Made safeguarding referral to SS. What to expect re: anonymity?

[concernedconfusedcautious]

Posting here for traffic. Name changed.

Recently I made a safeguarding referral through the NSPCC who then forwarded my referral to the relevant Local Authority. I emphasised strongly that I wanted to remain anonymous. I used a burner email with a generic, common user name. I did not provide any other contact details but said that I was happy to follow up by email.

Both the NSPCC and LA are extremely interested in following up as they have a long ongoing case against the individual in my referral (I’ll refer to them as X), and my information is shedding more light on their case against X.

I’ve been careful to throw in some incidents that are untraceable to me (but I know to have happened as they have been witnessed and corroborated by several others) to make it harder to identify me. Reason being that the LA once shared a previous report IN FULL to X. Although that reporter’s email and name were redacted, the information in that report was enough to identity them. X went batshit and then embarked on a nuclear, year-long harassment campaign against the reporter.

NSPCC now want to follow up with me via phone call. They’ve emphasised that I am welcome to hide my phone number and remain anonymous. I am happy to speak to them but first, are there any other steps I need to take to preserve my anonymity? Has anyone been in a similar situation and can you tell me what to expect?

YABU: don’t make the call or follow up, it’s too risky

YANBU: go ahead and make the call, you’ve got your bases covered

Thanks in advance.

I didn’t explicitly say that these incidents were second-hand information, I kept my wording vague along the lines of “On this occasion X has been known to/witnessed to…”

I know the information in the report was added to the ongoing investigation/case against X.

@concernedconfusedcautious you probably could disguise your voice - apply a certain App on your phone etc.. - have no idea how to do this myself though. However, may be useful should they play your testimony in court etc..

Absolutely no need to do this. How do you think a social worker will identify her from her voice??

OP I understand your need for anonymity. Just be aware that it reduces the credibility of your reports.

There was a thread a few days ago.

Everything you say will be recorded and the person you reported will have access to that.

Social services are generally incompetent so don't rely on them redacting things properly.

Yes, I’m following that thread with interest.

About reports being recorded and being used in court, have this happened to anyone you know?

that’s good to know, thank you.

Make sure you are doing it for the right reasons and not to preserve your family’s <imagined> good name.

What a strange thing to say.

Phone calls are not recorded. An initial contact might be filed to court but I've rarely seen that, it's not the most useful piece of evidence so wouldn't really be needed

I wasn’t thinking about the social worker. OP doesn’t want the person she’s reporting to hear her statement.

If you speak to them ask them outright if they are recording the call. Tell them that you do not give permission for them to record it. They can’t lie to you and then use it in court, surely!

Hey OP. Social work manager here, I think the points about recordings is a red herring. Had plenty of occasions that people had recorded things on phones, not once have I known it to be admissable as evidence in family court. For something to be considered in court, the judge would need to know for sure that the evidence is reliable, and they have no way of verifying an audio recording - who made it, who is actually in the audio, has it been altered. You can't just hand something over to a judge and expect them to read it or listen to it, if the court haven't requested it they wouldn't touch it. Theres also no reason I can think of why a recording would be of any benefit to a court in this example.

A judge can request agencies provide copies of documents they have, so in theory they could require the NSPCC to provide their transcript or summary notes of the call. I can't see a scenario when that would happen though. If it went to court the social worker has to write a statement setting out the reasons why they're there, and would summarise concerns, referrals etc. The documents the judges usually request are things like police documents or health visitor records, things that would corroborate (or not) what the social worker has claimed.

Calls are not recorded!

Social services don't recall calls, but that's not who the OP will be talking to. NSPCC state on their site that calls to their helpline are recorded, the OP might want to clarify with them if that includes them calling her.

Right, so if I ring the NSPCC, I would have to tell them “I do not consent to have this call recorded”?

Thank you for this. Can you think of any scenario where X could access a recording of my call to the NSPCC? For example if they made a Freedom of Information request?

OP said in the first paragraph it’s because the person it’s regarding has been reported before to LA/SS and identified the person who reported them from the report that is available to them and spent a period of time harassing them and making their life a misery. Assuming OP is being very careful as she doesn’t want the same to happen. Sounds like she’s quite mentally unstable.

Therefore fully understandable why you want to stay anonymous. You’ve just got to think to your self if you don’t do it, who is?

Social services are generally incompetent so don't rely on them redacting things properly.

Very true for where I live. I work alongside the field.

Right on. Thank you for understanding my point of view. I want to help by making a safeguarding referral but I also have to protect myself. Also, if I am outed, there will be one less person who can keep an eye on and advocate on behalf X’s child.