Dog poo!!!

[achaeco]

Hello everyone

I have a dilemma....
I have an 8 year old foster child that came to us with several behavioural issues, we are dealing with these in turn.
One of the issues we had was him playing with dog poo, putting dog treats in the dog poo and then enticing the dogs to eat the treat and standing on the dogs when they slept.
Amazingly we had NO help from our fostering team but took advice from a good friend who knows a little about child behaviour; it was suggested that the foster child is given the responsibility of looking after the dogs, this included picking the poo up and disposing of it. We thought we would try this and seconded both my son and the foster child to take on the role.

It was almost over night success, we have had no issues for well over a year and both boys do this job without question.

I guess i should stress that both boys wear latex gloves then place their hand inside a dog poo bag to collect the poo, they dispose of both the bags and the gloves correctly and then wash their hands with antibacterial soap laced with alcohol.
The dogs are wormed as they should be and we have made this task supa safe.
Its also worth noting that i have a health and safety degree and obviously wouldn't put either child in danger.

Now then..... Social services have instructed us to stop this immediately as they deem me to be placing the "foster child" in danger (no mention on my own son) without knowing or wanting to know our reasoning and success behind this.

I plan on fighting this and have confirmation in writing from several vets that our practice leaves the children in no danger at all, we have also received confirmation of the same value from the dogs trust.

Please, has anyone else had any similar issues or any other issues where they have felt the need to fight social services for what right?

Thanks

I would assume that you keep daily diary notes on your foster child's day and would have documented the behaviours and discussed them in your supervision sessions with your own social worker. What does for supervising social worker suggest?

Oh yes, it's all logged.
Our foster child's social worker thinks it has worked extremely well and has commended us, as has his school and his key worker.
Our previous social worker thought it was a brilliant method of taking ownership, however we have just got another one fresh from school and she is the one that has raised a concern with her supervisor, who also has know about it for many months.

This has never been raised at review meetings, however the issues with messing with poo has, it was agreed that it would be monitored.

The next review is in May, it shall be raised along with several professional opinions including the opinion of his doctor who is also in agreement with us.

I would hold tight then. Keep on documenting and diarising. If it works and it's hygienic I would stand my ground.

This will be within standard's and procedure's , Gloves are a precaution , can still contaminate clothes or other exposed surfaces and body, children will not be as carful as responsible adults . There are many medical problems associated with cat and dog poo, skin infections, salmonella, vials disease, etc.
Prevention is better than a cure.

Yes I understand that, however using your methodology, should I ban the child from playing on the grass? Ban him from the park? Not take him to the zoo?
I think a certain amount of common sense should prevail.

AGREE with you, we make sure there in no Poo around in garden at all, dog is only allowed on fenced off paved area, which we hose down and disinfect regular, having younger children we do the walks, some times kids in tow,
As you say rest is common sense. Take our own wipes too farm's, zoo etc. can not always depend on other's standards.

Surely he was in much more danger BEFORE you gave him this responsibility? He was playing with it anyway, without gloves. I'd stand my ground, especially with all the people you have supporting you.

Sometimes SW don't live in the real world - especially newly qualified ones. They think life is like their text books and are shocked to find sometimes things aren't so black and white. Wait until she has a case load of 40 children, all with complex issues, all needing her urgent attention. Suddenly you might find "problems" FC's have already found a successful solution to suddenly become less of an issue...

I'm shocked by your post and horrified that everyone thinks that what you are doing is ok. No, the foster child should NOT be picking up your dog's poo. If you picked it up immediately it happened how would there be time for the child to add dog treats to it? Totally unacceptable.

Like many dog owners I spend my day following 4 dogs around waiting for them to do their duty........ Get real.
I'm impressed that your intelligence overlooked the work done with the child so he doesn't do this type of thing anymore.