If Social Services call...

[streakybacon]

... do I have a legal obligation to let them in and see my child?

I don't know how likely this is to happen, but I had a very odd half-conversation with my neighbour yesterday, asking if my HE provision was 'adequate' and I have an inkling he might report us. He knows very little about us despite being neighbours for 17 years, has no knowledge of ds's experiences in school that led us to HE or the problems he has from his AS, and knows nothing at all about how we're providing for him, but I expect if he does report us the SS will have to look into it whether his concerns are justified or not.

I don't have a problem with LEA contact (we are known to them/registered as home educators), I have a good relationship with our EHE advisor and others and even though I don't agree to our being under the EWO banner I get on well with the Senior EWO who's been involved as well. I'm more than happy to speak with those people but I'm not sure how much contact I'm obliged to have with the SS.

What's the legal position on this?

I think you are obliged to talk to SS, just as they are obliged to follow up any reports they get.

If it comes to it, then I would get a joint meeting with your EHE person set up - so that SS can see there is no issue and can close the case.

You don't need to feel threatened by it - but I think if you try to refuse to talk to them that will make them think you have something to hide.

Thanks for replying, throckenholt.

I'm more concerned about being doorstepped, to be honest. I wouldn't be bothered at all if they wrote or phoned and made an appointment to visit, but I'd like to know what I should do if they do call unannounced.

Ask them if they are SS (rather than education), ask to see their ID, let them in and make it clear that you have no idea why someone would have reported you on welfare grounds. Depending on your situation, I'd want to be really positive about how EHE is good for your son. Generally, be polite and helpful. If they ask for something you cannot do (e.g. seeing son alone), explain his difficulties and try to find a compromise - whatever you have to do to get them off your back for good.

Thanks SDeuchars.

Do SS usually say they're SS or do you have to check yourself? I'm pretty sure I know everyone who's involved in EHE on the EWO side so I'd know if they were LEA.

Am expecting the neighbour to call round to finish the conversation. It was left hanging because his phone rang and he took the call, so I moved on. He's a doctor and apparently he'd been trying 'assess' ds while he played in the garden yesterday morning .

If they call round, be polite, ask them to make an appointment for a meeting and say that you think it would be worthwhile having the EHE person there too.

The fact that the person reporting it is a doctor probably isn't going to help. It might suggest he has medical concerns - rather than a nosey neighbour who doesn't know what EHE is. It sounds like he doesn't know what EHE is though.

You could maybe pre-empt him - and call them yourself to set up a meeting because you think he is likely to report you. Tell them of the conversation you have had, and that you would like to sort things out now before things escalate.

I'd considered that throckenholt, but wasn't sure if that might be construed as putting my case forward to defend myself before he has a chance to - well, I suppose strictly speaking it is, but you never know with SS and I was concerned that they might think I had something to hide if I came to them first. What a dilemma! I think I'll consider it though, it might be worth talking to the EHE team first and see what they say.

Thanks for the advice

We had social services called on us, by some nosey git in our village (actually, we know it was someone from the village school, as they used ds full name. Most of my friends don't even know his full name, we don't use the double barrell part unless it's for official things). He very briefly attended nursey there, then we pulled him out to go to a private school, only for a few weeeks until we decided to HE. We were reported as we live in a very gossipy area, keep ourselves to ourselves and we could see them looking at ds if we were out during school time and it was probably killing them wanting to know why he wasn't at a school so they could gossip!

Anyway, we are registered with the LA, and the first thing we knew of SS was when the LA man called us to say they had been in contact with him and he told them ds was home educated.

It was the only reason we registered with the LA, we knew someone here would try and cause trouble for us, so we wanted to cover our arses.

I have never personally had any dealings with SS - and I am not sure if my suggestion is a good one or not ! Just thought it might be worth considering.

Hopefully you will have a similar outcome lolapoppins.

Thanks lolapoppins.

