Hi all, new to mumsnet and signed up to ask some questions if you don't mind.
I am a disabled woman who cannot leave the home, in fact i struggle leaving the bedroom to use the facilities. My husband is my full time carer and we have 2 daughters aged 13 and 12. I have had my own share of mental health problems over the years and in 2019 i lost nearly 20 years of my memory while undergoing treatment for PTSD. I have never received any help, i was referred to a local NHS center but that was during the pandemic and since then my case has been closed without me ever seeing anyone. Our eldest daughter started to self harm over a year ago and has confessed to wanting to commit suicide. She has had a lot of problems regarding school and the school while they have tried to assist they don't exactly make it any easier, refusing to take her into school when she's panicking or letting her sit aside and calm down a little, they just tell my husband she can't stay and to take her home again. After jumping through a few hoops and multiple GP appointments we finally got her assessed by camhs. They have given her 6 sessions, most of which have been online via teams rather than face to face and quite a few we have been messed around with cancellations and moving of appointments. We are now awaiting an outcome on what happens next.
The younger one recently had an incident of self harming and we talked to her and she stopped, we've still only had the one incident. A couple of weeks ago it was the last week of term and my husband received a telephone call from the school to say our younger daughter had told the school nurse she was planning to go home and look for medications to take to kill herself. He was told to take her to a local NHS walk in center. He did so and was told they don't have any mental health workers so he would need to take her to the local hospital instead. As he was leaving the receptionist turned to a colleague and made the remark "Thank god we don't have to deal with that!" which is disgusting in my opinion. He took her to the hospital where she spoke to a doctor and explained a few things had gotten to her over the day, she'd had a big fallout with her friends and just felt a bit down. They then called in a camhs crisis team worker who assessed her and advised my husband to bring her back in two weeks for a follow up. At the follow up he was informed they had decided she didn't need help from camhs and they discharged her there and then and handed him a letter confirming the decision.
A couple of weeks have gone by and she has seemed much more herself but a few nights ago my husband was awoken by the local police saying that my daughter had text a mental health service and told them she had taken some tablets and was ending her life and they had dispatched an ambulance to our home. It turned out she had taken 12 cetirizine 10mg (her hay fever medication) tablets. It took over 3 hours for the paramedics to arrive and we were told although cetirizine was unlikely to do her any harm she would again have to be taken to the hospital for assessment. My husband and daughter arrived at the hospital at around 3am and despite being the only two in there they weren't seen by a doctor till 6am. The doctor spoke to her and confirmed the tablets wouldn't do any harm and declared her medically fit and arranged for another assessment with the camhs crisis team. They didn't turn up till after 10am and briefly spoke to her and then told my husband once again she would need a follow up appointment in 2 weeks but they weren't anticipating taking her on and advised him to speak to the GP for a referral to a different service.
Today, out of the blue we had a Social Care team member turn up at the door, she claimed we were informed she would be coming but we were not. She asked my husband to leave the room so she could talk to the children alone. After approximately 10 minutes the children left and my husband was called back in. The social care worker then told my husband she was concerned for the mental health and the welfare of both of our children and said she was going away to arrange a meeting with her manager/boss to see how they should proceed from here.
I am really panicking as to what the outcome may be from here. My husband is doing his best to keep on top of my own and our children's care but I fear for his well being and i have heard horror stories of children being removed from their homes and i always assume the worst will happen.
We do not drink, we do not smoke, we do our very best to care for our children, they are well fed, clean, clothed and have regular contact with family members and friends. Due to my disabilities we are not regularly able to do family outings or holidays but my husband does try and take the girls places and provide for them to do activities with family and friends. Despite the older ones issues with school they are both performing really well and are achieving A's and B's in their classes.
I guess i am just wondering if anyone is familiar with Social Care and may have some information they can provide for me?
Thank you for any answers you may be able to give :)