getting together information and support for EVERYONE in the child protection system

[Spero]

I am posting here, mainly because I am not sure what I am doing and I don't want to do anything against the rules or contrary to the site ethos.

In a nutshell, a lot of us have been contributing to various threads since before Christmas about the child protection system in the UK and all the controversy that has arisen since the case of Alessandra Pacchieri and the issue of 'forced adoption'.

We have perspectives from every part of the child protection system - there are birth parents, adoptive parents, social workers, lawyers etc and we think it could be a good idea to try to do something to bring us all together, to help people get access to information that is balanced and useful, particularly if they are facing care proceedings or worried they might be.

At the moment, we are thinking a blog could help, with different people providing short posts about their experiences and providing links to other sources that we know are credible and reliable. This could be very valuable for all of us - I am a lawyer for e.g. but I would love to know more about what doctors working in child protection are looking out for, and I would like to get more perspectives from birth parents about what they think is good or bad about the system.

We are also wondering if there could be a separate topic in 'Parenting' - Dealing with child Protection issues or similar, which could link to the blog, once we get if off the ground.

So sorry quite a lot of info there. Trying to précis

1. We have a lot of untapped knowledge and experience and would like to pull it altogether to provide a good source of reliable and balanced advice
2. We would like to start a blog, does anyone want to contribute or can think of snappy name?
3. We would like to use the power of mumsnet to steer people towards our information and provide another platform for discussion and debate

4.What's the best way of going about this?

Any comments, thoughts welcomed.

I think that it would be immensely helpful to have the input of the children affected - well, those over 18 who can reflect back either positively or negatively

Yes I can write something Spero if you want?

On being a disabled parent and getting help?

sorry, re-reading and have missed some things

Devora - yes please, you can help by writing something about being an adoptive parent if you felt able? Any to de-mystify the process would be helpful. As short or as long as you want.

Ditto Miscellaneous - we can do a separate section on parent with disabilities and discuss what kind of resources are out there and how best to push for them etc

Loopy - at least as far as I was concerned I deliberately left children out because I was thinking this is a resource for parents and most of my cases the children are under 7 so I didn't think I could offer them anything ... BUT reading your post and remembering that a lot of my clients were themselves children in care AND this is suppose to be for everyone in the child protection system, I think i was wrong to leave out children.

I would be really grateful if you could liase with the CLA and see what they would find most helpful to post. I know outcomes for children in care are dire, we are not trying to push any agenda but rather de-mystify the process and hopefully help people in the right direction for help and advice, rather the direction of 'leave the country' 'don't co-operate'.

And for any birth parents who want to post, if you WERE helped by any agencies, please could you flag that up and say why and what they did that was good.

Equally if you felt you were let down by any particular agency.

One of my favourite sayings is one of Carl Rogers, a psychologist - 'the facts are always friendly. There is nothing dangerous or unsatisfying about being closer to the truth'.

And sorry I meant resource primarily for parents but I am hoping that lawyers, social workers, etc will also be able to gain valuable support and information here.

Spero I think this is turning into a very much need and highly valuable resource which will be hugely reassuring to many.

I am a huge fan of inclusive and cross-learning between service users (for want of a better word) and professionals, and have worked professionally in this area, albeit not currently active at present.

My only remaining concern at this stage is how we include the lessons from cases which are protected under court restrictions (and might have been for some years already, with some years left to go). Clearly birth family cannot speak out where this is the case, and is probably where a lot of the fears and concern about conspiracy etc is rooted.

I am not for a minute advocating that we reveal anything that is protected but I do think there is a huge amount of learning to be done from cases like this and support/guidance needed for people who must be feeling incredibly isolated as a result (I know I do!). For me it is the only remaining grey area and potential elephant in the room.

Is there anything we CAN include to de-bunk myth and provide reassurance that learning from such cases does happen? Abeit not in the public eye?

Really sorry to also post this and run (off out for day) but the post about CLA has for some reason minded me to raise this.

I will contact the CLA for their input, no problem.

I would have thought that advice from people who have actually been there (please remember, the parents are not actually the primary victims of this) would be the most useful thing? Perhaps along the lines of 'tips from kids in care'?
I can think of a thousand things that adults could/should have done differently, and I'm sure most other care leavers can too. Eg. to try REALLY hard not to criticise their family, no matter what they have done, to not patronise them - these young people are often far more astute than your average child, to not make them choose between one living situation and another, unless in can be done without the fear of upsetting one person or another, etc.

Links would be very useful, for young people as well as adults. Children Act, etc.
Also info re. accessing files etc.

I'll have a go at a myth busting section this afternoon. PM if you have any specific issues to include beyond the headline "SS have targets and paid bonuses to snatch blonde babies for middle class families to adopt"

Great will do! Will be a draft by mid week if that's ok? My Ds had an op on Friday so I don't have any time today or tomorrow - but Id love to do something to help disabled parents negotiate the confusion and worries that go along with trying to get help from ss.

