DLA/Social worker rant

[smugtandemfeeder]

Argh, just need to rant. No need to reply.

I applied for DLA a few months ago. No where on the form does it ask if you have a social worker. I did not mention my social worker.

Have just received letter of explaination from DLA stating why I was turned down and it says that they received a phone call from my social worker.

My f*ing social worker must have chosen to call DLA specifically to tell them I should not get DLA.

FFS.

That means she actually thinks I am fraudulently trying to claim benefits.

FFS

very

Rant over and out.

Response from social services received today:

The phone call was made to the Social Worker. The name of the Social Worker and her contact details were provided by smugtandemfeeder with regard to an application for DLA which was confirmed to the Social Worker.

Details of the case were not discussed and the response provided by the Social Worker was a statement of the facts of the assessment, that is:

The Social Worker was asked if littlesmug is receiving support and what his disability was. The social worker responded that she was in the process of completing a core assessment and that there was no diagnosis of any disability according to doctor?s report. The social worker stated that she had seen the child herself, observed no disability, and that her recommendation in the Core assessment will be no further action.

Subsequently, the recommendation was for no further action and the case was closed.

I am sorry that I can not assist you further, but in view of the above, the Department will not, at this time, be responding further under the complaints procedure.

.....................................................................................................

I have checked, checked and double checked my DLA form and there is no reference to my social worker.

Need to wait to see what DWPs excuse is.

Its making me doubt myself but I have a photocopy of my form and ive read through it 1000 times. I excluded people who were unhelpful from the form! The school could have told her my social workers name I suppose.

What exactly qualifies the social worker to tell DWP that she observed no disability?

How can they suggest that the social worker provided a statement of facts when it quite clearly uses the words 'observed' and 'recommendation'. Neither of these are facts - just opinions of an individual untrained to make a clinical dx

How should I respond? Pissed off. Thoroughly.

are you apealling the decision , I have asd , got turned down when i first applied 14 years ago , easily won the apeall and have never had a problem since . dla goes on needs not diagnosis , if little smug needs more attention or supervision than the average child his age , and a disability is likley to be the cause it dosent mantter what label you have . my dd got dla , she has no dx but she obviously needs more support than the average 15 yr old. if you dont want to apeal you have the option of starting a fresh claim, i know people who have subbmitted exactly the same information a second time and been awarded. also little smug is a bit older so his needs will have become more than other children his age , as they compare age , the younger the child the harder it is (but not impossible), as all young kids need a lot of care , dont give up appeal or resubmit , I have read all your post you are not imagining or making up ds difficulties . xxxxx

I wondent bother taking ss complaint any further , the lea solicitor got the name of DD s social worker off a "FRIEND", (we are having a refusal to asses tribunal). put you energy into getting dla, .social services will always cover there backs. you could try the local government ombardsman website if you really want to go over there heads.

thanks hannahsmum, I have appealed the decision and submitted extra information. Hopefully they will reassess before the tribunal.

Im also waiting for DWP to call me back to tell me why they spoke to social worker without my permission.

DS has complex needs but they are significant. We are getting more evidence now. Our latest letter from private psych says DS is agressive and self centred and probably has ASD.

my dd probably has social anxiety , regional pain syndrome depprssion , raynauds syndrome , mears irlen (IS FULLY DIAGNOSED LOL),no real firm diagnosis , they are children not tick boxes, so dla can be given with out dx. do complain to local government ombardsmon (GOOGLE), they do take complains about childrens social care and can intervene if a child has been disadvantage (maby even make ss pay compensation), dont bother with social servises direct , as they will come up with more frustrating bullshit. got my dd to make her own complaint as shes 15 (they take young disabled under 25 very seriously) as they are very vunerable in the "system".just keep applying for dla with every scrap of new evidence , keep a diary and compare him to other kids the same age (we shouldent do this but it is the most imortant part of claims for under 16)

Smug
this was in writing?-ifso-good theyve been caught out lying then.
its not ss place to diagnose-they are trained in sw not anything else.
take this further Smug-complain and then go to the obmisman[cant spell]if need be.
if the school has told them the sw name ect...this doent mean jack..you have not given dla permission to talk to them.
theres icas[independant but i dont know what theyre like][independant complaints advacacy service].
in the meantime have youre complaints in writing and proof youre complaining and tell dla you are complaining about ss.

sparky

my dd gets dla , has phisio but I have been acussed of faking her illness 5 times in the last year only for them to quickly drop all allegations . I have submitted a complaint naming names etc as my dd urgerntly needs a caf meeting . I said my dd is av
vunerable child not a parcel to pass between agencys. I all so said how dare they mislead other agencys that they are supporting dd then take no furter action . time to get tough.

yes it was in writing. I need to work out who rang who and where they got the information. They have made me doubt myself but I have a photocopy of my form! DWP are ringing tomorrow so will wait and see what they say. I have an ICAS rep already from complaining to local nhs trust. They are excellent.

be tough keep strong , if you get dla it will be backdated xxx

you story makes me mad , how dare social servises block finatial support to a vunerable little boy . they just cant be allowed to get away with this. if you had money for extra support it opens the world to other opportunitys and we dont have to get down on our needs to beg for basics. this makes my blood boil how do they sleep at night.

you must go to local gov ombardsman , i complained on easiy online form last night , they phoned me today , someone already on case , they will take this seriously.

