Social worker power

[Babyonboardinthesticks]

...needs to be curbed. Also if cases in the press there should be more rights for social workers to publicise their own evidence to some extent too. Openness is more important than confidentiality sometimes. Justice needing to be seen to be done as much as done.

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7052599.ece

It feels at times like the book 1984. You suspect if the state really wants to take your children they could come into any of our homes and find anything that every average parent has done and claim that's "abuse" and remove the child and that once you're in their clutches that's that.

We should let parents waive anonymity and set up web sites with access to all correspondence and reports.

MaryZ, what you say chimes with my experience of what people who have worked in Ireland say and I hope that because our culture of protecting children is more open and robust generally in England, we don't get hoist with our own petard.

The previous points made about lack of information are really sad. I ensure that every contact with a family is supported by written information at the beginning andit is something I ask my admin to do as a matter of course. It's not hard to embed it into a system. Having said that, sometimes the information needs to be explained over again as things sink in differently and that can be difficult for people to ask for and SWs can be reluctant to keep checking, but they do need to do this.

Standards for provision of information are not hard to include in the process, you are right wahwah.

It's a shame that t can't be a part of the process at a national level.

For almost anything else I can think of, with NHS, police, the council, everything, timescales and what happens, when and why are issued at the start of the process. I wonder why SS does not seem to have to meet the same information requirements. It seems a little od given the import of what they are doing.

I got more info and advice about what was going on when I had my coil fitted for crying out loud.

WHen we were in CP procedings several years ago we were told we weren't allowed the minutes of the meetings.

Our lovely GP copied them for us - SW were not best pleased that we had them and questioned them at subsequent meetings (had 3 meetings before case closed).

Is this right, that parents have no right to minutes (ours were so innaccurate as to be laughable!)

Parents do have a right to all papers in their files.

'Clarissimo,

then please tell me why so many family court parenting groups have got families who's children risk being taken away for what can only be described as totally BS evidence much like the about story?
'

because thats what happens when the bad ones cock up

You don't get to hear about the good ones

I have experience pof ssd both as a user (SN kids) and a co-worker through employment with allied charity (not NSPCC) and as a classmate now, and that has shown me vast differences in attitudes and professionalism in the mix.

Which isn;t remarkable really, happens anywhere. I couldw rite a diatribe about my sosn't headmistress, or a wonderful glowing referral of his last one. C'est la vie.

But there are an awful lot of people with SSD invovlement who never end up anywhere near a family court or have children removed, and some people whop damned well have to have them removed.

Never come across a SW taking on a child but did witness it with a charity worker once and charity washed their hands of the worker, and indeed the fostering agreement was not supported and child went elsewhere.

And yes my exopereiuce of SSD with my carer status has been beyond awful, absolutely. A lot of it is where you live: SSD were oK where we used to live (and where I worked), you'd often see young famillies choosing to come in and see them for a chat / listening ear which is a great sign: OTOH here they are beyond useless, at least in ther SN dept, and cheerfully admit that they only have an interest in children needing CP protection.

(Oh and yes I think family law courts should be modernised with access, with the obvious caveat already stated of anonymity as per rape cases)

barefott 'I used to think I would be on a list somewhere, because of the two or three times I took my children to A and E out of panic over nothing maybe some fall or banged head. After each time would come the knock on the door and the check up: "just to make sure they're alright -- and shall we weigh him at the same time?" ie get all their clothes off and look for bruises

was that the HV?

because I did spend time shadowing a HV and in all truth the referral post A&E was supposedly standard and happening for every admission. So it's not list based. Ours used to handle it by a phone call, I guess some do differently.

I well remember taking my underweight child to A&E for a fall and them totally focussing on his weight until I'd proven he'd been discharged by a PAed (and ignoring the fall whcih I now hold accountable for his SN which will out me to some but anyway). It was very scary indeed but it's only when you hear of other cases being missed at A&E etc that I really think it was probably worth it if it picked up any other children IYSWIM.

ROFL at the Peppa Pig stuff. 'She calls us Mummy Pig and Daddy Pig' my arse. Remember in the papers social services are not allowed to tell 'their side' of the story due to confidentiality. Also it always seems to me that in these sort of articles there is huge criticism of social services having the temerity to investigate the safety of a middle class child.

Actually, this is the best SW type thread I've been on here and I think there is consensus on change. For too long we've been the Cinderella service representing families that the public generally aren't very keen on. As our work has skyrocketed our support has gone away and I can see that everyone here sees that as unacceptable.

