Can social services access my Facebook messages.

[Taylorswift]

I believe that social services have read a private message to a friend as some information I have only told her was mentioned by my social worker. My children are on child protection at the moment but I am working well with them and it has not been recommended any care proceedings or shared parental responsibility is needed, this was stated on a court paper in a seperate case about child arrangement order with the children's father where they did a section 37 on if he can have contact. The report was good about me and stated I am a good mother and provide all my children's needs both physically and emotionally. The message they have read isn't of concern in any way to them but has flagged up in my mind that they must be able to read them. It wasn't about my children it was about work and me giving my job up to work from home, only imformation they could of gained from this message.Is it legal to do this and especially when it isn't a particularly big case or going to court I am just getting help and support. To be honest I don't mind if they do read my messages as it would only add to the fact there is nothing they can find on me to carry on being involved but I am upset that this is allowed and breaches my privacy. Should I ask her straight out if she has access to my Facebook?

[Bee*]

No, social workers do not have access to Facebook messages, they are private. To do so you would probably need to hack the servers or something, Facebook wouldn't authorise anyone to look, especially over something mild.

From what I have been told by our family's social worker (who mentioned in a core group once, something a little bit irresponsible that the kids dad had posted on YouTube, that somehow got to a member of staff at school, who showed her), she would generally not look up her families online, and wouldn't access private things, but if she had reason to be concerned (like another person reported that a picture a parent had posted showed their child in a dangerous situation) she could look at something posted publically.

The only way that a social worker could find out about something you had posted in a Facebook message (or even on your page set to friends only) would be if a Facebook friend was concerned enough to take a screen shot and send it to them. It seems this would not be the case.

Could also have happened if your friend told other people, and it spread, and it got back to the social worker that way.

[321321]

I honestly wouldn't put it past them. I have heard personal accounts that would suggest that they do and can access people's servers. Put a VPN up on your computer (virtual private network) and make a new facebook account. Create the email for the account at tutanota.com where all emails are encrypted. You don't need to share any of your personal details to sign up. Look for the individual social worker's facebook accounts if possible and block them. Make your new account completely private and use a different name.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Taylors,

If your child's social worker is worried about your child, they may look at any open social media accounts you have. This is because they are required by law to find out as much information as they can that is relevant to your child's situation to help them decide what to do about any possible risk to your child.

But social workers also have a duty to consider people's right to respect, privacy and confidentiality, so they should normally only access a social media account with your permission.

Best wishes,
Suzie