Social worker lying during assessment stage

[Mumonarole]

So a bit of background is that I self referred to get a social worker as I have children with additional needs, I had to push really hard for this and a housing officer helped me finally get them to agree to do an assessment to get a disability worker. Now I have one child that is diagnosed with autism and adhd and another one who is awaiting a diagnosis this year after 3 years on the list. We have multiple professionals involved due to my youngest child being so high need and in a specialist school. I have pushed for as much support as I can and previously has early help workers with social services refusing to take the referral as I met my children’s needs.
the social worker seemed lovely and it came to light she was new but everyone has to start somewhere. I should have seen there were going to be some issues with the language barrier from the start with her manager admitting on the phone she couldn’t understand what she was talking about when I discussed a housing application with her (I’m trying to move house on medical needs as it is very small and the box bedroom has been turned into a sensory room for my youngest - which you couldn’t fit a bed in with the door open so it was a waste of a room), fast forward there have been multiple times where other professionals have been confused about what she is talking about, she has repeatedly said it is my mental health when I have mentioned anything to do with my child’s speech issues or sleeping issues (I don’t have mental health issues) but she insists that she should take me to a doctor, she tried to collect my child’s speech issues from school yesterday and was repeatedly asking then when tensions arose at my home because of the language barrier ( I work with the incontinence team and now my child is toilet trained I still use the service but not the commode) she screamed at me for turning down services and not working with them despite clear messages where I had been communicating with them regarding my child and recently. This escalated to her screaming in front of my child, the younger social worker not knowing what to do and then continued shouting as she left the house and discussing my case on the front in front of my neighbours. She also stated in a message she had last seen my children on the 1st of this month and needed to seem they that day because she had not seen them since the 1st( this was yesterday) to which I let her but when I checked through messages and my calendar I realised she hadn’t seen the children since the 18th of last month. Am I unreasonable to put a complaint in about her behaviour? I’ve tried to be patient with her because I can see she has limited understanding of English and she seems to have a short fuse when the communication breaks down between us but I can’t allow her to go on like that in front of my children and also the lying about the visits, as it seems she is keeping inaccurate records. My assessment is due to end next week in which I will be getting a disability worker but I told the social worker yesterday when she was leaving the house I could not work with her anymore with the way she was behaving and that I would like a new social worker.

I’m sorry I wouldn’t be so accepting if she had a limited understanding of English! How on earth did she pass her qualification! I think you need to request a social worker as it sounds like all she’s doing is causing you more stress!!

I don’t understand how someone has managed to secure such an important job with limited English speaking skills.

definitely complain

If her English is that bad she shouldn’t be doing the job. I would absolutely submit a formal complaint. Follow everything up in writing from now on.

And this is exactly why I’d never get social services involved for my autistic children,
people have suggested this to me in the past but I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them

You're right to complain. I'm a social worker. It's not safe practice to have a social worker who isn't fluent in English, gets frustrated to the point of shouting in front of children, misinterprets the families needs, breeches confidentiality and lies about visits. So, so much wrong there. She could be doing this with families were parents actually do have mental health needs and struggle to advocate for themselves and their children.

I have tried previously to speak to the manager and tried to put politely that the language barrier is causing issues with everyone being confused with what has been said. As her and the manager visited me at the start and she commented she was a good social worker so I wanted to give her a chance but when I asked for help with transport for my daughters school and the team replied to her and not me she called to say she was so confused and she didn’t understand what was going on. The transport team had literally just messaged her to tell her that the only taxi available would be at 9am and apologised that this would cause lateness but it’s all that’s available at this time of year (easy phone call for me to make because I accepted the help) but then the school were moaning on at me because they were confused by her and I honestly felt like I have had everyone come at me and it has been so stressful but the manager if I call and leave a message she just gets the social worker to ring me back. I’ve really wondered how she got the job because she really struggles to understand English very well and the level of frustration that then leads to her becoming irate and shouting just isn’t good for her job role. The fact that the manager knows this is what I find really concerning as my case is low level but there’s a lot of professionals involved and she is dealing with every family from neglect, abuse, disabilities etc and that is concerning.

Being able to speak good English is a requirement to be registered as a social worker. The people who do the registrations at Social Work England never actually meet social workers to agree registration, they just verify qualifications.
I'd go in your LAs website and find how to make a formal complaint. Include what you have here about how the language barrier is impacting her work and the talking about you on the front. If all you have said so far is her English is poor, they may brush it off as racism but there's clearly real issues from your post.

