Keeping my son in hospital against my will

[TaashenMartian]

My son was born at 34 weeks on the 14th October with a heart condition. For the duration of his life (2 months) we have been in different hospitals. He is now stable enough to go home until his operation but because me and my sons dad had an argument in the hospital social services are involved and they won’t let us take him home. I have another child (a3 year old) who is still in my care and they have no plans to take her away. I want to know if they can legally keep my son in hospital due to safeguarding issues If my daughter is still in my care? Can I legally self discharge him if he is well enough to go home even though social services are involved? They have no reason to take my children from me as all it was was an argument, hence why my daughter is still in my care. But they are refusing to discharge my son until the case is resolved. Can they legally do this? What rights do I have? I feel if there are real safeguarding issues and my son can not be in my care then surely my daughter can’t either? Any advice would be much appreciated. This is incredibly stressful and I just want my son home for Christmas

Totally agree with @hiyasminitsme

I have worked in the CP arena for years and can confidently, categorically state that there will be good reasons for the concern into this baby's welfare. Just because the OP either genuinely doesn't see/know it or because she's chosen not to share the true, whole story on this thread, there WILL be grounds for concern. The outpouring of hatred and distrust of SS on this thread is very uncomfortable to child protection professionals and VERY naive.

Desmondo, and I can confidently, categorically state (and prove with professional reports) that there were no good reasons for concern into my children's welfare. The non believing of parents on this thread is also very uncomfortable and very naive.

Desmondo2016, how on earth can you say that? Is there any profession in the world that all behave impeccably?

The OP has withheld information Re arguments and her partner deliberately. She is not asking advice on specifics but something nebulous. Her lack of transparency is a red flag. My son spent six months in and out of hospital from a new born. I have tremendous sympathy for her over that, having a sick baby is very tough, especially with no support.

I can say that with absolute certainty based on my professional long term involvement with the child protection services and my understanding of just how the system actually works, which is something 99% of mumsnet users just will not know. Of course I cannot know if the child actually IS at risk, but I am certain the healthcare professional who raised the initial concern did so in good faith that she had CAUSE to be concerned (and will have done safeguarding training ) so I am grateful for a system that is beginning increasingly robust so less and less of the horror stories of previous years will slip through the net. I adamantly believe there must have been more cause for concern than is being shared on this thread. Otherwise this situation would be happening to hundreds of parents up and down the country every day, and it just isnt.

It could be that the nurse who first raised a safeguarding issue was either malicious or made an error of judgement. It could be that the SW who dealt with it is also malicious or made an error of judgement. It seems more likely that there are things which are causing concern enough for them to look at preventing this baby leaving the hospital.

The OP for several posts initially insisted that the only concern was the argument. Only when posters were saying there must be must be other concerns did she mention they were also concerned one of them was not at the hospital everyday so it does seem likely either OP is not wanting to reveal everything or genuinely doesn’t have a full grasp of the situation.

Also, OP says there have been meetings. If the SW sat in the meeting and said ‘we want to prevent this baby from leaving hospital as the parents had an argument as they were stressed which they informed the nurse over and there have been 2 days the Mum couldn’t get to the hospital due to childcare issues’ wouldn’t other professionals in the room step in and question this?

Desmondo2016, how on earth can you say that? Is there any profession in the world that all behave impeccably?

Nobody said there is, ,or that SW'ers do. But they don't work alone, by a long stretch. If you think you are being investigated for absolutely no good reason, you have to believe in a conspiracy of multiple people in various agencies, all coming together to steal your children and waste their precious time and budgets.

When you hear hooves, its probably horses, no matter how much you tell is that you know its often zebras.

Killerfairy, I'm sorry if this sounds nosy, but what was the "off-the-cuff" comment you made to your GP? I understand if you don't want to say; I'm just asking because we can't really judge whether your GP/social services overreacted unless we know what you said.

Maybe Taashen has joined "heartline families" for more support, as suggested by Marmitemadmummy yesterday.

Nobody saw or heard the argument. What do you mean by that, Bubbaleo? How do you suggest SS know about the arguement that nobody saw or heard?? And how would you know whether there were witnesses or not?!

P

imagrey read the full thread.

Op spoke to the nurse herself in passing about an argument as a result of being stressed. The nurse then reported it to SS

How on earth do you know that glittery

Honestly it's gone to shit on here.

Whao, what a nasty bunch of people are on here, I am sickened

OP is a mother of a very poorly baby, of course she deserves our sympathy.

Op very much deserves our sympathy for the stress and worry the health problems her son is enduring will undoubtedly be causing her.

An entirely separate issue to the one being discussed on this thread!

Glittery, you think you understand how ss works.

Desmondo, haven't you heard that some parents are having to leave the country with their children?

But that's not for you to judge persian - you have no idea what op family life is like
You are right, it isn't for me to judge but it is the sort of thing that makes people question whether the baby's interests are being put first.

She came on here to see if there was anyone that could shed a bit of light or support but has been accused of lying amongst other stuff
If the OP doesn't know why the hospital won't discharge her son then how on Earth would anyone on MN know??

The only thing people can do is speculate.