Children Services and Me a guide for Parents/Guardians

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blueplain
Posts: 145
Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2013 11:07 am

Children Services and Me a guide for Parents/Guardians

Post by blueplain » Fri May 17, 2013 7:32 pm

Children Services and Me

I hope this is helpfull and informative to anyone who needs it. If you have suggestions for the guide or wish to leave feedback please reply to this thread

Content

1. Who or what are children services
2. What to expect
3. Protection Plan
4. Court Proceedings
5. Fostered Children
6. What Can I do to decrease concerns?


1. Who or what are children Services?

Children services consists of a team of people who inspect parental/guardian capabilities to see if the parent or parents/guardian or guardians are able to maintain their own children’s welfare to an acceptable level. They are able to identify weaknesses and offer services to help improve the child carer’s skills.

They have the power to instigate various levels of intervention and to remove the child/children if they deem necessary. They do not need irrefutable evidence for this as their observations and opinions, including feedback from other professionals are all that is required. If the collection of feedback and of their evidence is officiently negative enough, they then can demonstrate that the child/children are in danger without needing irrifutable evidence. This system is in place because children can die as they are unable to gather the irrefutable evidence they need in time to prevent a percentage of deaths or suffering. I find this unfair on a good portion of parents because a lot of parents can have unfair opinions and observations made about them due to varying circumstances. I feel that the children services out of fear of misreading neglect or abuse tend to read the worse into observations as unfortunately the media snap up stories such as child abuse and child deaths and spread it across the nation’s media. As such parents are confronted at times with upsetting accusations that can lead to confusion, anger and sometimes lack of co-operation. When the cases arrive at court a similar unfair but deemed necessary system is again in place. There is but a single judge of which decide the family’s fate and the evidence provided by the children services even though the evidence is merely observation and opinion have a strong holding in the judge’s opinion. As such it is difficult for the accused to prove their case and often encouraged to admit mistakes and promise to change. This again is to prevent a certain percentage of possible abuse or death that could occur if there are mistakes.

2. What to expect

When a concern is raised either by a member of public, a family member or a professional involved with your children, the children services have a duty to investigate. The first thing they will do is knock on your door and ask to come in to investigate. You are in your rights to refuse this initial interaction. If you do refuse the social worker would then knock on the door of your neighbours to try and get information upon your family. This obviously can have varying degrees of effect. Furthermore they may be concerned enough to arrange for police to join them and gain them access to the property. This would then allow them to carry out their observations.

Let us for now assume you have allowed them into your home and that they have shown you the correct identification, what should you expect then? Well first of all your social worker would require to speak to you, view your child/children and inspect your home conditions. Your social worker should be recording their observations in a diary or a pad, If they have not then you should request that they do so, or write an account yourself of the discussion. Then you are able to have the social worker read your account of what transpired and sign your account stating that he/she agrees the statement made is a correct account of actions and discussions he/she had taken. When the social worker has concluded his/her visit this will lead to these different out comes

1. The social worker concludes that all appears well and that intervention is not necessary. He/she will inform you that you will receive a letter stating that no action was needed to be taken.

2. She feels there is cause for concern either due to the housing conditions, the welfare of your child or both and will inform you of the future steps.

3. They become concerned enough to instigate a protection plan

4. They feel the need to remove your children right away as they had suffered enough abuse to warrant such action.


Let us say option 2 is instigated. First the social worker would begin an initial assessment. This assessment has to be finished within 10 working days unless a good reason is provided for an extension. You will be informed of any extension and its reasons. It will conclude with all the social workers findings. This will also include other professionals involved with your child/children such as school/nursery/day care teachers and health visitor, any professional involved with your child/children. You will receive a copy of this assessment stating the findings.

If they feel that the case is more complex than they anticipated then they will instigate a section 47 core assessment after the conclusion of the initial assessment. This takes up to 35 working days and if the time for such exceeds that time frame then they must inform you of why it had not been completed in time. If this has not been done then use your local authority’s complaint procedure. You can use the complaint procedure for any procedure they had failed to follow correctly. This core assessment is similar to the initial assessment but will contain more information as the period of the assessment is done over a longer period. If the information is basic and it does not appear this has been done then again use the complaint procedure.

