What is this text? Social services? Scam? "Family solutions"?

[whatf]

Hi all, hoping someone can shed some light on this bizarre/concerning text. (I've changed the name in the below)

My DD is 17 and in sixth form. We also have DS 19 at uni. No other kids, just me, DH and the dog (DH is both kids' dad, we've been married 25 years). We also haven't moved house in DD's lifetime. Ordinary house, hundreds like it, ordinary town, ordinary everything really. No involvement of social services, or any agency. No issues, no drugs, no nothing really - just a fairly quiet kid studying for A levels.

DD 17 received a voicemail on her own mobile today which said - along the lines of this (I haven't heard it as she isn't home yet) "this is a message for "Sarah" (that's me, not DD - her name wasn't mentioned even though it was her own phone). I'm calling from family solutions and I am your allocated family worker and I was calling to see if I could arrange a visit. Goes on to say that they'll send a text, but you have my number". Unclear if they know where we live.

DD was a bit shaken by this voicemail and wondered whether someone was going to remove her from our home. I firstly told her I thought it was a scam, but quickly googled and it seems like if she's 17, there's no risk of anything like that anyway and she doesn't have to talk to anyone she doesn't want to?

Has anyone ever received anything like this? I'd never heard of family solutions, but google and AI tell me it's a service for families who are facing a lot of challenges and have already tried other types of support. None of this applies to this. The thing is, they have her number and my name so it's not a completely random voicemail.

The only thing that I can think of is that I allow her to use my debit card details to buy stuff online from time to time. I'm talking a lipgloss or something. Nothing major. She will then often have stuff delivered to her name but will have paid with a card with my name on it. Although my name is not even on my card, it's just MRS X Y SMITH.

Any ideas re this? Thanks for any insight.

Curious! There is the possibility that they have the wrong number - one wrong digit is enough - and that the person they actually want to speak to is called "Sarah". I would ring them on the number in the message and say there's been an error. Looking at their website, they are all volunteers so you should be able to put a stop to it this evening. Just in case it is a scam (which seems unlikely), don't click 9n any links in the text they say they are going to send.

I would assume either scammers or someone calling the wrong number and that "Sarah" is a coincidence as a fairly common name.

Ignore it - even if it were genuine they were supposedly calling "Sarah" not your DD.

It's obviously a wrong number as they used the wrong name. It's just coincidence it happens to be your name. Tell your DD to block the number if she's worried they'll keep ringing.

Family Solutions is kind of entry level support for families where there is some concern but not a need for a social care referral.

It sounds like someone has looked up contact details for the family and picked up her number rather than yours.

Call them back, they really are there to help, and if it's a mistake that will be sorted too.

I'd assume they'd rung the wrong number. Sarah is a fairly common name i guess?? Just reassure your DD it's nothing to worry about - as you've had no issues and not already with SS or similar I'd forget about it and just use your time to reassure DD.

Surely it’s just a wrong number. You can call them back and tell them, or ignore it and see if they call again

Family Solutions is a family support service. You would have had to consent to a referral. I suspect it's a wrong number. Please do call them back and let them know that though, or the family that they are trying to reach may miss out on a really important opportunity for support.

Do young people not know about wrong numbers

Those of us if an older vintage wouldn't think it was anything other than fat fingers or needing to put your glasses back on 😂

Presumably it’s just a wrong number and it’s a coincidence they are also looking for a “Sarah”. Doesn’t your DD ever get wrong numbers on her phone?

I’d phone them back, simply because she’s worried about it, and then you’ll get to the bottom of it

Not sure the FS person should have left a long message before confirming who they were speaking to due to the potential to breach confidentiality, but agree that it’s most likely to be a wrong number.

Yes, she knows about wrong numbers and scams, but they had my (admittedly very common) first name. So it didn't seem like a fat finger situation to her.

I think it’s entirely coincidental. Unless your name is like Ursula or Rainbowtitties or something quite unusual. It seems entirely inappropriate for a social worker out of the blue to ring a child. My guess is someone was trying to avoid the Social and may have even intentionally given a wrong number (not intentionally yours).

That being said, I actually would ring them back to enquire and would raise a complaint if it is in fact the wrong number. It’s not a GDPR breach, but it does seem sloppy to be leaving messages when you don’t actually know if you have even called the right person. Someone more vulnerable than your dd might really be panicked by it or feel quite paranoid.

Google the number, it could be a scam call. I get them often and they do seem to know things about me but when I look up the number I see loads of people have reported it as a scam.