Section 47 inquiry of Child protection Act

[kakool]

Hi everyone,
I need your advice on above matter.

I have a 14 years old autistic daughter with very violent behaviour.

i have been going through very difficult times with her for many years.

She started to hit and hurt the people over 3 years ago.i was also hit many times in past. i have a report where her doctor witnessed her hitting me while we were there.

The previous school excluded her permanently when many of the staff members were hit by her and taken to accedent and emergency.
I requsted social services in past to give me some respite, i was offered only 9 hrs but later i was told they can't find a suitable staff to take her out.
after one and half years i asked them to close her file.
they however mentioned in her core assessment the violent behaviour and hurting me and other people.

on the basis of all these reports she was givin a boarding school with monday to friday last year in september.

she is much better in her current school but became very violent at home and started to hit her two baby brothers age 2 and 1.

she runs after the babies and creams sky high, shouts, kicks on furniture, they are very scared.my 2 yrs old son nearly lost his eye 2 weeks ago when she pushed him on a glass table.She creams baby go away, she also has made no go areas in the house where they can't entre.it has become impossible to keep them apart.the situation is very very dangerous.

i contacted the LEA to provide her a school with full time boarding ficility.

i was told that LEA will continue giving her same school and i should seek help from Social services regarding rest of problems with my daughter.

I called SS to do an assessment, give her a school with 52 weeks boarding and arrange somewhere where she could stay as it has become impossible to keep her at home due to very aggressive and dangerous behavior towards babies.
I was told by Social worker they can't take or arrage anywhere to take her, there is no such thing we do to take children from their parents home. when i told them about the risks to babies lives, social worker said" even normal children hit other children".
i was shocked as the kids are too small, she is not normal child and and hitting is not normal.
I was very emotional and said" if you do not help me and provide her accomodation, i am going to abondon her and leave the country with my 2 babies to save them from their sister.I was never serious and only wanted them to arrange somewherefor her to stay.

the social worker left and later phoned me,I have started section 47 inquiry of child protection act against you as you said you were going to leave your daughter behind and fly away from the country, she also said she will involve, professionals, her teacher and police.

I have been ttold about section 20 of the child act 1989 where if you can't cope with a child you can volentarily give them to authority.
in this case rather than providing me any help and assesstant i am being prosecuted.
i have not commited any crime but being punished only why i asked SS to help me out with my violent child.

Ok.. i need to know what should i do in this situation, what would be the outcome of this section 47 inquiry?
will appreciate your kind advice

Bloody hell that really is despicable!

If there was a violent DH / DP in the house you would probably be threatened with having your babies taken away unless you took steps to prevent harm coming to them.

I am so sorry.

You will get good advice here from people with more knowledge than I have, can only offer support. Please keep posting x

why section 47 your the ones in danger not yr DD shes threatening you and the babies this is not yr DD fault either but your struggling wtf do they expect you to do if something happens to yr Lo's they will blame you for not doing something god what a terrible rock and hard place they have put you in

Get your own legal advice and document every phone call and discussion you have with SS.

Ditto helensmelons and if you can afford it independant social worker.

Ditto helensmelons and if you can afford it independant social worker.

my dd is 17 now and violent at times and i have been told by ss she's your dd get on with it when i have asked for help. i am going down the complaints procedure at the minute and guess what...support is coming out the woodwork now the ss can't do enough to help but still not getting any respite i have been trying for 2yrs now for respite as my dd isn't in school and i have to look after her 24/7 with no family to help out. if you need to talk kakool pm me because i know what your going through.

If it helps s47 is about 'Risk of significant harm' to children. ie are their children at risk of significant harm in this situation, and it sounds like your younger ones are at risk of being harmed by your dd?

I would second star be very clear there is risk, but you are not the risk to your younger children, (and I have to say they would have difficulty making a case that your desperate comment made once about 'leaving' your dd ammounted to risk of sign harm to her).

