advice needed desperately regarding social services

[wannabestressfree]

I am desperate for some advice and wondered if anyone could help......

I have three sons. 14,10 and 7. My oldest is aspergers and ADHD, self harms daily and has had two stays in mental hospitals. On sunday he attacked me with a knife in front of my middle son. He didn't hurt me but obviously it was very scarey. He then absconded {he does this a lot} and eventually the police took him to hospital.

A house officer phoned me in the morning and said he would be requiring inpatient treatment but he is medicating at the moment [he is on a childrens ward} and so they have reversed the decision and say he is fit to return home. He self harms daily and his special education school has told social services they are refusing to have him back. I work full time as a teacher.

I told social services I wouldn't have him in the house......... this is after years of asking for help and they have phoned today and said they will give me respite for a week by placing him in foster care in our old home town. I cannot believe they would do this as this is where he absconds too and drinks and was basically told 'tough'......... no other foster carers would take him due to his mental condition. The social worker insisted I tell my school they were dealing with us {head was super supportive} and said they would be looking at the other children. I am so upset as I just want some help.

He will stop taking his medication when he comes home, attack the other children and roams in and out of the house. We are all exhausted.

So advice please............ do I take him back tomorrow or allow him into foster care that I know is not the right place. I honestly feel like they are emotionally blackmailing me..................

O jeez. Your ds and, by default you as his nearest relative, have been treated appallingly.

It would seem that his admission to a'forensic' unit caused your ds to acquire the label 'dangerous'.

One of two things will happen now: either you will find the Birmingham facility responsive and willing to work with you to 'decriminalise' your ds who is detained on a CIVIL section, or you are going to have the mother of all battles on your hands to establish once and for all that your ds has not offended, he is not in any way a criminal, and he should not be treated like one.

Was there any particular reason, or reasons, why your ds was sent to a forensic unit? It's my understanding that he is psychotic in that he has self-harmed, had violent outbursts, and made threats to kill others, but was it the case that it was considered that only a forensic unit can provide the treatment and level of care/monitoring he needs, or was his referral a matter of expediency in that the forensic unit at the Bethlem had the space to accomodate him and was situated near his home?

I feel for you, honey. Of course you're furious, and no doubt you feel absolutely distraught, but try not to worry too much because where there's a will, there's a way - and we'll find a way to get your ds the treatment he needs in a facility that recognises that, whatever behaviour he has previously displayed, he is not an offender and should not be dealt with in a punitive manner.

He was at the Alpha in Woking which was private so they needed to move him to an NHS hospital [money!!] There is no reason for him to be at a forensic unit other than it provided him with a very closed in environment which they thought would aid treating his aspergers as well as his mental health needs.

He is aggressive when he wants to be, the tipping point that got him moved was that he kept a diary and he had listed people he wanted to hurt when he was psychotic. This meant he got a move from the Alpha to the Maudsley.

I have spoken to a solicitor in London who specialises in mental health cases and I will be suing.

The only good things are that he appears to like his new hospital and is in the more 'aspy' rather than serious offender section of the new units. I have spoken to the doctor looking after him and he seemed very nice. I have emailed the old hospital he was in to say I wish to make a formal complaint. I am very teary again as I feel he has been treated like an animal. He is ill, he hasn't done anything wrong.

Everything is a battle. There is no respite. But I am going to fight for him and I will make them accountable. He deserves that..........

'it provided him with a very closed in environment' Not exactly closed in, was it?

The problem is that the harm done to your ds by the shortlived nature of his planned longterm stay at the Bethlem and the incident that occurred when he was able to leg it with a group of youth offenders who most probably encouraged by him to participate in their escape, is as unacceptable as it is incalculable.

In order for his treatment and care plan to be effective your ds needs the stability of a long term placement, but he has now been in 3 establishments within as many months.

Sadly, your ds's recent experiences are yet another damning indictment of the way in which young people who are conflicted by mental health problems are failed by 'the system'.

