Child Protection - Malicious Anonymous Letter - Scared

[Matesnotdates]

I have been contacted by social services as they have received an anonymous complaint about my parenting. The letter is a tissue of lies and half truths and I think I know where it orginated - a former friend - I only told her some of the points made in the letter. Social services are satisfied it is malicious, I think, after I had a long chat with them and took ds to see them.

My questions - I have been told the accusation will remain on file both at my GP and with social services. I have been told there is nothing I can do about this. This so utterly unfair as I have done nothing wrong and am now terrified ds will have an accident or something and I will lose him.

Secondly I asked to see a copy of the anonymous letter and was told I could not. I think this might contravene Data Protection - can anyone tell me if I am allowed to see a copy?

Thank you all - this has upset me so much.

i dont think anyone can view these tip offs! data protecton or not,can you imagine the trouble if people were able to see who had reported them and what they had reported!!

sorry this has happened,sounds like you've done all you can

Hi - it was not a tip off - what she said was not true....and now they have agreed it was malicious why could I not see it?

There is a specific exemption from the Data Protection Act which means social services do not have to show the complaint to you. The fact they may have concluded it was untrue (or, more likely, that there was no evidence to support it) is irrelevant. The exemption still applies.

The reason for this exemption is that people have to know that they can give information to social services without any risk of the person who is the subject of their accusations identifying them, otherwise it would deter people from telling social services things they need to know. Imagine what would happen if there was a sudden rush of people being sued for libel or slander as a result of social services being unable to find enough evidence to support allegations they have made. No-one would want to tell social services anything in case social services couldn't find evidence and they ended up in court.

As for keeping the information on file, I'm sorry you feel this is unfair but really they have little choice. An allegation has been made. They have not found evidence to support the allegation. They may think that the allegation was malicious. However, if further allegations are made by other people and a pattern emerges they would have to take an interest. Unless they keep the information they will never be able to relate new allegations to old ones and see if there is a pattern.

I am sorry you have had to go through this but, on the information you have posted, social services are acting correctly.

Thank you prh47 - I do understand. It is just so frightening and frustrating that someone can do this to me. Just from spite. As I say I am worried my ds will fall over and hurt himself and then fingers will be pointed.

If I got a lawyer would it still be the same?

And can I do anything about the socalled friend - slander??

She has spread the same lies to all the playground mums too.

Would it not also be on file that it was investigated and found to be false? The two together would surely close the matter, even if they remained on your file? Or is there any way to request that you are allowed to add a letter to it, stating that it has been investigated and found to be in no way true.

Just so that you feel better, that if anyone looks at it, they'll see it was looked at and found to be rubbish.

You can't do anything legally about the 'friend' without proof that it was her. Do you have proof? You would also need to prove that she knew it was false, rather than her raising concerns that later turned out to be unfounded. Can you do anything about people who gossip if they argue that they believe the gossip to be true?

I suppose you could choose a big gossiper to confide in. How someone maliciously reported you to social services, who investigated and found it to be false and you don't understand why anyone would want to hurt you with lies and how you are consulting a solicitor to see what you can do about that person because you are thinking of bringing a civil suit against them.

That's one option, I suppose. I'm in two minds as to whether or not it would be a good idea. On one hand, it would put the record straight and scare the 'friend'. otoh, maybe it's a bit sly and it would be better to just let it die down or to approach her directly and inform her that you have been investigated and it has been proved that there is nothing in it and if she doesn't stop, you will be consulting a solicitor.

It's crap but because of some big high profile cases where information wasn't kept they have worked "in the dark" previously when prior info would have been useful.

If it's any comfort it'll just lie on file gathering dust, nobody will read it or look at it unless there's another referral.

Case closed etc

It won't be shared with anyone that this referral was made.

Meant to add that the file will also record that the referral was thought to be malicious along with reasons why.

You have my sympathy.
There are many of us on MN who have experienced similar. And the fear gets into you very bones and changes you, so thta you are never the same.
But please understand, there is little you can do.
With time this will get easier. It just feels very raw now.

Yes, it would be the same if you got a lawyer involved as far as social services are concerned.

You probably can't do anything about this person's allegations to social services. Even if you could prove that they had made the allegations they are covered by what is called "qualified privilege". That means that to sue for slander successfully you would have to prove that they made the allegations out of malice and not out of concern to protect your children. It would not be enough to prove the allegations were false. You would have to prove her state of mind when making the allegations. That is very difficult to do.