When I am totally sure of the facts I will complain but I don't know if I have the energy. Surely the social worker should have checked with me to see if I had given permission. Our area senco was pretty upset the school had spoken to the social worker without checking I had given permission.

the lgo form is online and really easy and they have the power to check out the exact facts, I filled it in half asleep at 1pm

Hiya smug.

Sounds like you're already doing ok on making the complaint sound like it comes from a concerned council-tax-payer rather than a mother tigress. Someone (star?) gave good advice some years ago about complaints: consider what your best outcome would be, and angle your complaint to get a response as close to that outcome as possible.

I'd guess you might want ss to assess properly, accept that you know your child best, perhaps provide carer support and/or respite, and refrain from interfering in areas you can manage fine by yourself. This particular complaint probably won't do all of that but might result in 1 or 2 of the outcomes.

This is outrageous behaviour Smug. Het the DLA to calrify in writing exactly what happened. The SW has more than failed in her 'duty of care', it seems she has gone the complete opposite way about doing what she's paid astronomical amounts of money to do.
Why I wonder, does she think she's paying DLA out of her own pocket???
What a total bitch. And a disater as a social worker (maybe you got the same one as me)

A serious failure somewhere. DWP were supposed to call today but have now gone home for the day. I can only think the preschool gave the DWP the details of social worker as they are the ONLY other people they spoke to. I will ask for it in writing once I have a verbal explanation from DWP. I do not tell lies and I thoroughly resent the implication from the social worker that I am dishonest. I do not know what good it will do to take the SW complaint further. It may get me an apology. I doubt it. I do not want their help at all in future. Things are very bad here, very, but I really do not want them back here, ever. The last few months of my maternity leave have been the hardest of my life. I get paid on Friday and then I can afford my own help. Stuff them.

ooh I feel all teary eyed and over emotional after writing all that!

do appeal dla , dont see it as your money , see it as your sons xxx you are entilteld to it , being a carer is a full time job , with no bonuses anual leave or lunch breaks , coluld you imagine not getting paid for any other care job with a child with additionl , neads , no breaks 24/7 , the unions would strike . your money your sons money , dla is not a handout ,you earn every penny.

do complain about ss , i have been holding on to upset over a telephone call where i was acussed of all sorts of things only to be cleared the next day, i went on the councils comment page , let rip with my feelings in a polite matual manner named names and i feel so much better, i know sod all will happen but i know they have my comment on file and thats good enough for me.my daughter commplained it was upseting as she overheard the call, she says they shouldent ring when shes not at school.as shes 15 i wonder how they will deal with it , they have to respond to her, but surley they cant use waffly excuse bollocs to an sn child, but nothing supprises me now

A couple of thoughts, core assessment with no further action... it may be worth asking if they are then stating that your dc is not 'a child in need' under the Children Act. All children with disabilities are children in need and thus should get access to certain things... (altho in many cases this doesn't happen.)

If they are saying the social worker has decided he is not disabled then she needs to state her evidence for that. Do you have a copy of the Core Assessment yet? I think if it does not state her evidence base for making that statement (which it won't) she is on a very sticky wicket... Possibly when you get a copy of the assessment, which is your right when it is complete, (and it does have a set time frame for completion.) you can ask for 'the evidence' for her to make that statement.

Sign the SW has said in her report that DS is not a child in need. She said that there is no evidence that DS has a disability and that we should stop saying he has a disability. I had a whole thread on the SWs report - wrote to her asking for things I disagreed on to be changed - that was 6 weeks ago - I have heard nothing since. What are the time scales for sending me a final version of the report? (For info DS has a private working diagnosis of childhood anxiety, has been referred by NHS to nursery assessment centre for full diagnosis, private psych has recently said DS is "highly likely to be ASD", DS hides ASD well in school although does not interact with peers)

A few quotes from the report

"It is concerning that smug is not patient enough to wait for little smug to be assessed and diagnosed for developmental delay, psychological or mental impairment. The emotional and behavioural difficulties they attribute to littlesmug can be attributed to any 3 year old child who do not neccessary have a learning/emotional disability"

"None of the professionals who have observed littlesmug have witnessed these behaviours"

"Whilst there is evidence of smug's ability to meet littlesmugs physical and some emotional needs, it is questionable if their insistence on labeling littlesmug as a disabled child and preventing him from accessing mainstream education and social interaction would not have impact on his emotional development, the ability to develop social skills, be confident and have age appropriate independence. It is likely that littlesmug can sense smugs anxiety and the anxiety and low mood can affect her emotional availability to little smug."

the local govrment ombardsman have phoned me today they said they are giving 20 days for ss to submit all dds files (they have the same power as the court to do this), they will asses if they belive dd is a child in need. I have commpained to ss again today as i recived initial assesment it says no disabilitys recorded under , disability/ additional needs heading , she refuses to change it. I have complained and offerd for sw to look after dd for a week before she makes that disision . i said it was ridiculos and offensive to me as a main carer , my dd is 16 next year and i am on call 24/7.