Child protection plan - Devastated

[SENSummer]

Posting for traffic as SEN board is quiet.

We have a high needs AUADHD non verbal DS. Specialist school, learning disabilities and challenging behaviour. Lovely but hard work and disregulates in school holidays. His home carer recently quit due to his violence and not feeling safe which they put in writing and I shared with SS.

I gave up work (both professionals) and became DS carer (also has a younger sibling) and have absolutely advocated for him every step of the way.
We kept asking for additional support and being denied at panel. DS is almost 6 but huge, 9-10 clothes. We reached breaking point this Christmas. We felt we couldn’t keep him or ourselves safe in the home and were really at the end of our tether. I rang social services and recounted how uncomfortable we were with the events of Christmas, said we wanted to consider section 20 or residential school if they wouldn’t help us further. They had a meeting this week and put both kids on child protection plans. Said DS is staying with us as we are what’s best for him.

Im just completely devastated. Barely stopped crying for 24 hours.

There were quite a few inaccuracies told in the meeting that compiled made us look really negative. There’s also things like DS having a safety gate over his room which everyone (including SS and OT) has known about all along and never raised issue with but now it’s a massive issue.
I can evidence most of these things but I’m terrified to even try. They have all clearly decided we are now the problem. Apparently the police who were in the meeting (never had police involvement in our lives) heard all of this and were very unhappy.

No one has ever had an issue with our parenting if anything I’ve always been commended for my perseverance with DS. I honestly wish I’d never said anything, we just really needed help.

In England there is no such role within child protection procedures and on googling not in Scotland either. What you suggested the safeguarder should do is exactly what the social worker does in their assessment. I can't imagine why a second social worker would be asked to do a second assessment. To what end?

@ShawnaMacallister
If you could read my comment on P11 ( with download)of this thread with the attachment.
It may inform you.
I m unsure why you re so confused about this role or deem it unnecessary when you ve( until now) unaware of its existence.
There is indeed a role of safeguarder in Scotland. My post explains their role quite well if you wish to read it and educate yourself.
" To what end ?", you ask.
I have explained, but I ll do it again.
When there are complex issues ,perhaps disagreement between families OR legal teams ( if involved) OR SW .
Or when agreement between parties involved cannot be met in the best interests of the child.
A safeguarder MAY BE APPOINTED by requested of EITHER the court or a Childrends Panel hearing.
Their role ( safeguarder) is to meet with relevant people involved in the case and produce an independent and unbiased account which is reported back to either the court or Panel members.( whoever requested it).
They do not make decisions or offer judgement or opinion.They compile a report regarding all aspects of the child and the relevant people and professionals in the child's life; family,SW, health care ,police,education if involved and relevant.
Appointment of Safeguarder can be most useful in certain cases.
As I ve said; a few times now, a safeguarder can be allocated if the court OR Panel members think it appropriate OR if the family or SW request it in Scotland.
At the time I made my original comment I was not aware where OP lived or that safeguarders were unique to the Scottish system.
Is there anything else you would like explained???

How did this turn out in the end? They are doing the same to me now my child is just like yours. I requested section 20 specialist residential school and they turned it into child protection conference. I believe that it is too costly for la