This neighbour does know we HE and he knows ds's dx, but he's very much 'school is best' because he has four very high achieving children who've all gone to excellent private schools and on to similar universities. They've all sailed through school without problems and I reckon he can't imagine the difficulties we've had with the mainstream school system and how badly ds was affected by it. He most likely genuinely believes that ds is losing out by not having a school education.

I expect it will come to nothing but I figure it's best being prepared just in case I am contacted by SS. But I might well phone my nice EWO contact and have a word, see if she thinks it's worth having a proactive meeting with SS just in case I'm reported.

Really appreciate all the advice so far.

Actually, if you are reported by him (tbh, I think SS have bigger fish to fry than a nosey parker calling about your HE being adequate or not) I think they will contact the LA fisrt anyway, at least that was what our LA man told us they do in our area. I can't speak for where you are, but he told us that if it's to do with education, missing school or whatever and not to do with child protection issues, then it's passes to educational social services and the LA is contacted.

We were reported for not sending ds to school, so SS first checked with the LA to see if he was registered anywhere, he was, at home. SS didn't even speak to us, the LA man just let us know as we get on quite well with him.

And as for yur nieghbor trying to 'assess' you ds, who the hell does he think he is? Utter madness! You could make a complaint about him.

Don't contact SS or anyone else for that mattter, I am 100% sure that no one will come asking questions of you.

I'd hope the SS would refer to EHE but can't be sure. When we first deregistered we had a visit from EWOs who clearly had no idea about the legal position with EHE and the questionnaire they completed never made it to the EHE advisor - I'm convinced it's filed under welfare somewhere as they made reference to there being 'no child protection concerns in this case', suggesting that it wasn't an education matter at all. So there's history of this LA not being sure how to deal with EHE so I can't guarantee that SS would know to check up on that first.

I don't really want to have a further conversation with the neighbour and explain that we're registered because frankly it's none of his business and I don't want to give him personal information. I just want him to butt out.

X-post lola.

Yes, you're probably right, they have bigger things on their caseloads. I guess I'll just deal with it if and when it happens. Thanks for reassurance.

Very pissed off about the 'assessment'. Gross intrusion of privacy, doctor or not. He may be A doctor but he's not MY doctor, or ds's.

"He may be A doctor but he's not MY doctor, or ds's"

Which is why nobody would listen to any sort of 'assesment' by him! Nosey sod.

Have sent you an email streaky x

Hi, I had a visit from SS last sept. My DD's O/T called them because she didn't believe that home schooling was good for socialising. At the time i had just taken DD out of school because she was terribly unhappy and it took her along time to get over it. To me school was a form of child abuse! Anyway SS came and checked both DD's bedrooms and looked at their work. We are registered with our LEA so i copied their last report to SS, i also sent them a letter of support from DD's private educational physcologist, one from our local home education advisor and wrote a letter myself explaining HE, the law, why we are HE and DD progress in social and emotional development since HEing. SS didn't have a clue about HE and the law they also didn't know about the EHE officer at the same building at county hall.We had a meeting with them and they said that they would take no further action. All this was terribly stressful for me - especially them checking DD's rooms. On a possitive note i'm trying to educate people about HE as a real option. I'm wondering about writing to all my neighbours to tell them what we are doing- has anyone else done this? Sorry its a long one.

Hi fonix

Sorry you had to go through all that but pleased it had a positive outcome in the end.

I've no doubt I could prove we're 'safe' if required to do so - like you I have reports aplenty that would justify what we do - but my gripe here is why the hell should I have to waste time and energy doing so when there's no need? I totally appreciate that SS have a job to do but they should at least (IMO) be informed about the particular areas of concern they're investigating before they proceed. Surely that's not too much to ask.

I haven't had anything further from my neighbour. He bumped into dh a couple of days ago and asked "How's the family" before moving on - he rarely has conversation beyond that level anyway. let's hope he hasn't been making any phone calls.

What a shame that everyone is frightened of social services and social workers. They really need to improve the perception which the public have of them.

Social Workers and educational social workers should be there to support families and children with Special educational needs and disabilities. But they fail to provide information and support even when medical professionals refer a family or child to Social workers. Social workers cause more harm than positive benefit.