Protecting our Children, Part 2

[Lilka]

Thought I'd start a new thread because the other one was so big

Anyone else going to be watching?

I think for Marva to get support to leave Shaun she'd have to want it and ask for it.

interesting point starlight - possibly because Tiffany's home circumstances were more stable and she hadnt left them? I dont know just guessing

Agree Annie was excellent. A completely different kettle of fish to last week. She was practical and supportive, managed to avoid being patronising, etc. Felt for her at the end. But I still think that although she was right to decide Marva had to leave at that time, Marva needed the option of going to an environment other than Shaun's place. She was abandoned at the end. Not Annie's job to look after her - she's the SW for the child - but adult social services/ housing should have been working with children's services, surely.

LondonAnna - it's harsh but they have to follow through. They couldn't risk the baby's life again. Annie and Elaine trusted Marva and she wasn't trustworthy. She took her son on a 14 hour drinking binge. You cannot leave a baby with a parent who does that.

SWs are damned if they do and damned if they don't :(

London - there was continued contact between parents and baby after - but they missed appointments so it was stopped?

I think for Marva to get support to leave Shaun she'd have to want it and ask for it

Ha! well she did and she got it, but first inevitable slip up and she was turfed out...of course she would end up back with him, where else would she go?

I think it's clear Annie just did a better job than the social workers last week. The couple last week got none of this kind of support.

ledkr I didnt smile at a SW until we got to the adoption team

You must know you have made a difference. Despite my seemingly constant battles with SWs I have a lot of respect for the good ones.

I would love to do it but I know the system would grind me down. I prefer working on the fringes where I am not so tied down by the law.

(not that I am lawless )

london, but that would fall under support of adult care services and they said earlier they wouldnt engage with those services. :(

Starlight I thought last week that Tiffany needed 'adopting' along with the children. My DH thought she'd maybe missed her 'window of opportunity' to turn around but Toby hadn't. Maybe Toby's problems needed such specialist care that Tiffany would have complicated matters, but could she have thrived in a setting like tonights with her new baby?

Arthur and Annie were lovely thoug, they seemed to genuinely care.

To the other flat they got her earlier in the episode?

LondonAnna, the problem with giving more chances is that it isn't just about falling off the wagon, its about a tiny baby being put directly at risk.

thats probably more of a failure from adult services Amber than the child ss

Sad but best for the baby, I thought it was harsh to tell Marva to go but not provide her with an option other than Sean, sort of hope they did talk to her about it.

Sean looked so disturbed, frightening really.

She wasnt in a flat Kayano was she?

She was in a refuge.

I think the alcohol and DV issues were key to Marva being given supported accommodation.

"but first inevitable slip up and she was turfed out"

first inevitable slip-up with this baby. What about her past record? WEre any of the previous pregnancies with him?

I think they made the right decision. IF they kept on giving chance after chance then something would happen to her kids and the social workers would be hauled through teh courts and the press and told they were not doing their job properly. A line has to be drawn and they drew it. She crossed it.

Yes, she should continue to get support after the baby is taken away (and she will) but she WAS given loads of support to stay away from him and rejected it. The most important person is the baby!

DS's b.mum never quite grasped that the SW was not hers. Not suprising as until she became pg SWs were hers.
She thought they were there to get her a flat and stuff.

She couldnt process that they were there to protect baby. It was very sad to see but it didnt matter how many times it was explained she could understand it.

Feck life is a bit crap innit.

I cant quite believe we lived though those two years. It seems like it happened to someone else. If it wasnt for the snoring next door (yay he has finally gone to sleep) of course.

I know they had the opportunity for contact - but once Marva went back to Shaun's, depressed at having stuffed up, it's not that surprising that she disengaged.

It's a shame that after such support for Marva until that point (which was all because of the child's best interests) she was just abandoned. I agree Annie made the right decision to separate mother and baby after Marva's binge but this became permanent, with no real chance for Marva to prove herself, because Marva had no alternative but to go back to Shaun. What was she going to do, be street homeless? Children's services should have referred her to get support from adult services, for herself. Then she might have stood a chance.

And what happens if SW do give her onw more chance, she goes back to Shaun, they get drunk, he lashes out and baby gets killed?? Is social work defence of "well - she went back to him before and they didn't feed the baby, but we thought we'd give her one more chance" going to wash with anyone??

first inevitable slip-up with this baby. What about her past record? WEre any of the previous pregnancies with him

I think they were with him.

Re her past record, werent the babies removd at birth? so this was her first chance.

I agree it was harsh, Girlie friend.

londonanna - how was this the social workers fault? she was given the most amount of support that ssd could provide. mother and baby placements cost (usually) thousands of pounds a week. she had 24 hour care. are you a social worker? you could have given this couple the world and it still would not have worked. they were too far entrenched in a chaotic lifestyle to change. she would have had a chance if she stayed away from Shaun and stopped drinking but that didn't happen and nobody can do that for her. a social workers primary responsibility is to the child and I am really glad that the social worker did not lose sight of that. a sad outcome for the parents but a good one for this baby who will hopefully go on to have a life (and I mean that literally!)

its weighing up the risks. If she went and got drunk with Shaun while under agreement with SS and staying with a FC, whats the likihood of it happening again, or once she was living alone?