Social Services Needs Assessment Visit - what to expect?

[PerpetualCircle]

I requested social services needs assessment for DS and a carers assessment for myself. SS tried to fob me off with a Early Help assessment, but DS already has one at school. I reminded Ss that DS legally entitled to needs assessment. They are now coming round next week.
Does anyone have experience of a Needs Assment? I’m hoping we will get direct payments to help with care/ respite.

When they came and did the first assessment for DD, it was a 50 page form. As well as obvious sections on care like does DD have a religion, how is she on eating, problems with mobility, etc; what are her hopes for the future; they asked questions like:

1. Does DD witness criminal activities - who in their right mind would say “yes!”?

1. Does DD witness domestic violence?

1. Does DD witness the drinking of alcohol?

I am sure there were questions on recreational drug taking too!

I just laughed! It’s unlikely they will get through it all in one session - iirc, the SW came back to finish it off.

The carer’s assessment was not orthodox imo - they only asked me two questions:

1. What is your life like?

1. How is your marriage?

One of them was in tears!

(The carer’s Assessment was a joint assessment with the mental health team, because it was about both DDs. and it was the CPN, who was in tears)

Lots of questions including those covering your full life history which did not seem exactly relevant as well as the current difficulties of the ds's!!!! They may also want to visit any relevant school and /or other agencies involved.

The first one we had took several visits to complete. They may want to look around your house including the children's bedrooms - not sure what they are looking for. ds1 told them for some unknown reason we had no hot water so I had to demonstrate that we did infact have hot water in the bathroom!

Do not be too optimistic in what help they can offer - over the years we have had some parenting advice, a buddy for both ds's for about a year and currently a social club (respite) for ds2 once a week. Mostly we have kept engaging for their help with respect to getting the educational placements we wanted and for support for DLA / PIP claims.

Thank you for your replies, my expectations are pretty low regarding how much help we will get. I do have evidence of DS being asked to leave respite care due to his behaviour, so hoping they will be able to provide alternative respite. Also hoping that Ss involvement will help get the correct school placement. DS father lives abroad don’t know if this will carry any weight with them?

I believe they may be looking to see if the beds have sheets on - or, are the children sleeping in a bare mattress?

They never asked to look round our house!

Anyway, one final word of advice - I never let social workers speak to DD on her own. They can put a particular slant on what they are saying to get the answers they want, to support their point of view (frequently to save money). For instance, if you are looking for a residential school in the EHCP, my solicitor told me social workers might talk to her like this:

"You want to stay home with mummy and daddy, don't you? You don't want to leave them to go away to a boarding school, do you?"

Many children with learning difficulties would take the questions literally - what child wants to leave its parents? A child does not understand the full implications say of what a mainstream comprehensive is going to be like for them - that they won't be able to cope, they are too vulnerable to bullying, they need specialist teaching, small classes, etc.....

DD had comprehension difficulties, and took all language literally; she did not understand abstract, complex language. Social workers were clearly not trained in understanding her communication problems, so I always said I needed to be there to check her comprehension. When she got older, I made sure she had an independent trained advocate to have the conversation with her, about what she wanted in the future (in my presence) - and a copy of the conversation was then given to social services.

Thanks for the advice @MontStMichel.

I am reluctant to even mention Residential School at this point, as I expect they will start worrying about their budgets and refuse to anything for us at all. I need their help but don’t trust them at all.

Well, be prepared that they will write down any part of your conversations with them, which could be used out of context, although for the children with disabilities, this is not such a big deal as child protection, I imagine! (I accessed DD's records and read all SWs' typed notes)

However, ime generally social workers wanted what was in DD's best interests, far more than anybody in the SEN division ever did - the trouble was that social workers don't have any sway over say the head of SEN!

Once DD was old enough to speak for herself, she could complain directly to the social workers about things happening at school she did not like. She had been bullied for a year by a boy at school (it was a residential school and he lived in our county, so they travelled to school in a taxi together, were in the same year group, and lived in the same house). We had complained to the school and got nowhere, because all they ever said was that they would talk to him.

One holiday, DD complained to the SW, he had hit her - the SW wrote to the school to tell them to convene a meeting with us, get it sorted out and send her the minutes! That was the end of the problem for DD!

Another time, DD complained the school was not letting her sleep after seizures and she was tired all the time. The SW told the school to let her go back to the house to sleep, if she needed to - and her TA did take her back to the house and watch over her, after that!

The social worker seemed pleasant enough yesterday, struck up some rapport with DS. But I will be proceeding with caution.