I'm pleased to learn that you are appointing a solicitor to act for you - will this be in relation to your ever-growing list of complaints against the Bethlem/Maudsley, or it is your intention to seek legal representation to address the question of a further non-forensic placement for your ds?

Oh that's encouraging that he likes where he is. I agree that you should complain as strongly as you can. You must be absolutely exhausted with all this wannabe.

I am, I feel so out of my depth and unbelievably teary all the time. Am planning to go up there next weekend [its Adenleigh for anyone who knows it]. The legal action will be addressing the things that have gone so wrong there. I feel he has been so letdown and my concerns either ignored or not considered. I just keep thinking about him being handcuffed.

You are right though Maryz he told me in a very matter of fact way and then told me what he would like for his birthday :} I was far more upset than him.

I do think children are treated very badly with mental health problems and that the help is sparse. I want advice to manage him not to alienate him further from us. I mentioned this to the minister who came on for question time and he agreed but you feel like its hot air.

The solicitor I spoke to is a mental health specialist so hopefully we should get somewhere. Its not about the money I want them to change things. And as I suppose you know if I hadn't have moaned and made a nuisance of myself I wouldn't know half as much as I do. The lack of communication is absolutely shocking..........

Taking on an institution such as a NHS board or authority can be likened to punching a way through endless layers of cotton wool; even when negligence and incompetence is proven without doubt, it rarely results in the satisfying spectacle of 'heads rolling' as individual accountability is virtually non-existent in these bureaucratic establishments.

The possibility of judicial review has been known to concentrate minds but, while success in the High Court can result in recompense for the Plaintiff and a clear directive to the the other side to change its procedures, any 'lessons learned' are usually shortlived.

It's unlikely that you're singlehandedly going to be able to change 'the system', honey, and you're best advised to concentrate on the matter in hand which is to address the failings and shortcomings in your ds's care to date and ensure that he obtains the best possible outcome for his present and future care and treatment needs.

To this end, I advise you to have no qualms about making a 'nuisance' of yourself because, when it comes to bureaucratic institutions, sheer bloody-minded persistency often rewards those who are prepared to shout louders than others.

There is a forensic child and adolesent unit at Ardenleigh but, from what you've said, your ds has been placed in another on-site facility. Although Ardenleigh is situated far too many miles from your home, it may be that this establishment offers better prospects for your ds than any nearby.

I hope you gain some reassurance that your ds has not been unduly destablised by recent events when you see him again - by 'next weekend' do you mean tomorrow?

It's terrifying that this could happen to a vulnerable child. He's very lucky to have you to fight for him wannabe.

Of course you feel teary - this is a far cry from those halcyon days when you first brought your ds into the world, and the intervening years of inadequate and sometimes nonexistent help and support for you and your family as you struggled to address his behaviour problems will have undoubtedly taken a heavy toll on your resources.

And of course you feel out of your depth when trying to tackle the shifting sands that are typical of bureaucratic avoidance of accountability and responsibility when its inadequacies are exposed.

It remains to be seen whether this latest move will prove to be beneficial for your ds, but please be kind to yourself because you've had no choice but to place in him the care of 'professionals' who are tasked with providing the treatment he so obviously requires and which, with the best will in the world, you can't administer at the present time.

If you're tempted to squander energy on needlessly beating yourself up, conserve it and put it to good use in beating the system.

Well have solicitor representing me against the hospital, Bindmans........Apparently they are very good.
Have emailed social services and someone phoned yesterday on behalf of the Maudsley and apologised. They used words such as 'error' and unforseeable oversights' which made me even more cross.

And although phoning him daily [he is quite down at the mo] I am struggling to have the time to actually see him for about three weeks. I am working, have two other DS'. It makes me feel so guilty.

I also get the impression I am not being fully informed of what exactly is going on or what they anticipate the diagnosis to be. Social worker said she had more information and understood why he was a 'risk' but no one talks to me. I get the impression where he is he will be for a long time - most other children have been there a for months to well over a year. I think I could except things more if they actually explained and I knew this to be the case.