Here is a link for FRG advice around complaints

http://www.frg.org.uk/images/Advice_She ... laints.pdf

You will then either work along a CAF plan (Common assessment framework, which is voluntary and does not involve a social worker) in which professionals get together and help support your family’s needs or you are placed on a Child in need level (CIN which is voluntary but does involve a social worker). CAF simply consists of a meeting every six months in which a discussion is held among the professionals on how you are progressing. They can decide that you are not in need of support anymore or they may go the opposite way and decide that you are deteriorating and require intervention by a social worker. Then you shall be placed on a child in need level.

You may refuse these services but if they have child protection concerns then they will instigate a Protection Plan meeting. So before refusing it is wise to ask your social worker if he/she has protection concerns.

When you are placed on a child in need level you will attend an initial meeting with the social worker and the professionals. In the meeting the findings of your social worker shall be read aloud and then a discussion will ensue onto what help you require. Normally you will be referred services such as Portage (A service in which a worker comes into your home and interacts with your children, bringing various toys) Family Resource service (A services that gives you strategies on managing routines, maintain housing conditions and your children’s behaviour). Occasionally they may ask you to attend a parental course which takes 10 weeks, a parental assessment in which they asses what your weaknesses are in your parenting skills, or a welfare check in which they have a doctor check your children for any physical signs of abuse. They shall also set targets of actions you need to achieve within a certain time frame. A record of this meeting will be sent to you with everything that had been discussed and the targets that had been set. This needs to be signed and dated and if it has not then use your local authority’s complaint procedure.

A meeting shall then follow every 3 months discussing progress made if any and which targets you have met. If there are new concerns they will set new targets, if the previous targets have not been met they will ask why and give you more time to complete these. At any point the social worker can escalate or deescalate the level you are on. If he/she is happy with your progress then he/she will move you down to CAF. If they are not happy then the level can progress onto a protection plan.

Here is a link from the FRG on Child Protection Procedures

http://www.frg.org.uk/images/Advice_She ... edures.pdf

3. Protection Plan

A protection Plan is the highest level before court proceedings. You will be informed of a date and time of when a meeting will take place to discuss whether you should or should not become part of a Protection Plan. This is chaired by an independent chairman, who will hear the evidence that has been collected and decide if you will be placed on the plan. All the professionals involved with your children shall be there, including your social worker and two police officers. The police are there just to give an account of any criminal history you may have. If the chairman decides that you do not need a Protection Plan then you will continue with Child in Need, If they feel you do then things shall change slightly.
Every month you will attend a meeting called a core group. As you notice the meeting is at a regular basis. You will see the same professionals and a new social worker that are trained in for such cases. The same targets and progress will be discussed. After three months there will be a Protection Plan Review in which your place on the plan will be discussed again. This is more for gathering of evidence and deciding whether to escalate the intervention rather than discussing if you need to be taken down a level. Reason being under such a serious level they need to observe you maintaining improvements over a long period of time. Three months is not enough to do that. If everything is the same or better the plan will continue and the next review will be six months later. When you are placed on a Protection Plan expect for the time on this plan to be at least 9 months.
On the second review if they feel you have maintained the improvements needed you will be placed back on a Child in Need level. This will then progress down onto CAF and so on. If they decide that you have not improved or have got worse they will give you notice of an implied process to go to court proceedings. This gives you a final amount of time to improve before being taken to court.

4. Court Proceedings

At this point you will receive a date and time for your court summons. You should try to get legal representation to help you through your case. Usually any chances of winning your case are low. At this point it is also too late to arrange for family to take over the caring of your children unless you had already started the process. If you win your case you will go back to working on a Protection Plan or Child in Need level and given a further chance to deescalate your case. If you lose your case your child/children will be removed from your care and placed into fostering if they had not already done so.