I think that with good and well supported professionals, more information in the public sphere and support at the right level in the community for parents, we really could protect children as well if not better than anywhere. It's all out there- social workers are good critics as well as foot soldiers but there is something about a debate about what the public can and should expect from us and how realistic that is.

As I said, I've just left CP after many fulfilling and stressful years and I want to see things change for the better. It is a privilege to do this work and I really hope that anyone reading this thread who feels the same way considers it as a career choice, at least for a few years. At the end of the day, we all want the same things for our children ( pretty much ) and that's the point we should start from most productively.

Good post wahwah I agree with you.

There is too much secrecy in the courts and not enough infomration given to people on the sharp end for there to be trust at the moment.

I mean something as basic as who their documents will be shared with - basic data protection stuff - how is it that (IME) even those basic things are not being communicated.

If things are clearer and better understood, then maybe ordinary people will stop seeing SS as the bogeyman.

wahwah the minute they offer PT conversions here I plan to train, I know some people who are doing it elsewhere but not here yet; unless SSD would offer ds1 respite so i could train LOL

Actually broadening access to training would be a good start in getting people who really do ahve the background and desire to do it properly- carers, parents etc- wouldn't it?

ISNT you are right, and with the charity I worked for it was something we managed to do, all the data prtection stuff and a lack of secrecy.

Obv we didn't have the most severe families but we did take a lot of holding work on from SSD as they were a main funder

Which charity is mainly funded by SSD please ?

None in existence now MMM, and it was a grant to a small branch of a national charity that does not get that nationwide in order to keep it going so am not posting and building a link that no longer exists IYSWIM

My branch ran out of funds, as SSD assumed they would do

Ok, thank you

No prons MMM

FWIW we weren't to happy about the link (in terms of being tied in, we liked our autonomy) but it was that or abandon all our clients

Which was the worst option

There need to be national standards and guidelines for information sharing and clarity as to process and what rights of recourse people have. That would be a great start.

At the moment you are left floundering with nowhere to turn and not knowing what is expected, what will happen next etc. Which is scary and thus builds a general fear of SS.

The sad thing is that there are clear outlines, timescales and lots of information out there about our activities and timescales / standards and we are also inspected against them. I am not sure how or why this information is still failing to get to people- it us in no-ones interests for this to persist.

Generally, the more serious degree of involvement will require independent legal representation and people should be very clear exactly what is happening, but I find most people who will never face anything that serious are still so frightened that reassurances often fall on unhearing ears and are no substitute for written info and advocacy.

That was written in the knowledge of the case conference minutes. I think it demonstrates how trivial the concerns are.

Everyone recognises the child is well and the Local Authority are continuing to act to harrass the family. They are in essence preventing this little girl from going to school by causing the family so much grief.

Ah well all the usual suspects here and I have no intention of trying to challenge their sometimes ridiculous inaccurate assertions based on their entrenched prejudices against social workers.

All I can say is that this is yet another one sided account and the SSD of course unable to give their side of the story because of confidentiality. I so agree with wyou wahwah that sometimes we'd just love to give our side of the story to counteract these ridiculous one sided accounts. Of course this is all grist to the mill for the posters who love nothing more than an excuse to use these totally one sided accounts as proof that families are harrassed by SSD for no good reason. All social workers know this is nonsense but we also know there is absolutely no point in trying to change the mindset of some of the posters here.

ahWah - good to see your posts here - do you mind my asking if you are moving right out of social care or to a different branch other than child protection. I think there was another sw on here who moved out of social care - can't remember her name. Maybe Ceres.

Anyway hope you will still post wahwah as we need to keep challenges some of the irrational and inaccurate nonsense that is posted about child protection on these posts.

Hi Nananina
Yes, I got a wonderful new role with LAC (my original reason for entering Social Work, after graduation I became an RSW), but sadly now have some pretty heavy health concerns, so not sure if I'll ever make it back. I have to say, some of these threads really helped me think about whether the personal cost of engaging with CP work against all the hate was worth it-I still think it is, but timing wise, like you I'd given many years and personally it was good to move on for a bit.

It is not "one sided". I may talk to theparents about publishing the child protection conference minutes. If anything those minutes misrepresent the situation from the LA's perspective.

This 5 year old has been tormented and chased around by the local authority for no good reason.

THere is no way a child would have been placed on the register purely because her mother had told her she was born by a CS.

If a social worker brough that to Conference they would be laughed out of the room.

I have attended Case Conferences and they don't always follow the social worker's recommendations.
There is far more to this case than has been sensationalised by the Times.
And as for the OP's observations about rather seeing children killed by their parents rather than being wrongfully removed, I am appalled.