And he can sound so hard.............. so distant. God only knows how or if he will ever spend time with us at home. Sorry If i sound melodramatic but thats how I feel........

Zombie is going to step out of character for a moment.

Bindmans is an EXCELLENT firm. In my previous life, I met Sir Geoffrey on a few occasions. He is passionate and committed to social justice and I'm sure this attitude will be present throughout the firm.

oh Wannabe I'm so your ds has been treated like a criminal and all dignitiy and human rights robbed! They had no legal right to restrain your ds when he wasn't risking himself/others at that point...for this alone I would take them to court! Then the wrong hospital, wrong place to start off with...oh it goes on!

Can you jump over the legal system and write to Home Office to complain? Or do you have to follow protocols that take forever? Ask your solicitor? If it helps getting ds closer to home in an environment that meets ds needs not NHS pockets!

Your feelings are entirely understandable as you have been, and are being, marginalised and sidelined in relation to your ds's care and treatment needs.

What is obvious is that a large number of alleged 'professionals' have cocked up bigtime - and they know it.

What needs to be done now is to cut through their crap establish the facts and hold those responsible accountable for the appalling errors of judgement that have negatively impacted on your ds's care and treament which have, in turn, caused you unnecessary and unacceptable levels of worry and stress over their ability to get anything right.

I'm relieved to learn you will be represented by a firm of solicitors who have a formidable reputation in this field and I'm hopeful that they will nail the incompetent fuckers be able to resolve some of your fears by ensuring that you are rightfully invoved and consulted in all matters relating to your ds's care.

I wish I could be shocked by the lamentable failings in 'the system' that have led you to the brink of despair but sadly, your experience of adolescent mental health services is not uncommon.

None of this is your fault, honey, and there's no reason for you to beat yourself up because you've always tried to do your very best for your ds and I know you'll carry on doing so.

I second Zombie in saying that Geoffrey's one of the good guys.

Thanks to GB's renowned diligence and persistence in the field of social justice, numerous bureaucratic institutions throw in the towel are moved to review their procedures and pay up on receipt of a letter printed on his firm's headed paper.

I am not interested in money it is merely to get them to look at practice. I don't mean this in a 'blowing my own trumpet kind of way' but if I wasn't fairly well educated and have a background in special needs then I wouldn't have a clue. And to be honest I feel like that most of the time anyway.

I am going to meet them tomorrow. Thanks Maryz I take comfort in your experience and thanks you Izzy for your excellent advice as always. Zombie and sea it helps to know that the firm are good. They looked at the facts of my case then phoned to say they were happy to take the case. I should qualify for legal aid as well which is good news.

Have sent him a parcel with some mags and sweets to cheer him up. The social worker from the new unit sent me a few 'cheer up' messages last night. They seem very helpful and said ' although he may not like it we get results here'. She said I shouldn't take his problems personally and that him being in a medium secure will leave me feeling lost and out of control. It was nice that someone was receptive as I feel like I bore people to death at school. I never have any good news and I can get upset. Its just making me feel more isolated and lonely.

Thank you all for chatting to me. I didn't realise how much it had effected my mental health. I have developed a twitch in my eye and feel quite low. And my DS refused to talk to me last night. I know its to be expected but it still hurts.

The contraband list made me laugh as always............... he is not allowed gum or blu tac but the occasional pair of high heels are fine

You're going to have to get him a pair of Laboutins, honey

I would caution you against false hope thinking that you will be able to concentrate bureaucratic minds on the need to introduce changes to existing policy and procedure as, IME, any promises made in this respect rarely fail to materialise.

I know it's not about money for you, but it's often the case that big fat payouts compensation payments that could have been avoided if gross errors of judgement had not occured are eventually scrutinised by the bean counters and have been known to attract the attention of Government ministers and the press resulting in the desired changes being made.