I requested a s20 for my violent and antisocial (adopted) teen. After she made a false allegation of common assault against me and I was arrested and detained in custody. The police decided no further action (because I didn’t do it). But my LA put me through a s47 investigation and I was taken to an initial child protection conference, where the professionals who had never met me ‘voted’ for my two adopted children to be put on child protection plans. I refer to it as Strictly Come Child Protection. I still refused to have my teen home and I involved a specialist solicitor, Damien Dobson of JWP Solicitors to help me. The child protection social workers doorstepped my 82-year-old, seriously unwell and housebound mother to manipulate her into housing my teen by telling her there was a chance that she would never see her granddaughter again because she could be sent to the other end of the country. I told everyone this would never work. Sure enough, after six weeks of trying to manage my teen’s seriously antisocial behaviours, my mother was diagnosed with stress-induced psychosis. Two years on, she has never recovered. At this point, the s20 was granted. But no foster placement could be found, because my AD’s needs were too complex for the system. Absolutely fine for me to manage them solo and unsupported for several years, while being parent-blamed and shamed and systemically abused. The child protection investigation and conference was the most deeply shameful period of my life. My physical and mental health have never recovered and my extended family relationships are now severed. I have not spoken to my mother, the great white saviour, for two years. On the plus side, my LA is now funding a very expensive residential placement for my teen, one of only two national colleges that meets the needs of her significant sensory impairment. She is thriving there but it is only a 35-week placement. She returns here in the holidays but I have negotiated a package of practical support as the LA knows there is nowhere else for her to go and that there is no one else willing to take her on. My teen and I have a good relationship now, all entirely on her own terms because that is all she can manage, due to her early life experiences, disabilities and neurodivergences. I would urge you to contact the Family Rights Group which has a free legal helpline. They are brilliant but more used to helping people who are having their babies and children removed. Also, seek out Professor Luke Clements of the School of Law at the University of Leeds on his very important work on parent-blaming and shaming in the world of disability. Prof Clements has written some widely recognised research papers and books on this topic, in conjunction with the charity Cerebra. Finally, if you are being taken to an initial child protection conference, you are entitled to an independent advocate, funded by your LA, as is your child.

Parents don’t attend Strats
It sounds like this is a S47 enquiry underway?

Yes parents never go to Strats
but are always part of the Cp conference

Absolutely this
a Section 47 enquiry is now being initiated which is done within the framework of Child Protection
There has to be a category and currently not being able to meets needs in one way or another is the ‘neglect’ one - outdated agreed
the others are emotional/ physical/sexual abuse

its cobblers

Tbf it's not cobblers, the poster was referencing their experience of the child protection system in Scotland, not realising how different the Scottish system is to the one used in England and Wales.

@ThePieceHall do you mind me asking where your info about parents being entitled to an independent advocate funded by the LA is from? I wondered given the legal advice you sought if there's more recent case law precedence or similar.
The system I'm used to is the right to an advocate for the child, but not for parents, unless they meet criteria under adults social care legislation, eg parent with a severe learning disability. Usually parents are allowed to have someone support them, eg family/friend, but obviously that's different to a professional advocate.

They can give you the support you need on a child protection plan.

A child protection plan prioritizes the child’s immediate safety, but it explicitly uses family support as the primary tool to reduce parental risk and keep the family together.

They can give you what you need and will. Work woth them and dont be frightened . It will lead to a much happier life for you all op xxx

I’m really sorry for what you’ve been through (horrendous, truly) but may I ask why you don’t speak to your mum now? If she did so much for you and your son? I can’t imagine how awful it must be to have psychosis at 82 :(

It’s very complicated. And it’s my daughter, by the way! My mother actually didn’t do very much for my AD. She just has a saviour complex. And she thought she could do a better job than me of parenting an out-of-control teen. The door stepping newly-qualified social worker appealed to my mother’s hubris, vanity and obsession with a grammar school education. AD1 passed the 11+ to a super selective grammar school. The social worker told my mother that my AD would potentially have to leave her school if she went into care. I knew my mother, who had witnessed AD1 being violent to me and my much younger daughter on very many occasions, would never cope. But my mother would never have admitted that things were too hard. Hence why she ended up with stress-induced psychosis. My AD1 now chooses not to have any relationship with my mother. My AD2(10) had not seen my mother since May, when she was scared by a psychotic episode. Last week, she wanted to visit. My mother told my AD2 that she had wrecked her future and the rest of her life by choosing not to sit the 11+. AD2 has now also made the decision not to see my mother. Essentially, my mother threw me under a bus and threw my AD1 under a bus. If AD1 had gone into LA care before her 16th birthday, she would qualify officially as a care leaver and receive an essential package of support. As it is, my AD1 is only ‘saved’ by the fact that she has significant disabilities due to her in utero exposure to drugs and alcohol so she qualifies for a social worker from adult services. My AD1 was comprehensively failed by our LA children’s services. And her grandmother.

