I was contacted by a social worker today

[gollyimholly]

Yesterday my DD burnt her fingers on a hot stovetop https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/childrenshealth/5291681-toddler-burnt-her-fingertips-on-stovetop-recovery-questions?reply=142767113

Thankfully she is OK. The hospital contacted the local authorities/social worker department and I had a phonecall (which I missed) from a social worker. She left a voicemail and an email saying they have been alerted by the hospital that DD hurt her hand and how are we getting on at home. It was a friendly email and I replied with all the details about DD's injury and how she is doing and what the next steps are.

I am so crestfallen that the hospital think DD or our family require social worker input. DD is my whole world, DH is a doting dad and it is absolutely crushing us that we've been contacted by a social worker.

Does this mean they are going to be watching us as a family from now on? If a child has an accident with a stovetop at home or a burn injury is it an automatic referral by the hospital to a social worker? Or do the hospital suspect DH and I are bad parents? DH and I both come from families where there have never been any involvement of social services and we have no experience of what this might mean. We both feel terrible that this is happening. I cried with worry all of last night about DD's hand but ever since today's email I am even more sick with worry. Could this result in DD being taken from us? We are a stable couple, DH has a good job, we have a nice home, no drugs, we don't swear. We are trying desperately hard to give DD a good life and I can't believe we are now in contact with a social worker.

Other details that I wonder if they are relevant :
When we took DD to hospital last night, we were all a mess. DD had been crying a lot and she also is recovering from a cold. Together, he face was very tear and snot stained. I wonder if she looked very unkempt.

I was wearing a dress with buttons all the way down the front but where I was carrying DD from the car park into the building and DD was crying from pain, a good few of my buttons came undone and so my dress was undone from crotch down, I was wearing very dark tights. And I didn't notice. When DH came in from parking the car, he noticed and did up my buttons. I wonder if I looked completely deranged to the doctor and he referred us at that point.

I am having therapy at the moment for birth trauma and I wonder if the hospital saw my notes and thought as a mum with mental health problems and a toddler with this type of injury, they need to alert the social services.

We haven't taken DD to see the HV in a very long time and only took her during any mandatory appointments. But this is because last year DD was in hospital a lot for a rare genetic condition and so she was under regular medical attention (at another hospital to the one we took DD to last night) and so we were reassured her health/developmental milestones were all being addressed whilst we were under their care. But I wonder if the hospital we went to last night did not know this and then saw a toddler who hasnt been to the HV in a long time and has assumed neglectful parents.

My questions are:
Does anyone have any idea whether this referral by the hospital is triggered automatically or it's because they suspect DD is being neglected?

Could DD be taken from us?!

Are we on some kind of register now that will alert hospitals, doctors that social workers are involved with us?

Is this going to be permanently on DD's record? Would her future school know about it?

I would greatly appreciate any input from anyone who understands this system. I replied to the social workers email around 5.30pm today (I missed her call at 4.15pm) and so I haven't yet heard back what is happening.

Same with us but it was a phone call from the heath visitor and not social services. That was all - no further involvement. So I really would not worry.

Very sensible approach by the hospital, I for one would be more than happy to answer any follow up questions they had about a child's injury. The safeguarding and welfare of a child should always come first, please please don't complain, to do so might distract and actually leave a vulnerable child at risk. See the positives please. I hope your DD is on the mend

I won't complain. As the thread has progressed, I am much more reassured and just feel a wave of relief really. Thank you so much to everyone for your input, it has all been so very appreciated by both myself and DH.

I am happy to answer whatever questions they have for us. I was more nervous about what it would mean for DD, us as a family and whether we were being categorised in any way.

Afaik they send information to your local authority about a&e attendance regardless of the reason.
We had a call while my son was still lying in hospital asking about he'd been to a&e but as soon as we explained they were fine with it.
The LA whether it be social services or health visiting just keep everything on file and it would only be needed if there are dots that need joining later.
So many children were failed in the past where they had lots of contact but nothing serious enough on its own to raise red flag.

It is standard/automatic so I wouldn't worry BUT the A&E staff should have let you know so you could expect contact.
I imagine they were busy and that bit of admin got overlooked unfortunately.

I'm sorry about your little one's hand. It's always awful seeing our kids hurting and I think good parents almost always feel some degree of guilt even when we know we didn't do anything wrong.

The hospital doesn't think your family requires social services input or anything else about your specific family. That's not their role or competency. They followed their protocol for reporting toddler accidents to social services precisely because A&E personnel don't generally have the information to evaluate families or a child's history in that way - they only have one bit of info and a tiny snapshot of what is usually a stressful moment. The trend has been more towards routine reporting of certain categories of visits (like "all burns for children under 3") because just having A&E staff subjectively evaluate parents or a family is understood to be rather unreliable. So the role of A&E is sending their single bits of info to either SS (or a GP or HV depending on the location and A&E visit) so that professionals with a wider lens can make sure there isn't a pattern that needs more attention.

And social services loves nothing more than to have a quick conversation with a loving parent who provides good care of her child like yourself and getting to say "no red flags there" so they can move on with helping children who do need more intervention.

My nephew climbed out of his crib and broke his arm when his was 2. When my parents took him to the hospital they didn't know that there was a social worker observing them interacting with my nephew.

Initially they were shocked and felt threatended, but then when the processed it they realised it was a good thing that all children are taken care of just in case.

I was a social worker for 10 years and normally this sort of thing would have been followed up by the HV. The general thinking is that HV already has a relationship with the family and it is much less stressful for the family to hear from HV than SW.

Please don’t worry - these are things that have been put in place to protect children. No-one can tell from a hospital visit if there is more going on at home for a child, so this can actually help a family who do need more support or hopefully help a child who is being abused or neglected.