And there’s me with a first class degree in health and social care, 8 years working directly with children and families but refused onto a fast track or postgrad social work course because I don’t have GCSE maths.

Yes I am bitter.

Anyway, I digress, this sounds like a mess really - and the language barrier isn’t helping. Complain and ask to see another social worker. You deserve better.

Yanbu I would say her aggression towards you infront of your children is the reason and ask for a new social worker and for her to at least get some additional training (and hopefully some very firm words between her and her manager about how she treats the parents she's working with).

Could you not do a functional skills course at your local FE college?

It sounds like you'd be doing exactly the right thing putting in a complaint and asking for a different social worker!

@ThePieceHall

I could but I have dyscalculia so I failed last time. Then I just thought, no, fuck it. I literally cannot be arsed to learn about algebra when I could do the job hands down AND not only that, but excel in it. I really do think a first class degree in health and social care, plus years of direct work should be enough. I was more than capable of the postgrad masters in social work. It is what it is I guess. I work full time with children of my own and logistically the maths course on a Wednesday evening was proving difficult getting in and out of the city centre.

I’ve had dealings with the sector as a child myself so also have lived experience but the maths is a barrier, even a “simple” level 2.

Anyway, I’ve left now. I was fed up in the support roles - moved into HR where I could utilise my people skills. Doubled by salary, lowered my stress and didn’t need to know about fractions. Their loss.

Here behaviour is unprofessional.

Not only that but her managers are at fault as they are aware of her language problems but not addressing them.

So both your SW and her managers need to be held to account.

I've just seen your reply to @ThePieceHall which wasn't there when I typed this reply. Having said that, you would probably find FS2 easier because it's heavily applied.

You could get a Functional Skills 2 qualification within a few weeks if your maths is strong. It's accepted as equivalent to a GCSE grade 4 by most LAs/universities for Social Work. It's normally free if you don't have GCSE mathematics already.

@Lougle Yes it’s applied but with dyscalculia it’s still a barrier. I’ve moved on now with my life anyway. But thank you.

Her English is so bad that even her manager can’t understand her? You have to wonder how she got through an interview if she can’t make herself understood. How was she able to answer the interviewer

Op I would encourage you to raise your concerns and that you think the miscommunication has negatively impacted the assessment. A word of advice though would be specific that the social worker isn't comprehending what you or other professionals are discussing and this is causing a problem because she's drawing conclusions or making recommendations that aren't relevant.
If you can give specific examples, do so.

I say this because in my experience complaints about not being able to understand someone in this role are often frankly racist. I'm not saying that's the case here, but if theres a chance it could be seen that way, please be specific so that the nature of your complaint is clear.

Of course you can complain about her screaming at you. She should never be shouting at you.

Hi sorry not trying to derail, but could you get a qualification in Functional Maths to get you onto a Social Work course? ? It’s really practical and sensible, learning how to use maths to solve every day problems. Good luck.

Thank you for all of the replies I’ve put a formal complaint in and I’ve checked Darlingtons website for advice but it seems to point towards contacting a manager which I have tried to do several times but she is ignoring my calls.

I’d put in a complaint about the manager too if she is ignoring you!

Yes I will definitely add that into the complaint. I will post the complaint email regarding the matter. Also a post has been deleted about my housing. So the sensory room (box room) was my bedroom but it was too small to fit a double bed or single bed in with the door so I’m purchasing a sofa bed.its been a double bedroom and 2 singles and we don’t have a dining room it’s a small living room about (9ftzx11ft) and a decent sized kitchen as we can fit a table in too. The garden is also a good size it’s square and can fit my child’s swing set and allow space. I did originally ask for the referral being on help with housing grounds but it seems I won’t be moving and due to me being a single parent it’s not an issue for me to sleep on a sofa bed as my child really struggles to regulate with being highly sensory and non verbal.

Completely unacceptable situation. Formally complain - in writing, heading your email/letter FORMAL COMPLAINT - about the SW’s appalling practice ie screaming and shouting (WTF?!) and her lack of English. I would also complain about the manager, who clearly knew about the language problem, but allocated her to you anyway. You may well not know, but where did this social worker qualify? Because there should no way to pass a SW course without being proficient in English.

I’ve now found out she has put in reports for my eldest child no disabilities despite my child being diagnosed with autism and ADHD. I have never known discrimination like this and I am unsure as to where to turn for help other then legally

It’s unbelievable