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Original poster

Social Services & next steps. Please help.

38 replies

FlyAwayFromHere · 28/03/2025 08:51

Obviously there will be info missing here & I apologise for the length already, but I will add main points so as not to make the OP enormous & will answer anything that is asked.

My children's Social worker wrote a Section 7 report about me that is full of things that aren't true.

This includes conversations that me & her have had, but these havn't taken place, & multiple emails conversations that she's had with me, but hasn't actually sent these emails to me, as well as meetings that she's tried to set up, that hasn't happened.

My children tell her that I hurt them. This isn't true. However I completely understand her believing them. I'm not disputing her believing this.

Most worryingly though, my ex has claimed that he is worried about what I may do to the children & to himself, after the outcome of the court case.

I have a charity helping me who said that I cannot challenge this report yet, I need to wait for our final court hearing (In July)

We had a hearing yesterday & I just wrote on my statement that I have some concerns over this report & will challenge them at the next hearing.

This hearing ended with my children still staying with their dad & me no longer being able to have over night visits with one child (11) but it's still allowed with the second one (8) I can still see both children.

I have been accessing our SAR's which often paint a very different picture than the one the SW is expressing. EG I have our Cafcass notes & they are fine & accurate. I wanted these specifically as the SW has told school that 'There is an extremely damning report written about her & she is likely scared'. So I wondered what this damning report was. There isn't one.

I received an email yesterday from CAMHS stating that I cannot have these records as there is a risk of harm to my children if I have them. I wanted these specifically as it's stated that I took over my son's appointment & wouldn't let him speak, he hid & wouldn't engage with the worker (which is true however he engaged a little with grunts & nods, used his teddy to nod etc. this is 'normal' for him at appointments)

My ex told me that their appointment was much the same, my son hid & didn't really talk to her & she apparently said 'He hid like this the last time too'.

The SW states that there was a 'Marked & alarming difference between the Two appointments' & that my son engaged happily with his dad & didn't hide away at all.

Obviously I won't know now as I wasn't there, & I completely understand why I'm not allowed to see these notes.

My selfish question is, is there anything that I can do to protect myself here? I'm very worried that it's being thrown around all over the place that I'm an abuser, & I'm not allowed to challenge this until July. I'm worried for my future, jobs etc as I work in adult care (not currently working)

My charity worker who came with me yesterday, after the hearing was going through the S7 & saying 'We need to make sure that things like this, where the SW tries to arrange meetings etc & you don't respond, do actually happen'. I was in floods of tears at this point already & told her that these points aren't true, but that I'm not being given a chance to explain that to anybody.

This is obviously an absolute nightmare & all I want is for things to be better for my children. Please can somebody advise me of what I can do here? Please be kind to me. I have nobody to talk to.

I asked for extra support for my children at the end of the hearing yesterday, as this hadn't been mentioned although I'd written it in my statement, & they said that since we have this one SW then we aren't able to have anything else.

OP posts:
Original poster
FlyAwayFromHere · 29/03/2025 06:11

femfemlicious The legal charity who I have working with me & CORAM law advice told me that complaints about the S7 are for the final hearing.

OP posts:
Jellycatspyjamas · 29/03/2025 06:24

I can understand that complaints about the need for a S7 are for court, because presumably it was court ordered.

The social work report can be challenged at any time. If you believe the social workers report to be wrong you can ask for this to be reviewed. It should be easy enough for the social worker to produce email chains between you evidencing her trying to arrange appointments etc, produce phone records of her trying to contact you. She will need to account for why she hasn’t seen the children since July.

You can ask for an SAR giving all phone and email communication between two dates which will give you evidence that she did or didn’t contact you. Follow the local authority complaints process to have the report reviewed and amended before court.

Original poster
FlyAwayFromHere · 29/03/2025 06:42

Jellycatspyjamas Yes, I've never questioned the need for a S7.

I'm happy for any reports to be written about us. Negatives about me too, as long as I can make things better for my children. I'm not happy with complete lies being written.