I can write something about my experiences, and the knowledge I've picked up on the way. Plus references and links that are useful. Although I'm not a lawyer I did get extensive legal help as part of my journey so I'll include some of that where helpful. I have helped others I've met through forums etc and so will remind myself if what specifically was helpful to them as well as myself.

I know the level of confusion, misinformation and 'fobbing off' which happens unless you are really clear on what should be happening. I am also very familiar with the terror in realizing you are so poorly you need help and yet are scared that turning to ss for help could end up with 'having your child taken away'.

So many people end up refusing help or not even approaching ss for help in the first place. It's so sad and so needless.

The gap I have in my knowledge is working directly with children's services (as opposed to adult social services). It's taken 2.5 years of constant effort to educate adult services in their roles and responsibilities towards disabled parents, so am having a breather before I start on the next battle!

Wow, Spero it's looking great!

Let me know if I can contribute in any way, I'd be happy to write something

Thanks very much all those offering to help - Lilka can you write anything about your perceptions of the system as adoptive parent.

Re concerns about confidentiality and keeping within the law - as I understand it we are not allowed to publish anything which might identify a child in current care proceedings.

But Mr Justice Munby has explicitly said that he thinks parents who wish to talk about their cases should be allowed to do so and he has recently published new transparency guidelines, judges are now saying they will deliver all their judgments in open court.

I cannot see how we will be 'in trouble' if people want to talk about their experiences of the system, provided they do not identify individual children or make accusations/assertions against others that could lead us open to actions in defamation/libel - I always forget which is the written one and which is the spoken one!

But anyway, as long as no one wants us to publish X LA took my child because they are all paedophiles, we should be fine.

I would be very sad if people are put off talking about their own experiences and their own perceptions through fear of legal action.

I have also had a very interesting chat with a doctor friend today who tells me he has recently been on a thread in a closed chat forum for doctors which was talking about child protection and what doctors needed to do. He is happy to publish a link to our blog on that thread and see if anyone wants to contribute.

He showed me a brilliant post from a registrar which would be very helpful. So I hope we will get a volunteer from that thread.

Sadly, he told me the prevailing view is that the doctors have serious concerns that SW will deal with any reports they make quickly. They also have doubts about the quality of a lot of SW intervention. which again suggests to me that there are serious issues with SW work loads and availalbity.

Do you want any input re teenagers involved with ss?
I have a dd who has been in a secure unit and is now in res care - we have been involved with ss for the last few years. My main issue was always the lack of proper communication and funding disagreements between the agencies/departments!

YES ashtray, I want whatever anyone has to give. Whatever you feel comfortable sharing, whatever you think could help someone else in your situation feel less alone or less scared.

Brilliant post on myth busting from Germs just gone up.

She won't get hit with the nagging stick next week! But the rest of you had better watch out...

Thanks Spero. It is reassuring to know people will be able to speak out more. I wasn't quite sure whether this would only apply to cases in the future, from when the guidelines come into action in February.

My other concern about our family situation is that having been told very clearly by the Judge in court and on our contact order, that we are not to disclose any information about the case outside of the parties involved, it is a strange feeling to know this might be possible. I will have to take some time to process that!

If there is a specific court order in place, then of course, we can't breach it. If anyone feels doubtful about what they can talk about, keep it as general as possible.

the basic rule should be - never anything that identifies a child. Garp has kept reference to her child gender neutral which I think is sensible. She hasn't identified herself by reference to where she lives or how old her child is. She talks about her experiences but I don't see how any court could possibly object to that.

Yes I agree, basic rules - don't identify a child. Don't put anything out there you don't feel comfortable with, if in doubt, put in less detail rather than more.

I'm thinking of aiming to work within social work and am currently doing some voluntary work that led to that.
This is a brilliant and very informative resource.
Can I share it with people?

Please yes, that is the whole point. We want this to be genuinely useful and information to as many people as possible.

At the moment I am hopeful we will have enough good content up by end of week to justify an 'official launch' on Monday and to link into mumsnet bloggers.

But anyone who wants to share in the meantime please feel free - its clear we are in early stages at moment but hope that we will continue to improve as people contribute.

Ok - I wasn't sure whether you wanted to hold off until official launch .

I am pleased with how it looks now! We obviously need to expand and get a lot more stuff up but I think what we have got so far is good.

I am hoping it will inspire more people to contribute.

www.childprotectionresource.org.uk/ can anyone interested have a look at the mythbusters section and see if they could help us out?

I'm specifically interested in people who would like to write something for parents who are afraid that:

if they report domestic violence that their children will be taken off them
if they report PND that their children will be taken off them
if they have a physical disability or a mental health problem their children will be taken off them.

It doesn't need to be long - just a bit about what is and isn't like to happen/ be asked

Westmoreland
"if they have a physical disability or a mental health problem their children will be taken off them"

Is that the same or different than the one I'm going to write about ss and being a disabled parent? I don't mind either way I just want to make sure I'm writing the right thing :)

it depends how yours is going to be written - we want parent experiences such as yours but also a quick 'fact sheet' type guide of common myths too.