Best thing I would say is go with the investigation, as if they uncover sig risk to the younger ones they will then have obligation to take action, (which should help with pressure to find extra help for dd)

I would also recommend independant advice/advocacy too..

I would question the legalities of a section 47 inquiry and make a complaint to director of children services, they cannot dictate that you are a risk when asking for help. Ask them to put their rationale in writing. Co-operate though with the inquiry because it could be that you might get more help.

Every time your dd is violent towards you, you need to phone the police.

Eventually the police will take ss to court for not supporting you or some such, my friends dd is now in a full time residential facility after going down this route, and has been since she was 13.

Think she broke her mums jaw in the end.

thanks everyone for your quick replies an support.

i am going to see family lawyer regarding it.

they don't have any record in writing from me that i am going to abondon my child,plus i have not done it in reality. can i not say they are making false accusation against me and started s 47 inquiry when askd them for arrangements for my daughter to stay somewhere?

ok you have 3 choices I can see

Either agree to section 20 and place her into care volutary and then you will get the 52 weeks care you have asked for.

Find a boarding school that doesnt 52 weeks but be prepared to play for it

Or go ahead with the section47 but be prepared that they do have enough evidence of "risk of harm" because she clearly is a risk to your younger ones and you arent able to protect them :( this will either result in them taking her into care or adding more help (which ever is cheaper)

Have you looked into CAMHS for her? Have you got to the reason for her anger? Does the boarding school have trouble with this behaviour too?

just came back from solicitor.
she is going to write to the head of children dept that i never meant to abondon my child but was an emotional comment.
she said don't get them angry and be careful what you say to them when they contact you.
she said i should not ask any help the moment but agree whatever they offer,respite.
she also said we need to know their story and if they take you to court and prove anr 2 babies from you.

i asked the solicitor if we ask them to close the file , she said they won't do it the moment till inquiry ends.

what you think could be worse outcome in this situation?
is s47 investigation very common?

you are all very great and your advice is helping me emotionally, god bless you all and never have anyone in the trouble i am in.i haven't been able to sleep for few nights, never had thought that ss is to make peoples lives hell, not help them.
they don't even consider what hell i was already going through because of my daughter hitting my 2 babies.

regarding section 20, its shared responsibilty of both parent and LEA.
i don't belive they would take her easily.

Hi Kakool, presumably you are in a position, where from Social Services perspective, you have, in a way to 'evidence' that you are not going to abandon your child.

I don't know how common this is or what the worst outcome could be but I do agree with your Solicitor, don't get angry, agree with what they offer or in the very least "consider".

It sounds like this, and your family, are now in a process. Your Solicitor can attend meetings with you so that should be a good support.

s47 with children with disabilities are not so common.

Did they explain the process to you? A stratergy meeting will have been held with childrens services, the police, maybe school and health but often just police and social worker. They share information and make a decision about how to take things forward.

If the sw mentioned a s20 she may have felt you were struggling to cope and that may be an option for you, or if they decide you child is at risk a s20 what is offered first in order to accommodate the child. Its voluntary and can be revoked at any time.

I am not sure its very helpful for a solicitor to say 'don't get them angry' but I suppose what that means is demonstrate you want to work with them??

When did they start the s47 cause there is a very short time scale with them?

in my experience they would rather do section 20, than a court case and removal.
BUT they would rather do a section 47 and try and help than the costs of a section 20

the sw never mentioned section 20, they even said there isn't such thing we take children from their parents.
i was told about s20 by a lawyer.

if they take us to court, should we take the babies abroad from saving them being taken by SS?

what happens if they accused mother under section 47,
can they take kids away from father too, though he is not being accused?

Ok section47 is not removal. It's a child on need of protection. They don't need to go to court for it and it's a multiple agentcy assessment. They can place all the children on register and they normally do. If they go down that road they then have an action plan on how to help protect the kids. I rarely see removal straight from assessment and more likely they will go on register.
No I wouldn't leave the country, I dont think you need to. I do think you need to look into getting your dd some more help though.