OP posts:
pinkcow123 · 29/03/2025 07:12

There are two different things. You can challenge the report in court - that would be for the final hearing.

However, your LA will have a complaints procedure and you can complain about the inaccuracies in the report at any time. Details of complaints will be ok their LA website. Or ask the SW for them.

Jellycatspyjamas · 29/03/2025 08:20

The final hearing is too late to question the report, the court will take the view that the report was shared with you in good time and that you’ll have questioned the report if you’re unhappy with it. Any complaint you make in court about the report content will just be seen as unhappiness with the process or evidence that you’re not engaged in the process. They’ll take the report as professional assessment and use it in their decision making and, as it stands, the social worker is basically saying you’ve prevented her from doing her job.

I’m a social worker, I’d never let an inaccurate report go unchallenged (my DD has a social worker - I often need to correct their records). Start the SAR process and write a detailed challenge to the report. Ask for evidence of you refusing to meet them and what their assessment is based on given she hasn’t seen your child since July. I’d start that process as soon as possible because you want a new assessment before your court date and that will take time.

My guess is that your case has slipped to the bottom of her case load, because it’s not statutory CP and she’s now realised she’s in a mess and is trying to cover that. If she has an allegation that you hurt your child there’s no way she should have left it so long to see you and your kids. I also don’t understand the need to follow you walking with your children, that’s quite a bizzare way to assess parenting capacity.

If she is really lying about trying to arrange meetings and sending emails that never happened she can be in trouble with her registering body - lying in court reports is a huge breach of trust, it’s not unheard of for social workers to be struck off for that.

Nextdoor55 · 30/03/2025 11:02

Undrugged · 28/03/2025 23:21

Please contact Family Rights Group. Specialist charity for those involved with social services.

This. They are good.
I think I would be recording all calls, all correspondence.
The only way is to go through point by point.
But these people tie you up in knots & I agree it's completely wrong.
Why are they asking you not to challenge things?
Overall keep focussing on your children, what you think is best for them & why.

Nextdoor55 · 30/03/2025 11:19

Jellycatspyjamas · 29/03/2025 08:20

The final hearing is too late to question the report, the court will take the view that the report was shared with you in good time and that you’ll have questioned the report if you’re unhappy with it. Any complaint you make in court about the report content will just be seen as unhappiness with the process or evidence that you’re not engaged in the process. They’ll take the report as professional assessment and use it in their decision making and, as it stands, the social worker is basically saying you’ve prevented her from doing her job.

I’m a social worker, I’d never let an inaccurate report go unchallenged (my DD has a social worker - I often need to correct their records). Start the SAR process and write a detailed challenge to the report. Ask for evidence of you refusing to meet them and what their assessment is based on given she hasn’t seen your child since July. I’d start that process as soon as possible because you want a new assessment before your court date and that will take time.

My guess is that your case has slipped to the bottom of her case load, because it’s not statutory CP and she’s now realised she’s in a mess and is trying to cover that. If she has an allegation that you hurt your child there’s no way she should have left it so long to see you and your kids. I also don’t understand the need to follow you walking with your children, that’s quite a bizzare way to assess parenting capacity.

If she is really lying about trying to arrange meetings and sending emails that never happened she can be in trouble with her registering body - lying in court reports is a huge breach of trust, it’s not unheard of for social workers to be struck off for that.

If it's private family court, it's a nightmare we had something similar a few years ago with a family members children, we were trying to keep the link we had with them.
SS were involved with family member anyway at the time. SW from LA was a nightmare, definitely not honest about things we could easily prove.
But in the end it didn't matter what we said. I'm not saying don't challenge. Do challenge. But we were never heard over the SW report (despite that cafcass were extremely positive about us continuing to see the children involved). Nightmare. We felt really powerless & I feel a lot of sympathy for anyone in that system.

BellissimoGecko · 30/03/2025 11:25

I’m confused: what triggered the ds having a SW in the first place?

Is their dad supportive to you or not?