Entitlement to leaving care services is 13 consecutive weeks in care, on or after the child's 16th birthday, and still being a looked after child at the point they turn 18. Not before their 16th birthday.

Oh crikey. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.
Also sorry, I don’t know where I got son from!

It sounds like you’ve advocated and done everything you can for AD1. She’s been dealt an awful lot from before she was even born but it sounds like she’s very lucky to have you. I’m sorry for sticking my nose in btw. That was wrong of me 💞

Absolutely not my experience at all. There was no meaningful support for my family for the three months my children were on a child protection plan. In fact, there was no support. There was barely any oversight. I believe that this was because the LA knew I was not a risk to my children. My asking for the s20 triggered the child protection process. If the £££s wasted on writing yet another single assessment (45 days every time!) could be harnessed into reducing the stress on families more practically, emotionally and financially, then children’s services would be more successful. Also, my AD1 is blind, multiply neurodivergent, has NAS, probably FASD and is diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease that is treated weekly with chemotherapy. Even the senior child protection social worker could not get anywhere with getting her accepted by the children with disabilities team. And the social worker’s application for my AD1 to be accepted for respite via the LA Short Breaks scheme was also rejected at panel. It was all a fucking waste of time. That benefited no one. My AD1’s specialist residential placement is funded by my LA education department. Because, despite all the useless social workers, she had an absolutely brilliant Qualified Teacher for the Vision Impaid who battled hard on her behalf.

Yes, sorry, I got that wrong. So much has happened since January 2024 when I was arrested.

Actually, this also varies authority to authority.

No it doesn't, not in England and Wales where the leaving care act 2000 applies. I didn't qualify that a child only stops being entitled if they go home to parent and for at least 6 months before their 18th birthday but the law doesn't vary by local authority.

Full automatic statutory support generally requires having been looked after for at least 13 weeks between the ages of 14 and 16 (and being in care on your 16th birthday). The <a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&rct=j&url=new.calderdale.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/local-offer-leaving-care/complete-offer/am-care-leaver&ved=2ahUKEwjBmoq8gKaXAxW6RPEDHXJYNVQQy_kOegoIAggACAAIDRAC&opi=89978449&cd&psig=AOvVaw3l6IkPJJJFn4xHtreiStdd&ust=1791397126073000" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Calderdale Council Pathways Servicegroups care leavers into specific legal categories: 1, 2]

• Eligible Child (Ages 16–17): Young people currently in care who have been looked after for at least 13 weeks since age 14. 1, 2]
• Relevant Child (Ages 16–17): Young people who have already left care and met the 13-week threshold.1, 2]
• Former Relevant Child (Ages 18–25): Young people aged 18 to 25 who were previously categorized as eligible or relevant. Support up to age 25 is available by choice, with a dedicated Personal Advisor (PA).1, 2, 3]
• Qualifying Care Leaver (Ages 16–25): Young people who spent less than 13 weeks in care, who are still entitled to targeted advice, guidance, and specific living or vacation expenses. 1]

Here you go, from my LA policies and procedures.

So, I have proven that I have not got this wrong in my local authority.

How does that contradict what I said? Those are legal categories, not local policy guidance.
https://www.communitycare.co.uk/content/news/the-children-leaving-care-act-explained
Here is an explainer to the legislation

Yes, the policies in my local authority that mean that my AD1 will not qualify for Band 1 for council housing (when my patience finally runs out), will not qualify for a £3K package of financial help to move into an unfurnished independent living home (where private companies are absolutely scalping the local authority) will not qualify for a named personal adviser to help her navigate the start of adulthood etc etc. As I repeat, because my AD1 did not go into care under my local authority, the one where we live, before she turned 16, not any of this is accessible for her. Because of machinations and manipulations by social workers. Also, I’m guessing you must be a social worker? It explains a lot.