Social services referral

[Hannahhanhannah]

Hi
my daughter (16 in a month) had her mobile phone stolen and her and her friends ran to the police station and reported it.
a police officer has just been out and said as part of the routine procedure they refer to social services.
this has totally triggered me and my her as we had their involvement a few years ago when we left her abusive father.
im soooooo scared as if they contact him as well he will make our lives hell again (last time he repeatedly made false allegations and it was so traumatic).
any advice or anyone had this before as she also has GCSEs coming up and I don’t want them involved during that

For a stolen ohone?

I don't understand, why would the police report you to social services for a stolen phone? Must be more to it than that.

I'd guess that the front door team (often called MASH) will call you and your daughter to see if she needs any emotional support, and signpost uou accordingly. Be clear about the risks that it will pose if they contact dd's dad so that they can take that into consideration.

And yes, teen victims of crime in the community are often referred to children's services, but won't often meet threshold for early help or statutory services unless there are other factors at play such as being at risk of exploitation etc

They’ve said as she’s a young victim of crime they automatically refer.
I just can’t go though this again after last time so hope it’ll just be quashed early on as the policeman said he didn’t have any concerns

They said its policy to refer young victims of crime , the policeman said he had no concerns when he visited us today

What actually happens is that the police officer dealing with it submits a report to the police safeguarding hub/team (usually civilians not police officers) and that team then only share the information with social services officially if Social Services say they want the information sharing with them formally.

The (in my local authority) discussions go something like this:

Civi from the police: We've had a crime against a child report submitted for Anna Smith DOB 02/03/2009 address 49 mumsnet row, Townville, Countyshire. No previous on police systems, called in to Townville police station distressed having been the victim of mobile phone theft.

Admin/duty SW from Children's services: (rolls eyes) yeah no need to log that with us. Child is known to us for unrelated reasons however this sounds like a straightforward theft that can be dealt with by police as a single service response.

Civi police: great - i'll record on our police systems that it's been discussed with social care and has been NFAd.

Basically if the officer dealing with it originally can tick a box to say its been submitted to social care they can record that an action has been taken without them having to actually investigate/solve the crime itself. They can then close the log as 'action has been taken and completed' and leave you with a crime number to pass to insurance.

Just to say that our LA deals.with things quite differently so don't be worried.if things don't go quite like this OP :)

Agree - perhaps I was being a bit flippant in my last post and it's entirely possible you will get a phone call from social care to check welfare and offer support.

But ultimately that is WHY the police submit any crimes again children to social care - it means they can close the case more easily. It's no judgement on your family circumstances personally or likely to have any impact

Was she mugged, or was the phone stolen?

My experience with our local authority was horrific so I have zero faith in them not to try and escalate this (my ex husband repeatedly made so many false allegations) and now there’s a court order he can’t come near them.
im just so worried as she has exams coming up and is already stressed enough with that without them getting involved.
she told the police officer she didn’t want victim support and he’s coming back next Sunday to see if she wishes to go to court as they have a name of who did it and cctv (he’s a well known thief in the area).

I just pray it’ll be dealt with without going as far as a social worker

It was taken from her pocket and there were a few people around and named him and chased him. She ran in tears to the police station

Your daughter's wishes should be front and centre. My DD's were when she was the victim of a hate crime (racist verbal abuse) aged 15.

It is standard when ANY agency has contact with a child to check whether any other agencies are involved, because so many children protection failings have been due to a failure to share information and get the full picture.

In this case I expect it is a matter of checking (due diligence) and then supporting your daughter and respecting her decision.

Thank you x
rhey haven’t been involved with us for over two years now and it’s the worst time now due to GCSEs but it feels like she’s the victim of a crime and now she will be re-traumatised by social services again.
she told the police officer she didn’t want victim support and I wish it ended there

They may be happy not to speak with her if you explain her views on them as you've put here, especially as the police have already offered victim support. It's always good to be able to speak directly to young people (if their ages allow).but not at the expense of their wellbeing. We can also ask (with your consent) her school to gain her voice or just be aware of the incident so they can support. But in our area we would only do this with your explicit consent.

Thank you.
i think I’ll email school as if social services contact them at least they’re aware why.
the police asked her if she’d go to court about this and she’s said she’ll think about it. She’s now told me she won’t due to the stress this has caused her.
in just don’t get it if there’s no concerns from the police and she refused victim support why they would refer, it’s resurfaced a very traumatic time in our lives and would deter me from reporting crime in future which is sad even though I have nothing to hide, the experience we had with them before was so unpleasant