By acting in good faith and entrusting your boy to the care of those who led you to believe that they would pay close attention to his welfare wellbeing and his treatment, their failure to deliver has resulted in you being on a rollercoasters of emotions that will have taken the most enormous toll on your mental and physical resouces.

Your ds may be appear to be relatively disaffected by recent events and the inhumane manner in which he was transported to his latest placement but, nevertheless, both of you are entitled to expect considerably more of adolescent mental health services than has hitherto been apparent and only time will tell whether he has been adversely affected by this series of monumental blunders on the part of alleged 'professionals'.-

Please be very kind to yourself and please don't beat yourself up for the failure of others. Concentrate on seeking appropriate financial redress for recent events as this will provide a platform for any campaigning you may chose to embark on at a later date.

Seriously, if you wannbestressfree, at the present time your mental health and wellbeing and that of your ds must come before any consideration for the needs of others who are less able than yourself to challenge or take on 'the system'.

I sincerely hope the social worker from your ds's new unit doesn't embark on a leave of absence in the near future and that you are able to regain some confidence that your ds's welfare is of as paramount importance to the new group of professionals who are responsible for his treatment as it is you.

Having given further thought to your posts here, it appears to me that there are three separate but interlinked matters that should be put before your solicitors for their consideration.

I will endeavour to make this as brief as possible in the knowledge that you will be able to supply more detailed information as required by your legal advisers and correct any facts that I may have misread or misinterpreted.

Firstly, by way of preamble, is the historic failure of your local/regional authority's social services department to make appropriate provision for your ds which resulted in him having numerous (48?) placements and periods of hospitalisation over a period of some years, culminating in his being placed cOctober 2011 on discharge from hospital with foster carers who, while having experience of self-harming adolescents, were not given accurate facts about his behaviour or his medication.

Within a very short time of commencement of this placement, your ds made a serious attempt on his life resulting in him being being detained in a private hospital some considerable distance from your home.

This, in turn, led to him being placed on a Section 3 (civil) order on c9 November. He was subsequently moved to the forensic adolescent unit at the Bethlem which is within easy travelling distance of your home in late December/early January(?) for reasons which would appear to be more connected with financial expediency than his care and treament needs, or your convenience.

Secondly, although you were understandably perturbed that the other patients in this small facility were 2-3 years older than your 14 yr old ds and had come to the unit via the youth offender services, you were reassured by your initial meeting with staff and believed him the best place.

However on Sunday 26 February in the company of 3 of the other patients, one of whom had removed the window and grate (security bars?) in his bedroom and two of whom were remanded in custody on serious charges (murder?) prior to their referral to the unit, your ds absconded from this secure CAHMS Tier 4 unit and made his way to London.

While his fellow absconders remained at large, some 7 hours later your ds made his own way back to the unit having been the victim of an attempted abduction and was subsequently interviewed by the police without your knowledge. (have you been told the outcome of this interview/any police investigation?).

You were not allowed/were unable to speak to your son for some 48 hours after this incident.

I repeat one of my earlier posts in saying that the above incident would appear to be a serious breach of the duty of care that should be expected from a CAHMS Tier 4 unit and raises a considerable number of questions, some of which I outlined in earlier posts, to which you are hopeful that your solicitor will be able to obtain answers.

This brings us to the matter of your ds having been moved from the unit, and the manner in which you were informed initially that any move would be temporary as the unit was due to be closed - presumably pending security works to the building - and subsequently informed that there could be no guarantee that your ds would be returned to the unit when it re-opened.

There is also the matter of your ds being transported to a hospital in Birmingham during which time, despite having committed no criminal offence or being detained on criminal section, he was handcuffed throughout the journey which resulted in him being presented at the wrong hospital before his eventual arrival at Ardenleigh.

Thirdly, there is the matter of why Ardenleigh was selected as an option for your ds and whether it is in his and his family's best interests for him to be placed so far from his home.

Ghosh wasn't aware of the whole horrific history...well summed up Izzyizin!

Wannabe have you asked your solicitor is it worth at this stage making a complaint at government level either via MP or straight to the Home Office?

