assessment

[mimzy1991]

Sorry for another post but got a few little niggles.. My SW rang my partners Mum yesterday in regards to the CP plan. Although they dont think the baby will come to harm in my care, they are concerned if I took ill who would care for the baby, so they rang her and asked if she had room for me and the baby and things such as a cot etc. Whats upset me is they said they had no concerns with my Bipolar as i take good care of myself yet according to his Mum they were asking loads about it, if she had seen me on an "attack" which makes me sound violent (never raised my hands to anyone in my life), what support would I need and would I say if I wasnt coping. Upsetting because surely its me who should answer these questions. Luckily I get on with her very well and of course I would ask if I needed some help. They also wuestioned her health, was she in good health and would she be able to meet the needs of Bubba ie get up in the night for feeds, yet surely if me and my Partner were there we wouldnt need her too do that :s
they are doing a Police check on her, and said they would ring back if they had more questions. Is the police check normal practise? And should I be concerned about the nature of the questions? I can see they could be covering for all eventualities but I personalky feel she is being sized up to raise my baby they asked how she could get to mine if I rang her, what she would do if I rang in the middle of the night etc... Dunno what to think!

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Hi Mimzy,

Don’t worry about posting back. It is good to clarify everything.

First, as part of the core assessment-the social worker is expected to look at both your family and your partner’s family and friend network. This is why she is assessing your partners Mum. She wants to see what support she could offer you as a family, does she pose any possible risk to your baby and can she offer help-such as baby sitting when you need to catch up on a few hours sleep yourself?

Second, as you say yourself-is the social worker firming up all the possible contingency plans –in case you had a relapse after your baby is born?

For example, are they considering the possibility of you and your partner moving to her home if you relapsed? If they were considering this then your partners mum would need to be assessed and be police checked. When children are on child protection plans then the social worker is expected to do these checks when there is, for example, overnight contact.
They would also want to know that she will put your baby’s needs before her sons and your needs.
They want to find out whether she could recognise the symptoms of you becoming unwell. That is why they are asking her these questions about your health and not you. However, I do question the use of the word “attack”. You could ask her what she means by this.

Third, if they were thinking of your partners Mum as a possible alternative carer to you and your partner-then yes they would have to do police checks and start a fostering assessment of her. However, I would have expected your social worker to have advised you of this plan and got your consent to it. I would have also expected it to be part of the child protection plan. Is it?

I think if you are worried- the best thing is to ask the social worker about this part of her core assessment. She would not want you to be worrying unnecessarily. When is the core assessment due? It must be soon. You will get a copy of it and she will want to include your comments to it.
I hope this helps but please post to update us and if you have any other questions.

Best wishes,

Suzie

[mimzy1991]

Thanks for the reply, think I was over worrying! She just wanted to know if his parents are prepared to support us when needed, and that they understand my condition and can see when I might be struggling. She was out today and it all seemed positive, saying hopefully next time she comes out there should be a baby Shes going to start her unannounced visits too so things finally seem to be moving, she said it was positive that I wanted to start them early but shes going to start them as of now since its getting close.
Starting to feel more positive about it all despite the circumstances.

[mimzy1991]

i've just thought... during their involvement my experience seems to be different to others. Neither SW has checked my preperations for the baby, the current one asked to see where baby would be sleeping just to say she had, they havent asked anything about my past (not that theres much to tell- no criminal record,.thrived at school, stable upbringing) . When I asked if she needed any info from me regarding the Core Assessment she said not really, it would be collected through the other agencies. Could this be because im not the risk? She said she has no concerns about parenting etc? Part of the plan is a referral to a parent group if I wanted to use it and I plan too to meet other Mums and make some friends for me and bump in the local area.
Just unsure as to why my experience seems different, I have seen posts where SWs have asked to see mums hospital bag but I have only shown mine the cot, had everything ready for weeks but no one expressed the need to see it.