If she is repeating these allegations in the playground that is a different matter. Those would not be covered by qualified privilege and you could potentially sue for slander. However, legal aid is generally not available for libel and slander cases so you would have to pay your own costs and, if you lose, her costs as well. Even if you win you may not recover all your costs and any damages may be relatively small. I would not recommend going down this route.

I am sorry this has happened to you but I'm afraid I agree with Oblomov that there is little you can do.

Thank you all. oblomov - for some reason ot makes me feel better that this has happened to others. Not so alone. Not that I wish it on anyone.

prh47 - You are right I cannot prove her state of mind. I am however very tempted to sue for slandering me in the playground. Just to frighten her into never doing it to anyone again.

Last question - and I really apprecaite all your help - which bit of Mumsnet talk can i go to to vent and find out how anyone else has coped with this?

Off The Beaten Track is private, but almost nobody ever goes there

AIBU has the highest volume of traffic but you may get savaged (I hate the - mistaken - belief that AIBU means you can be as rude as you like!)

Chat is a bit milder but again, very public

I don't think there's a Rant topic.

It used to be AIBU, but now AIBU is Everything.

Thanks Bathy! Am off to Parenting I think....

Mates. I would look to write a letter to your GP to be put with the note from social services basically repudiating the allegations, and the reasons SS have taken no action.

I would enquire at SS to see if a similar document was sent to your childs school nurse. If so do the same regarding a letter from you.

We have to do SS referrals as part of our job and copies go to SS, GP, School Nurse, HV/midwife (as appropriate) so you may find via SS that the school etc also have copies.

Sorry.

What a horrible situation for you. I think you might be surprised how often this happens, though. My mum got reported to the NSPCC once. It's not nice but SS files must be stuffed full of allegations that have been found to be malicious - anyone who has access to those files knows better than to assume that presence = guilt.

re: Malicious letter concerns:
Anyone involved in this kind of referral should check out the Haringey Court case of 13th March 2013, where SS did not follow the legal procedures and illegally contacted GPs and Schools without consent or substantiated concerns. This court case will give hope to any parents falsely accused of harning thier children. Do not accept that SS can make claims against parents without carrying out legal Child Protection procedures. This case evidences that they can and do break the law, but it also shows that they are not above the law.

I have been the victim of a once "best friend who has made several malicious reports and over the last 9 years we have been "known" to social workers. The 3 investigations were closed as we didn't meet any criteria, which was traumatic enough , however we had another report basically making up lies in July 2016, as we were known to SS it was investigated again. we had the misfortune to have a nasty and incompetent social worker and her manager who was very vindictive who raised it to child protection with no evidence at all. The upshot is that a year later we have an apology from the LA, I am to be allowed to remove all the lies from the files that were added by the social worker. I have already worked with new social work managers to alter the asessment which is now mainly on one page. I also have had reassurances that they will ignore any future reports that are not generated by professional sources. I also received financial compensation. My point is that even if the anonymous report is without foundation (in my case all agencies reported no issues) then you become "known " to Children's Services and every time anyone wants to cause harm CS become involved in one report my teenager threw something in the bin and slammed the door in the evening and this was investigated. I used to work at Social services in children and families and we did not treat people like this, I am unlucky to live in an area where the dept is in special measures.
I do feel that of course the referral should be confidential but that details are kept if it is found to be malicious then the referrer should face some sanction as is the case in some parts of America. Really think hard before ringing SS, you have to bear in mind that there are professionals that have a duty to monitor the safety of children. The person who caused the harm to my family has reported at least 2 other families,one of them left the area to escape her. the lack of sanctions on her means that she will not stop. She even said that I deserved it as I made a mild remark about her child's trainers. I should add that a very close relative of mine was terminally ill at the time and spent the last few moths of their life worried about my family.
Finally I should say without the 1st referral I would my be known to the school , both my children have perfect teeth good health and are classed as gifted at school my sympathy goes out to the op, I imagine that she will be likely to have a supportive social worker who will ignore any further reports

Hi, I've just had the same thing, SS involved, and I also think I know the origin of he accusations, which are malicious. However you CAN do a freedom of information request to the NSPCC, I've just done one. I don't know how much information they will be able to give me, but you should send an email to their data protection officer, try and get the original date of the anonymous tip off if you can as much information as you can too - not relating to your suspicions, just relating to you and your child, so DOB, school, your DOB, address, phone number, anything you can give them that your anonymous tip off might have had access to. [email protected]. This is the email to send your freedom of information request to. They post the information out to you, or you can collect in person from the NSPCC. Good luck!

ZOMBIE