Can you drop in conversation that the newspaper got hold of your number and asked you for your comments on the escape of your ds with young offenders on a ?murder charge...this in hope to scare MH services to actually start following their own protocols and realise they were to blame not a poor child on Section 3 and very vuln placed!?

I would in your shoes push for a ward for ds with own team, their are lots of hospitals with empty wards around. They can't keep treating your ds like a pinball until he is of age to reside on an acute ward.

Solicitor was fantastic :} took a detailed history and I signed to say she could deal with the Maudsley. Sadly she said she has had a lot of cases with them and that child mental health is lacking to say the least. She has promised to keep me posted. She did add that given the contact and what has happened since they absconded she feels that there is more to this than meets the eye......... there is or was a high level or serious offender there or that it has come from ministerial level. She said they wouldn't like the fact they were involved at all...........

Am just going to have a cuppa and will come back on later. Feel full of fighting spirit :}

Glad you're feeling full offighting spirit - and so you should be. You should be very angry indeed at this woeful catalogue of failures.

Definitely seek a legal remedy - as Izzy said they only start to pay attention when their failures hit their budgets in compensation / damages payouts. We sued, and won and I felt very vindicated by doing so. They failed DS - not me.

wannabe if a person detained under forensic section absconds....home office is informed...I wonder if home office then shut the 'secure' unit down?...don't get any more serious than that....this is why I think this absconding situation and ds wrongly placed you should contact home office minister. At this level I think things would be done fast? But I might be wrong? Ask your solicitor about going to high level to complain/get ds sorted faster?
Wow Wet that was a battle and alf!!! Well done!

With apologies for not having had time to undertake some digging research earlier, the following will no doubt add more lead to your pencil be of interest to you:

"Bob Stewart MP has tabled urgent Parliamentary questions to the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley over the recent escape by four dangerous men from a secure unit at Bethlam Hospital in Monks Orchard Road, Beckenham.

Four teenage males escaped by climbing through a window on February 26th at the Bill Yule secure adolescent facility on the hospital site. All four men were returned within seven days of their escape. The unit has been closed by the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust while an investigation takes place. The unit houses people who have been sentenced by the courts, or are awaiting trial on criminal charges.

Bob Stewart MP said: I am deeply concerned by the latest escape of dangerous individuals from Bethlem Hospital. Regretably, this has happened before. My consituents are demanding to know that the Trust is taking the matter of security seriously. I am seeking answers in Parliament from the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley on the findings of previous inquires into escapes and what action the Trust subsequently took."

I have italicised the significant error which gives rise to the question of why your son was placed in this particular unit when it was patently obvious to all concerned that he is not detained on a criminal section nor is he a 'young offender'.

I woud suggest that you copy and paste the above to your solicitor so that she appraise Bob Stewart DSO who is the MP for Beckenham that this report is materially wrong in respect of one 14 yr old escapee who returned himself to the unit within 7 hours of absconding.

This additional report dated 6 March 2012 will also no doubt be of interest to your solicitor:

An adolescent unit at a secure mental health hospital in Beckenham will suspend services following a break-out last week.

Four male teenagers escaped from a unit at Bethlem Hospital in Monks Orchard Road on Sunday February 26.

All four men have since been apprehended and moved to a different service.

A spokesman for South London and Maudsley NHS Trust said: "We recognise the seriousness of this incident and have decided to suspend operation of the unit once the two remaining young people on the unit are transferred to other appropriate services.

?A decision on the unit?s long term future will be taken once an external inquiry into all of the circumstances of this incident is complete."

I'm sure the good people of Beckenham will be relieved to know that the SL&M NHS Trust are able to 'recognise' yet another of their monumental cock-ups what seems to be something of an annual event.

No doubt your solicitor will request a copy of the external inquiry's completed report in due course and I suspect it will make interesting reading.

I've pm'd you some addtional information which I consider should be kept confidential in terms of this board until such time as it may become public knowledge.