Please help! Social services involvement.

[user1473419914]

Hello,

I have a friend who noticed a lump on the side of her babies head (baby is 4 months old), it was not causing her any pain at all and no signs of bruising just this big lump - no noticeable changes in babies behaviour, weight, feeding, no accidents occurring that could have caused the lump.

So she took her to see the GP who also didn't know what the lump was so he referred her to the hospital where doctors were unsure of what it was either. However, a referral to social services was made by the consultant and he ordered a full body CT and head xray which all came back clear. Whilst these investigations were being made my friend and her partner and his mother were not allowed to see the baby until a DBS check was carried out and came back clear (which they did).

After the tests were carried out it was explained to my friend that this lump was just a pocket of fluid and that they would not be treating her baby from a medical point of view. A meeting was held between the doctors and the woman from social services that my friend was told she was not allowed to attend to. In this meeting they concluded that they would not be treating her from a medical point of view but were still unsure of how and why this pocket of fluid has built up.

The woman from social services was somehow conviced that her child had been physically abused even with the lack of medical evidence to back that theory up and no obvious signs of neglect at all. So my friend was told that she would not be allowed to take her daughter home and that they were going to have a further meeting the day after to discuss a plan of action following her discharge but later that same night her baby was discharged and she was told that no allegations had been made against her hence the police not being involved and that once home she would receive a further call from this woman from social services.

She waited for the call the day after and the woman said that she will not be following up further on the case (sigh of relief) but that a separate investigation will be carried out following the allegations...she stopped her there and asked what these allegations were? And the woman from social services said that she didnt Mean to say 'allegations' but that they would need to investigate her ability to work with children as she works on a neo-natal ward as a healthcare assistant.

We are all completely bewildered by the social services decision to begin a separate investigation into my friends ability to do her job despite the evidence not suggesting that any abuse had taken place.

This has been a completely devastating time for my friend who loves her child more than anything and I believe she is a fantastic mother to her child and is also very caring whilst at work.

Could anyone offer any advice at all on this as it all seems to be very wrong and she now feels personally victim by the social services especially when she was allowed to take her baby home and no further interventions were put in place by the social services. It seems they lost the first case and are now trying to further ruin my friends life...they seem concerned about the baby to begin with and now they are more focused on challenging her abilities to do her job competently and risking her source of income that helps her to provide for her baby?

Any advice at all would be very helpful.

Thank you.

This all sounds so weird. I know that social services need to be very cautious, especially with a baby so tiny, but if there is no medical evidence to suggest abuse, and your friend asked for help in the first place, I am not sure what's going on here.

Is there something you're not telling us? Are there any other concerns about your friend's parenting or about her general situation?

I don't have any legal expertise, and I am not a social worker. I wish I could help! I've had ss involved in my own family after domestic violence, and was lucky to find them fairly helpful on the whole. They are not the baddies they are so often painted as.

Could your friend get help from a solicitor, a local law centre or citizens advice? The whole thing sounds so difficult.

Not sure if this is possible but I think she should ask for a meeting with both the social worker and her line manager to lay everything out, perhaps implying she would prefer a frank and open discussion rather than a FOI request. Then go to that with partner and a trusted impartial third party ( could she ask a consultant from her ward?)

To me it sounds like ss haven't yet decided what they want to do and her sw is fudging.

Also, completely separately, get her GP to refer her back to the children's hospital for an outpatient appointment because if this lump has appeared who is to say it won't get bigger or never go away. Much better to be proactive and be under a consultant care until this has completely cleared up.

Hi GreenAndYellow,

I have told you everything and I did not leave anything out hence why I posted anonymously so that Icould fully inform anyone reading so that they could give me a clear and honest answer and/or advice. It was literally the appearance of this lump and the consultant following procedure as he was only informed by his junior doctor about the baby's condition.

However, UPDATE - my friend rang back the Social Services and was passed over to a manager who could not apologise enough!! (Ridiculous I know!) - he said that he is not sure who it was that was initially dealing with the case and who rang my friend back to say that they would be investigating her position on the neonatal unit but they have blown this massively out of proportion as he could not see anything negative about her in the case notes and there were no allegations made against her and that he will handle the case personally and call her back with an update. He rang back within the hour and said she is in the clear, no repercussions concerning the lump (build up of fluid) on her babies head and they will not be investigating her position at work either and there will be no further input needed from their end.

Now I don't know who this social worker was but I do know that I will be writing a formal complaint about her and asking for an apology from this lady who clearly needs some further training in communication skills. She has no idea the hell that she has put my friend through over these past few days she is so frightened now that she has gone out to buy a different cot and bed for her child that appeared more padded.

I am just glad that it is over with now.

I'm so glad this is looking like it will be sorted out soon your poor friend has been through so much! Not only the worry about her baby, but also the fear that her baby would be taken away.

I am so glad this is being sorted out!