SIL has been told by midwife she is going to involve social services

[lucysmam]

I'm not sure this should go here, or where else to put it if not but here goes.

My BIL smokes dope every day, never near her since she got pg but he told theirsupport worker about it. Obviously departments report back to each other but she is worried that the midwife is involving them to interfere and take the baby away from them.

I've told her it's more than likely just support for them both and the baby as she's only 18 and he's 22 but is not the brightest button in the box.

Does anyone have any experience of this or could offer some advice as I haven't a clue what to tell her or whether she ought to be worried?

Thank-you

Surely you just need to tell him to stop smoking dope and he'll have nothing to worry about ?

I wouldnt have thought SS would have taken a child away for that anywayand it might be a way opf him getting some support to stop which is presumably what he's hoping for if he told them ?

Sorry no experience of this but I do know that taking a baby away from it's parents is the VERY LAST resort, social services are there to help the parents and the child so I'm positive that they wouldn't take the baby away for such a minor thing.
But obviously they have procedures they have to follow and they have to make sure that the child isn't at any risk, and in their eyes dope is a risk, it doesn't matter whether it's a bit of weed or heroin it's still an illegal substance which shouldn't even be in the same house as a child.
In an ideal world he should just give it up and get social services out of the picture.

Not entirely sure why he told them to be honest, he's tried stopping before using a local counselling service but basically couldn't be bothered. I told her it would be just support for them and the baby when 'it' arrives but she's not convinced

Cheers Worzsel

Perhaps he told them as a subconcious desire to stop, ie with SS involved they may support him in his efforts to give up more, plus with SS keeping an eye on them he can't fail at giving up so easily. I hope that's the case.

Their ages, combined with his drug usage may well be enough for SS to be involved. They may simply class the child as 'at risk' and keep the family monitored for a little while after the birth, offer him drug cessation assistance etc.

They would do the same for a partner who drank to excess or a woman with a man with a previous history of abuse etc. There are protocols they have to follow if certain red flags are raised.

Thanks for the info/advice. Sounds like it's just for support and to make sure they are coping as I tried to tell her.

Think I'll show the pair of them this in the morning & maybe it will give him another kick to get his bum in gear

Hmmm. I think that it would be an unexperienced midwife that would refer a parent to SS soley for parental cannabis use. Usually this isn't done routinely - if it was social services would be completely overwhelmed with referrals!!!

Cannabis can cause small decrements in fetal birthweight if smoked by the mother. I feel that it can affect parenting postnatally especially if it was extreemly heavy use of stronger varieties. You don't state if you sister smokes cannabis too.

There may be other concerns that you are unaware of. You mention that there is a support worker already involved - which agency are they from?

You can refer children to SS as either a 'child in need' catogery - where support can be provided by an allocated social worker to the family. Or, as a 'child at risk' where there are current or potential real risks of harm to the child.

The former referral has to be done with parental consent (ie for support with housing, access to other agencies etc), the latter does not.

Your BIl and sister would have agreed to this referral if it was purely for support.

who is "not the brightest button" perhaps they feel she will need proper support to ensure the baby is properly cared for?

Paternal cannabis smoking can also cause problems - and as Astarte says, it's still an illegal drug. I wouldn't worry unduly, as it sounds like a support thing, but it might be worth a discussion with him to see if he will at least reduce how much he smokes, to show willing...