Hello,
I just need a little advice. Last night my 17 year old son ran out of he house in a distressed state during an argument with his 15 year old brother. I went out to look for him, but he had jumped over a wall and was hiding in weeds by the river. He was panicking severely. Before I reached him a passerby had called the police. The police came and, because my son said he was hearing voices that told him to attack people, he was for a mental health assessment at our local hospital. During the assessment, my son mentioned arguments with his brother and the medical staff at the centre said they would make a referral to social services. This morning, the Head of the PRU that oversees my youngest son's provision, said that she had to inform social services that my sons were living together. The boys were subject to Child Protection Plans from July last year until February this year and one of the protective factors was that the boys did not live together (my youngest stayed with my husband).
Despite one or two hitches (like yesterday) the boys get on well together and they are making very small steps of progress. The boys, however, are very hostile towards social services and the main reason interventions were sopped from CSC was that the boys refused to engage.
If a referral is made, can I refuse assessment or intervention? The service was very ineffective last time and contact with CSC probably did he boys more harm than good.