The SW who contacted you is just doing her job, following up on a routine referral - the only info will be your child’s injury. She has to, absolutely by law, check that everything is ok at home. When I was working as a SW, I would have contacted the HV and asked them to deal with it or ask them to come with me to any planned home visits. The SW wants to make sure you don’t need additional support, it’s very much from a supportive point of view, and should ask you to tell them what happened.

Please don’t get defensive, and it really sounds like you won’t. SW get a bad reputation but my advice is always to be upfront and honest, answer any questions and keep any appointments. This will blow over and the ‘record’ isn’t something anyone else could access - but if they could it would literally say, Referral received from hospital regarding burn. Email sent to parent, copy attached. Email received from parent, cope attached. Spoke to Team Leader, agreed HV to continue to monitor as per NHS guidelines, NFA.

Why do you see contact with social services as so terrible that you are crying all night?

My 4 year old burned her arm a little putting a tray of biscuits in the oven where the oven glove slipped off.It didn't really need A&E but because I had heard burns were viewed with suspicion, I thought it better to cover ourselves. They didn't question it all and never heard from social services of anyone else.Neither did we for any of my 4 kids A&E visits over the years. I guess it may depend on the area.

Going off track slightly ... why is it that every time I take one of my kids to A&E (it's happened a few times as they are very sporty) they are asked if they have other siblings living in the house?

Totally normal and standard - and rather reassuring that injuries to a child are followed up. Happened to us with two of my three rather mishap-prone children.

Please don't complain. They are trying to keep children safe.

At a guess; to cross check siblings medical record for accidents/injuries to see if there's a pattern. Also if you lie and say no, then that would be a red flag.

As an adult presenting with a minor injury that needed stitches I was asked who I lived with etc. My injury could have been DV so they have to ask. I really appreciated it because although I live alone and it was just carelessness in my case, hopefully the safeguarding helps women and children in dangerous circumstances.

Yes, referrers should always inform parents they are making the referral unless in very specific circumstances where there may be an immediate risk of significant harm to a child.

Sorry I misread.
If there is an immediate risk of significant harm then the parent/s don't need to be informed immediately no. Police and social workers might need time to hold a strategy meeting and see the child/ren before the parent/s have a chance to prevent it or cause any further harm. But that's only if there is an immediate risk. If it's a referral relating to abuse the referrer still needs to inform the parents.

What's nonsense? That poster is correct, the referrer should inform the parents they are making a referral.

Don’t panic, your child won’t be taken from you. It would be a flag though that your toddler seems to have access to a stove top to burn themselves, so they probably baby (hopefully) want to ensure general safety n the household.

What? A social worker just happened to be at the hospital waiting for parents to come in with injured children? That's not how social workers work 😆 we also aren't allowed to observe parents and children without the parents' knowledge and consent. Whatever happened with your parents it wasn't that.

It will all be absolutely fine, I promise.

I wouldn't complain because it's extra stress and energy and this really will just go away. If it remains on a SS file, who cares. It was a report about accidental injury with no further follow up.

I have one such log too. During lockdown I was living with family, homeless after 6 months in hospital ill, and family member were piss heads. I was applying for social housing and blurted out in desperation that I was stuck with alcoholics with my child. It wasn't a lie, but it was a bit of an embarrassing declaration. Housing told me like a 6 year old they had to flag to SS. I in it's just their job but I was riddled with shame. SS called me and the school! I just had to brave it out and now think, who gives a shit. I'm not a bad mum and neither are you.

Just show willing to provide whatever information they want. I guarantee they have enough on their plate with significant issues that they'll close that case and leave you be.

For you, remember, you aren't the only one with mental health struggles so any feelings of judgement will be exaggerated in your mind. Even professionals in SS will have and still have their issues. It just feels like you're the freak sometimes when this sort of thing happens. You aren't.

My HV said that parents were travelling around different A&Es to avoid abuse being identified so now they report every instance so a picture can be built up if necessary. My niece fell down the stairs and bumped her head at about 2yo but was sick a few hours later so my brother took her in. The staff were more concerned about asking him questions about his parenting than checking my niece was okay. They asked why she wasn't taken in immediately and also why she'd been brought in after on one episode of sickness (they said they don't worry unless there had been 3). Literally can't win.

Well we had a SS referral after my son was injured (bruised rib) messing around with his friends in the park. No previous SS involvement and DS (13) told the hospital himself what happened. Next morning SS ring and start an investigation which leads to a month of interviews and uncertainty and then closure of the case. Two years later I'm still traumatised. So hopefully that won't happen!

Oh OP you sound so anxious, I've been there, I'm sorry. Contact with a social worker isn't the same thing as being investigated. Of course you were a mess in the hospital, your little girl was hurt. It is a difficult environment when you're on high alert. When my older son went in (for croup, which we couldn't have caused!) we were asked so many questions about his life, care, our living situation, but from the tone of voice I got the impression it was standard quiz, not because they suspected us of anything. Kind of annoying but then you see these cases where kids were seen so many times by professionals and everyone always asks "why did no-one see anything" so I guess they have to try. (One of my parents was social services before retirement.)

It is hard to feel like you're being watched and judged though, when you're already struggling and trying so hard. I also had a traumatic first birth and had to be in for a week, and it was really hard watching them notice things all the time.

Good that you're already in therapy, have you thought about GP and meds at all? I'm not saying that your worries are ridiculous or pulled from nowhere, but the spiralling quality of them seems really familiar to me. Hypocrite here as I'm not on meds, but I keep wondering if I should be!

It's probably an automatic referral because if the mechanism of injury. They will not have accessed your notes. But @intrepidgiraffe is absolutely right in that they should have discussed the referral with you.