lives in a town very close to me and she is well known for her nights out and drug taking but then works with vulnerable adults and children it’s frightening

A SW can record any neutral or positive event or interaction as “concern” - they will never admit to wrong doing. (If anyone has experience of a SW willingly admitting to a mistake like OP has experienced, please let us know).

Know of a case. Child with genetic syndrome with excessive weight gain. Family kept no snacks, no sweets, no biscuits. Family very aware of medical condition & had dietary & behavioral advice from medical experts. Has SW because of child SEN education. Parents had complained school was giving free access crisps as “rewards” undermining child’s health.
SW completely ignored medical records given to her confirming genetic diagnosis with weight gain and recorded weight gain likely do to excessive unhealthy snacks freely available at home & parents are not supporting healthy eating. Functional parenting classes recommended. & weight monitoring. No mention of school. Parents had no junk food as child had this metabolic genetic problem since birth and they were commited to keeping child healthy.

Did I mention that the SW was very overweight? Laughable she is giving weight management advice.

Parents tried to get records changed which started more battles and more SW targeting the parents.

You have my sympathies OP

I had a few meeting with a court worker who was a social worker / mediator. She wrote down complete fabrications about me - one that was actually quoted verbatim by the family court judge as if I’d said it 🙄

@ImNotARegularMomIACoolMom Do you have any other numbers for ANYONE within social services? Are there other agencies you're working with?

The dynamic is wrong you honestly seem SCARED of this SW, if you were at risk of losing your kids YOU WOULD KNOW BY NOW. The process if they head for removal is very brutal.
At the moment it doesn't sound like you've been told they are going for removal but you sound terrified and confused and the ONLY reason can be a shit social worker.

IT DOESN'T SOUND LIKE YOU ARE AT RISK OF REMOVAL.

GOOD social workers try to encourage you and support and offer services to support you, these services are experienced with SS so they know all the fuckery that goes on.

Honestly do you have a number you can message or email? YOU NEED A DIFFERENT SOCIAL WORKER AND YOU ARE ALLOWED TO SAY THAT.
SHE WILL NEVER CONTACT YOU AGAIN. You won't have to explain to her why you don't want to work with her, she will just go.

Darling it's really scary standing up for yourself.
The important thing DON'T SAY HOW ANGRY YOU ARE. We don't get on, I can't engage with her, there were factual inaccuracies in her reports, SEND AS A MESSAGE/EMAIL and say nothing else.

If you do decide to do phone (I wouldn't) when they try to get you to say "No it's fine actually" when you feel like saying "sorry I don't want to cause trouble" INSTEAD say "I will get back to you after speaking to some people" THEN HANG UP.

Avoid angry when talking to them, even though you must be incandescent with rage, just keep words to a minimum and msgs, WhatsApp,email always better than calls. They will insist on calling, reply by text. It's not a crime to protect yourself

This is the correct advice. Refute as much as you can with evidence and request a new social worker.

@LucyBee0ox, no social workers do not get bonuses for removing children😄. The threshold for removing children is extremely high and is the decision of the courts. You’re embarrassing yourself.

This. In fact removing children is the last resort. And it’s hours and hours of extra (often unpaid) work.

They do. I had medical perinatal records that medication plan I took up, was breastfeeding friendly when my child was around 11 months old, fast forward to when my child was four, despite providing
my perinatal records the sw maintained I was placing my child at risk lf significant harm by breastfeeding against medical advice I mean wtf? I found by accident in my child’s medical notes the sw had emailed the duty pharmacist to ask what contraindications there were for breastfeeding on the meds I took with no info on myself or my child, the response was a generic patient information leaflet of to cease breastfeeding and switch to formula feeding the ‘infant’ when my child was four and a half, formed more the HV reiterated there is no risk at a conference, ignored entirely and buried in court. Another one was I was a drug addict as one of my pain meds is a controlled drug. Again provided medical letters and records yet sw still maintained I was misusing drugs. Again, despite having an ND diagnosis for myself and child via nhs and a private one, the sw decided I was making it up, had a personality disorder and munchausens and ordered psych tests which of course showed we are ND. Made no difference in court. I could go on, but health visitor, psych assessment, police records and so on all backed my truth yet the sw was determined to continue with their own narrative. And there is and was nothing I can do about it.

What was the recommendation at the end of the RCPC? If it is to continue on child protection or drop down to child in need, you have another 4-6 week window to continue working with all the different agencies and evidence your capacity to meet the children’s needs.

If the local authority were truly considering a care order or supervision order then you would have been told in a clear legal letter in a very specific format and would now be in a PLO process. Again, you would still have a period of time to evidence change and meeting needs.
This link describes the PLO process.
PLO process Please ignore this link completely if the outcome of the RCPC has said to continue on child protection.
Go and see the safeguarding lead or headteacher at your child’s school. They will have been there at the RCPC and will have a clear view on where things are at. They can support you to understand where you are at in the process and ensure the school perspective is seen by social care. Similarly, if you still have health visitor contact, they too will have been there and the health visitor will have been charged with a weekly or more frequent visit if you are now in the PLO process.
You are understandably very stressed and anxious. Make sure you have sought medical support on your own account as this is further evidence of your commitment to support the children. Get yourself on waiting lists for counselling, DV support or whatever you need to put yourself in the best possible place to go forward.
By all means, request a change of social worker but they will still be working within the parameters of the process and will have a timescale they have to adhere to.

social workers don’t get bonuses for removing children. That’s untrue. Actually their aim is to try and keep families together.

Absolutely, there are social workers who lie/twist facts.

But then again every professional at a child protection conference has a vote if a child should be placed on a child protection plan.

The social worker can't decide by themselves and I seriously doubt an empty fridge and a documented medical problem would trigger a child protection plan.

Hi OP

I’m the safeguarding lead at a school. It sounds as though you are very stressed out by this situation. I wonder if you can answer a couple of questions- I might be able to support a bit.

How old are your children?

Are there other professionals involved? Usually, there will be someone from education, and if you have significant MH struggles (which I think you mentioned, but apologies if I got this wrong!) someone from health.

The SW will have been involved for a while before the first CP meeting - about how long?

Hope you’re ok this morning.

Nope it makes it easier one less person on her caseload to deal with I know what she’s trying to do probably to get my kids removed like I said it’s one less caseload for her

Children don’t come off a social workers case load if there are child protection concerns, nor do they come off a caseload if they are removed. Removing a child creates a huge amount of work for social workers, and a child being in care similarly generates a lot of work for social workers. It’s not an easy process and no one does it for the sake of it. We also don’t get a bonus or financial reward for removing children or having them adopted.

@ImNotARegularMomIACoolMom you need to write to the team leader with evidence that your children are cared for. If the social worker has commented on your child’s operation that information will have come from someone involved in your child’s health care, the social worker will have been in communication with the professionals involved with your child. If the comments are made in a report for a meeting that hasn’t happened yet, write to social work answering each point you disagree with including any supporting evidence you might have and bring this to your meeting. Also arrange an advocate to attend with you if you’re worried about speaking up.

You could use chat gpt, write what you want to write and they will polish it for you to write a professional one. Also you could ask them questions in terms of what to do in this situation and they will answer what the best action for you is. Just google chat gpt, and you can use it