Has Eastenders gone too far with nasty social workers storyline....

[justbreathe]

Did Eastenders tonight go too far with the story of Lola's baby being taken away by social workers? Would this really happen in real life ? Is it not irresponsible of the bbc to show them as such interfering, judgemental heartless people ?

Maybe not all are but some are. I know that from first hand experience

And when they don't take a child into care because they don't want people to think they are "interfering, judgemental and heartless" and the child subsequently dies... They can't win.

The point is they pick on and bully people that want what is best for their children yet they leave children with people who dont cooperate. But i have learnt my lesson and will never ever ask the health visitor for help or advice again

Eastenders is the programme that had a muslim mother having her feet rubbed by her gay sons lover by all accounts (i cant stand to watch it much anymore). Its crap, utter crap

If anyone has doubts about the East Enders portrayal of Social Workers (and I see the Social Workers are getting up a campaign to complain about it) they should read this on a Guardian Blog posted by "BABusiness Graduate" on 1 May 2012:

"Is it really in the best interests of a child to be ripped away so callously from their parents? From personal experience after false allegations were made against myself, the social worker who visited was AWFUL. Rude, picked at NORMAL home conditions. 'Sink full of dirty dishes' she wrote. I had just cooked dinner!! It wasnt until the school head strongly opposed them that they finally 'closed the case' If it wasnt for the school standing up for me, WHO KNOWS?? Would my beautiful blonde baby girl be taken to boast adoption figures as she is perfect and easy to adopt?
I am sickened by their behaviour. My children are achieving amazing results at school, are well balanced, well behaved. We are an ordinary family, we have two fantastic children. They tried to paint an awful picture of my family, I am still angry 2 years later!
Are they really taking the right children????"

and then this by same poster in 1 May 2012:

"Oh yes 'Emotional Abuse' Until the school fought my corner, apparently that was my children. At risk of emotional abuse because of a false allegation from my husbands ex!
Thank heavens for my sons school teacher who strongly opposed them and said my son was 100% fine! Otherwise they would have started a 'child protection plan' with a view to steal them!
And surprise surprise, my daughter is highly adoptable, at the time 2 years old, beautiful blonde ringlets. Its all about adoption figures!! This is a national scandal! But then who listens to potential 'abusers!' I am sickened by the UK Social services.
I cannot thank my older childs school enough for standing up for me so strongly. They saved me from, for any mother, a fate worse than death."

After which the Guardian closed comments on the topic.

See www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/feb/09/local-child-abuse-care-statistics

So, no, I'd say East Enders has got it about right.

J

I'd say that East Enders have been quite kind in their portrayal of ss as some sw can be a lot worse and Lexi would have been taken away at birth or shortly after.

chipstick10 - what exactly about the the massage by the Muslims gay lover on the Muslims mother do you have a problem with? It wasnt essentially a story plot. I must have missed that myself. Are you trying to say Eastenders isnt realistic?

Zippy it dipped into fantasy island. Perleeze, would a so called homophobic apparently strict muslim woman who had at one point disowned her son for being gay, really allow her sons lover to massage her feet.!!!!!!!!!! Sorry but it wouldnt happen

Life isnt black and white, and people may not agree with choices eg gay, but they will still elect to get on with others, recieves massages etc. Who are you to say what Zainab would or wouldnt do? She doesnt agree with homosexuality but other than that she is essentially a nice person. I think she now accepts her son as being gay, so why not accept a foot massage from her sons "spouse" (though I dont think they are married yet.)?

I used to watch Eastenders but dont really get the time now. I didnt like how Ben seemed to be able to get away with Heathers murder, and the whole Kat affair was stupid.

As for Lola, she needs put into prison and Lexi to be adopted by Billy and Julie. I hope the scriptwriters are looking at this.

John Hemmings, is that you upthread??

No, but I think klaxons are sounding in his batcave right about now...

I think the storyline isn't too far wrong, eg. young mum who struggles to maintain a "respectable" idea of parenting but who undoubtedly loves her baby. No issues there. And yes, with her "form" there'd more than likely be ss involvement. But appearing every five minutes to complain about dirty dishes? Highly unlikely! Criticising without actually getting her extra health visiting support / parenting groups / endless meetings and reviews - unrealistic! And as for taking her away that suddenly, definitely not! I'm not a social worker, or a fan of the ways in which they sometimes work, but having worked alongside a fair few I can safely say I'm fairly outraged on their behalfs with regards to this storyline.
It's not just ridiculous, it's also really damaging to the stereoptypes which exist around social workers, which in turn make it that much harder for them to build relationships iwth the children and families who really need that extra support.

The whole thing has made me uncomfortable and I really didn't expect it to be like that in real life. They also had Lola street cleaning when Lexi was just born and they got out of hospital.

I really hope that is not the way SS work.

Breaking up families is what social services do best. They're all about the theory and not the practicality.

scrmptious - have reported your post.

There is a massive Market for the 'social workers are evil baby snatchers ' theme. And eastenders no doubt pandering to it, stir up some controversy, get some more viewing figures.

Which is a shame because I have been worried for quite a while now about the harm this is doing. People want to believe that an entire system is corrupt and working towards non existent baby snatching targets, rather than some individual social workers might be a bit crap or brusque or that they actually do have a problem with their parenting.

Had a client last week wanting to apply to discharge a placement order. The legal test is that she needs to show she has made changes in her life since the care order was made. She has actually made some pretty impressive changes. The judge asked her to tell him about them. So she stood up and read him chunks of the Forced Adoption website and how her baby had been stolen as a commodity, to make money. She revealed in just 30 secs she had no insight or understanding and I could see the light of interest just drain out of the judges eyes.

So depressing.

LOL @ PanonOlympus
Thanks for letting me know

Only once i have had to deal with social services and had to deal with a social worker. I cant even go back there in my head, it was horrendous.