It all sounds complicated and stressful. I hope you get it sorted.

Original poster
FlyAwayFromHere · 30/03/2025 17:13

My ex isn't supportive of me at all (that's why he's said that he's scared that I will hurt the children or himself)

SS became involved when I asked for more help as all we'd had previously was Early help (my son is violent towards me)

It all now nicely fits together that he's only ever been violent to me because I was violent to him (which isn't true)

Thank you Nextdoor55. I'm happy for them to be involved if they actually help us.
I've been through the S7 point by point I just wasn't sure if I should wait or 'do something' now.

Thank you Jellycatspyjamas I will read through this properly tomorrow.

OP posts:
Nextdoor55 · 13/04/2025 11:20

Jellycatspyjamas · 29/03/2025 08:20

The final hearing is too late to question the report, the court will take the view that the report was shared with you in good time and that you’ll have questioned the report if you’re unhappy with it. Any complaint you make in court about the report content will just be seen as unhappiness with the process or evidence that you’re not engaged in the process. They’ll take the report as professional assessment and use it in their decision making and, as it stands, the social worker is basically saying you’ve prevented her from doing her job.

I’m a social worker, I’d never let an inaccurate report go unchallenged (my DD has a social worker - I often need to correct their records). Start the SAR process and write a detailed challenge to the report. Ask for evidence of you refusing to meet them and what their assessment is based on given she hasn’t seen your child since July. I’d start that process as soon as possible because you want a new assessment before your court date and that will take time.

My guess is that your case has slipped to the bottom of her case load, because it’s not statutory CP and she’s now realised she’s in a mess and is trying to cover that. If she has an allegation that you hurt your child there’s no way she should have left it so long to see you and your kids. I also don’t understand the need to follow you walking with your children, that’s quite a bizzare way to assess parenting capacity.

If she is really lying about trying to arrange meetings and sending emails that never happened she can be in trouble with her registering body - lying in court reports is a huge breach of trust, it’s not unheard of for social workers to be struck off for that.

Hmm we had a family situation & SW wrote lies that we could provide evidence for, we were told we weren't allowed to complain. We also went to the regulatory body & they were equally as unhelpful.
It's really difficult to be on that 'side' of things, & unless you actually have experience of it directly it's hard to know what happens behind the scenes. speak as an ex social worker too. I agree that there are processes & procedures in place but we as family members were left completely powerless & had no recourse.

I think a lot of professionals get away with telling porkies but it depends on how much those impact the case, I'm sure courts know it too.

Nextdoor55 · 13/04/2025 11:24

FlyAwayFromHere · 30/03/2025 17:13

My ex isn't supportive of me at all (that's why he's said that he's scared that I will hurt the children or himself)

SS became involved when I asked for more help as all we'd had previously was Early help (my son is violent towards me)

It all now nicely fits together that he's only ever been violent to me because I was violent to him (which isn't true)

Thank you Nextdoor55. I'm happy for them to be involved if they actually help us.
I've been through the S7 point by point I just wasn't sure if I should wait or 'do something' now.

Thank you Jellycatspyjamas I will read through this properly tomorrow.

That sounds like a really rubbish hypothesis, 'he's only violent towards you because you are too him'.
Could easily be that he only feels safe enough in his relationship with you to lash out with you, if that makes sense.

FrothyCothy · 13/04/2025 11:30

Generally speaking LA complaint departments will take the view that you have an alternative right of redress as there’s live court proceedings. Most complaints policies will also talk about not risking prejudicing concurrent proceedings so any complaint investigation would go on hold pending the outcome of proceedings. However, I would still consider approaching the social worker’s line manager, to point out the inaccuracies that you can clearly evidence and let them know these are likely to come up in court (and make them look incompetent). That may prompt a second look at the report.

Original poster
FlyAwayFromHere · 13/04/2025 14:13

Thank you FrothyCothy I think I know what you mean!

It does, Nextdoor55, & I've said that myself (that I am his safe space) But nobody is going to listen to me whilst I'm being accused of these things.

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