Here is a link I found on the FRG forum for legal advice

http://www.childrenslegalcentre.com/

5. Fostered Children

Fostered children will be placed with a guardian to look after your children while the local authority begins to take the steps to put the child/children up for adoption. At this time you are still able in some cases to spend supervised time with your children and demonstrate changes made to try and have your child/children returned to your care. This can be a daunting task for parents after facing such losses and can be difficult. Make sure you receive support from family and health professionals. At this point you will either prove you can care for your children and have them placed back in your care and on a Child in Need level or they will eventually be adopted. I am feeling upset just writing this part of the guide and cannot imagine the pain this can cause. Anyone who reads this and have been through this, you have my deepest sympathy. I hope you are able to move on with your loss but please seek counselling to help you manage with your feelings and any other health care available.

6. What Can I Do to decrease concerns

I found that writing the targets down on a sheet of separate paper really helps. Then try to organise the targets which require appointments. Call the relevant professionals to arrange these appointments and make sure you clearly document the date and time of the appointment where you can see it and will not forget. I used an email alert system. If the appointment is difficult to get to, ask family members for help for travel and childcare. There is also a number on the appointment letter that has the contact details to a transport support service that is in place for such a case. If you do not know how to arrange the appointments then speak to your health visitor or health professional. You can also inform your social worker that you are unaware of how to instigate such tasks. If you need to improve your housing conditions accept the FRS service and tell him/her of your difficulties. You can go as far to request for him/her to arrange cleaners to get the house up to a level in which is easier for you to maintain. Ask family members for help with the cleaning until you have grasped a good cleaning routine. If the concerns are about your children’s development then it is imperative that you go to your local sure start children’s centre and attend the activities there. I appreciate some of you will be shy like my wife but you need to push yourself to go and prove you are serious about your child’s development. You can have someone you’re comfortable with to come with you to these activities. If you feel your child has a learning difficulty or disability then go to your Doctors and request for your child to be seen at the CDC (Child Development Centre). They are able to ascertain the difficulties your children have. If your child needs a statement your school instigates this so make sure they do. If your partner has any sex violations or violent convictions remove him from the equation and get him out the house. If you are afraid to do this then seek a refuge. You may have feelings for the person but it is simply a choice between them or your children I am afraid. If you have an addiction you need to go to rehab, attend every session and maintain your independence from drugs or things will escalate quickly. Easy to say I know but it has to be done.

Work well with the professionals and be polite. If you have any grievances and you feel angry or frustrated then just use your local authority’s complaint procedure. Do not take your issues out on the professionals or they will accuse you of using the same techniques on your children.

When the social worker comes round do not cater for the social worker as a good host. Continue doing what you normally would be doing and interact with your kids, answering the social worker while doing so.

I wish you the best of luck and I really hope this guide makes a difference as children services do not always make you aware of everything that goes on. I wish you all the best for the future. Keep strong and hold your head up high. You’re dealing with more than most parents and you need to stay strong for your children. If you have any questions please email me and I will do my best to help.

Email me at helpwithchildrenservices@outlook.com

MarkEd
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun May 26, 2013 9:45 am

Re: Children Services and Me a guide for Parents/Guardians

Post by MarkEd » Mon May 27, 2013 6:18 pm

1. The social worker concludes that all appears well and that intervention is not necessary. He/she will inform you that you will receive a letter stating that no action was needed to be taken.

You neglect to say that whatever happens, your family will now have a record - quite possibly inaccurate - for either 6, or 21, or 75 years, in the SS database, and that that information will be triggered if there should be another concern of any kind.

User avatar
Suzie, FRG Adviser
Posts: 4222
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:57 pm

Re: Children Services and Me a guide for Parents/Guardians

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Mon Jun 03, 2013 5:52 pm

Thank you for taking the time to draft this document Blueplain. I can see that you are very keen to use your own experiences to help other parents going through similar situations to your own.

