Social services starting all over again

[claw2]

Back story, school reported me to child protection for taking photos of the injuries ds's caused himself by self harming (as school were claiming he didnt self harm) and implied that i was fabricating his difficulties.

A social worker visited us wrote in her report that ds's injuries were gnat bites and it kinda snowballed from there.

Ds's has a long history of self harming and its well documented by CAMHS, GP, OT etc, etc.

A different social worker then visited ds in school, he told her he self harms because of school, showed her his injuries and told her he had thoughts of ending his life too.

We had emergency A&E for a mental health assessment. My GP signed him off from school pending further CAMHS assessment.

The social worker then arranged for ds to return to school, despite ds being signed off by GP and CAMHS not yet having assessed.

Social worker then turned up at my house and tried to force/bully ds back to school.

I made 2 complaints about this social worker, one about her conduct on her visit and another about her inaccurate report.

I was told the report would be amended and i would be sent copy. This did not happen and i have recieved no response to my complaint about her conduct. Its been 3 months now. This social worker left in December, told me ds's case would be passed to a different team. I have heard nothing.

Currently CAMHS have completed their assessments and they have signed ds off from school.

Today i have received an email from a duty social worker asking to make an appointment.

I asked which team she was from and i was told 'long term team'.

I am waiting on a phone call from her and would appreciate any advice on questions to ask or if anyone knows what the 'long term team' is?

Boc, that is what i feel like doing, but really not an option for us. I dont see how that would improve matters.

She has visited, given me a leaflet explaining procedures and stated after reading the leaflet i am free to email her and ask questions.

From the leaflet it would seem that ds has already been the subject of sec47 investigation and intitial child protection conference (without me even being told this or any of the procedures according to the guidelines followed)

and we are currently at CIN without CP, so stepped down a step.

Which is obviously good news, but still doesnt explain why nothing has been concluded. It would appear they can step it up or down on a whim.

If they have investigated CP issue, then why is there no closure, nothing in writing etc, etc?

I have asked them twice now to explain their guidelines to me in writing, both letters officially to the senior manager. They have not followed their guidelines. They have messed up big time and i think they know it, hence no response.

The case should never have been stepped up, as the evidence it was based on was school just making stuff up or 'misunderstandings'. I have evidence that proves school were just making it up, which i also provided them with. For example school claimed i had de-registered ds from school. I made no attempt to de-register him from school. Or previous social worker claiming ds's injuries were 'gnat bites' when my GP had examined ds's injuries and signed him off from school due to his self harm at exactly the same time.

Im now in two minds whether to pursue them for a response or whether to just let it go and work with what i have now.

Is there any chance you could ring her and just double check she's recieved the documentation from cahms signing your DS off school?

It may just be they've just realised your DS still isn't back at school but don't have that bit of critical paper telling them why. It's amazing how much stuff gets lost in transit between all the different departments sometimes. (That school woudn't go out of it's way to clarify things if asked either).

It would be great if you could sort it with a polite phone call.

(My inner cynic leads me to suspect the cahms paperwork has not been passed on somehow, but then four years of DS's GP's notes remain unaccounted for).

Boc, yes she is aware that CAMHS have signed ds off from school. If she hadnt had a copy, then i showed it to her again today.

According to CIN in the leaflet she left

A) "An assessment has been completed and this indicates that a child requires a CIN service to promote their safety and well being"

or

B) "a child is no longer subject to a CP plan but requires a CIN plan but requires a CIN plan to continue the work to promote the childs safety and well being"

A) core assessment was completed, which is extremely inaccurate and i asked for amendments in writing, which has been ignored.

B) if ds was subject to a CP plan, i havent had a copy of it or was not aware that he was.

and finally to promote his safety and well being, how can this be if it was never an issue, as CP (in fact it ever was CP) has been stepped down ie investigated and found to be unwarranted otherwise it wouldnt have been stepped down.

Also how can ds be the subject of CIN plan, if SS are not the lead agency?

and we have team around a child meetings, which is a step down from CIN?

We have NEVER had a CIN meeting, only Team around a child meetings, its actually headed as TAC meeting on the minutes.

and he doesnt actually have a CIN plan either?