Some parts of your advice are really helpful and supportive- for example, your section on working with professionals and reducing concerns.

However, other parts of the guide could be quite misleading or are inaccurate from a legal point of view and I wanted to address some of these.

Who or what are children’s services?

• Children’s Services is responsible for supporting and protecting vulnerable children. This can involve assessing parenting capabilities, identifying concerns and providing services to improve parents’ skills (when there are child protection concerns, for example).
It can also include providing families with services and support because of circumstances beyond their control such as disability, for example.
• Children’s Services do not have the power to remove children from a parent with parental responsibility unless they have the parent's consent. If Children’s Services wished to remove a child without a parent’s consent, they would have to ask a court for an order allowing this. They would have to provide the court with details of why they believed the child was at risk of immediate significant harm without the order.

What to expect

• It is correct that, when a concern is raised about a child, Children Services have a duty to investigate/ make a decision about what action they should take to protect that child. It is not necessarily the case, however, that a parent will first hear about this via a face to face visit. A parent may first receive a telephone call or a letter detailing the referral and what will happen next.
• It is also not the case that a social worker would necessarily speak to neighbours about a family and, in fact, it would be extremely bad practice to do this without a parent’s consent.
• At this early stage, Children’s Services may decide that there should be
-no further action
-an assessment for “child in need” services
-a child protection (section 47) assessment
-a child protection conference due to risk of significant harm of physical harm, sexual harm, emotional harm or neglect
-immediate action to safeguard the child, which could include removing the child
• Government guidance has recently been re-written. This has removed the separation of an initial/ core assessment and removes the 35 working days timescale. A more general assessment must now be completed within a “reasonable” timescale- up to 45 working days.
• The description of the Child in Need process/ plan suggests that this would be put in place in relation to concerns about parenting skills, which is not necessarily the case.
• For a detailed description of the child in need process, parents could read our advice sheet about family support services

Protection Plan

• Again, the description of the child protection planning process is not strictly accurate. For example, there is usually only one, non uniformed police officer at the conference, a child is made subject to a child protection plan if it is decided by the professionals at the conference that s/he is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm and this plan will remain in place until it is decided (at a review) that this threshold is no longer met.
• Once it is decided that a child should no longer be subject to a child protection plan, a child in need plan may be put in place but this is not necessarily the case.
• If concerns remain the same over a long period of time or increase, Children’s Services have a number of options, including taking the matter to court if deemed neccessary.
• For a detailed description of the child protection process, parents could read our advice sheet about child protection procedures

Court proceedings

• It is misleading to suggest that any chance of winning your case is low once proceedings begin. This is because there are a number of possible outcomes to any case.
• It is also inaccurate to say that, once proceedings begin, it is too late for family to step in to care for a child. The law supports children being placed within their family rather than being placed with stranger foster carers and Children’s Services should be aiming to explore this option.
• If Children’s Services are granted a care order on a child, this does not mean that the child will be placed for adoption. Adoption is only one of a number of options that the court has when planning for children
• Care proceedings are very complex. For a detailed description, parents could read our advice sheet about care proceedings


Law and guidance in the area of child protection is very complex and fast-changing. That is why our own advice resources are drafted and checked by social work professionals and lawyers. They are also regularly reviewed and updated.

Our introductory guide to Children’s Services gives a good (and hopefully clear!) overview of the roles and responsibilities of Children’s Services. I would also recommend that parents have a look at the interactive information and advice section of our website for information about their specific situation.

I hope this is all clear and helpful.

Best Wishes

Suzie
FRG Adviser

blueplain
Posts: 145
Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2013 11:07 am

Re: Children Services and Me a guide for Parents/Guardians

Post by blueplain » Mon Jun 03, 2013 6:29 pm

Thank you for thoese corrections and added information Suzie, it has really helped to strengthen and improve the guide. I apologise for any missinformation and I appreciate the time and effort to correct and add to the points I have brought up. I hope this is a usefull resource for the forum members to refer to when they need information on top of the great advice you already give.

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