My attempts to help change children services

[ange301126]

Dear Blueplain,
I don’t think I can join the parent’s panel. Changes to the CS are irrelevant to my children. I have to get my children out of the hole they are in first. Change may take years but the time-scales relevant to children and families suffering are short. I give other parents what advice and support I can. Acting independently is the best way I can do it.
I have tried to explain on my own thread, Blueplain, that any procedural changes which come about are somewhat immaterial anyway. Problems arise because social workers continually ride roughshod over them and that can only be challenged in Court (as per your letter from parliament). To all you legal eagles out there, it has become established precedent over a long period of time that Local Authority and local Court practices in relation to child-protection are to be questioned little ,if at all. ( parens patriae, the state as patriarch) That is what has to change. Social workers must be made to realise that they cannot ignore guidance and procedures laid down by present-day statute including any new ones the FRG contributes to.
Presently, Social Workers act knowingly against children’s interests. It is an exception to the rule for them to conduct cases properly. They betray children for their own motives, confirming their waywardness by their words, actions and body-language. Try producing evidence they are out-of-order. They just sneer, turn their backs and walk away. One of the parents described on her thread how one cheered openly after getting control of her children. This is the quality and culture of social work parents’ face.
My first duty is to my own family and I am wrapped up with it. This is why I cannot help the parent’s panel. You have your children, Blueplain, and I respect all your efforts. The previous paragraph is not a ‘rant and rave’; I am trying to help you raise an awareness of problems for those whose children are unlawfully removed which is quite a different project.To make it worse, I know that I am to blame for cooperating and letting the police and social workers into the house in the first place. I should have demanded to see a warrant or some sort of official order. I trusted them. The children were taken forcibly without procedural guidelines having been followed. Then, when we got a solicitor, we were wrongly advised to sign an S20 and have been badly advised throughout.
Talking of procedures, Blueplain, is it not the usual process on these forums for parents to put concerns and ask for advice? Suzie then responds. I have discussed general problems parents face. I have asked specific questions without a squeak from her. I have even stuck my neck out and been a tad impertinent. I have pointed out that the group has a duty to intervene actively on our behalf and suggested that test-cases might help us all.
I have the greatest respect for the FRG. In the friendliest and politest way I can say it, the group is not there to support the system; nor is it there to reform it. It may be asked for help in planning for reform but that is not its primary purpose. It is not even there to protect children. That is for those with parental responsibility. The FRG exists specifically to provide help, advice and advocacy support to PARENTS. It is not there to grant indulgences to BAD SOCIAL WORKERS who insult family rights or to praise them but to help parents bury them.
I have outlined how I think the group can intervene actively in my family’s case. We want to appeal to a superior Court. The mountain is too high to go it alone because I cannot fight established precedent. So we want legal funding and a committed barrister. Will Suzie respond please?

[blueplain]

I wrote a letter to my local authorities director of communities and people which you can read below and I recieved a pleasant reply to my recommendations which you can find below my initial letter.

Greetings

I felt compelled to write to you as the current issue I am about to discuss is very important to me and I felt you was the best person, other then my local MP to bring the suggestion too.

I had previously had contact with (name) who had helped me with my case. It was he who informed me that you would be taking his position at the time. I was very touched by mr (name) help with regards to my case and I was hoping you could take onboard my suggestions to improve the services and continue mr (name) work.

I will keep this short as I appreciate you are busy. In summary I had been with children services for 4 years over multiple regions, with multiple social workers. Due to my experience I feel I am in a really good position to give you insight into what it is like to live with prolonged intervention and the strain it can put on parents/guardians. After my intervention had finished I have spent a long time thinking about how the services could be improved. I have been spending a lot of time speaking to other parents involved In intervention across many of the forums available. Even though my intervention is over I feel I can help others who are going through intervention, by reaching out to those that manage these services and helping them see what it is like to be part of the system.

I will now list a few suggestions I feel would bridge the gap between the services and the parents/guardians and if it is possible I would really appreciate meeting with yourself so that I can attempt to better give you insight and advice. I feel there is no substitute no matter how professional then to speak with someone who has truly lived and who fully understands the system on a level which is fundamental to the improvement of the services.

Firstly I feel that the local government could provide a website with instructional videos and advice around all the issues found with the support and welfare of children. If parents/guardians was able to have access to easy to find and well presented clear material on what they can do to improve their household and children's welfare then I feel huge improvements would be seen and would help take strain off of social workers.

Imagine a website in which parents/guardians can see exactly how they can maintain their house and routine. Videos created from services such as portage, FRS and the children's centre. This way parents/guardians who are intimidated and withdrawn can access the material and see how good the services are without having to accept the services first.

At first I was resistant and scared to accept services. I felt more services would present further negative feedback against my case. If I was able to have visual access to these services to help bring down my wall I feel I would have approached these services earlier and have more confidence to do so.

This website could also allow you to submit feedback to professionals. Allow professionals to submit what they have done and what they expect you to do and also help you select and coordinate services for yourself. This would give more control to the parents, making them feel more empowered to help their own case.

Parents/guardians need to feel more in control of their situation. The gap needs to be bridged. Parents/guardians feel like they are on trial over a long period of time and begin with little trust. I feel a well tailored website and better coordination in cooperation is key to building relationships between the services and the parents/guardians.

This is just one of my Ideas and if you feel I would be an asset to help with my experience and feedback then I would be pleased to work with you to help all the others I know are going through the difficult intervention. Intervention needs to feel less like a trial and more like helpful, caring support!

I look forward to your reply

Kind regards

Mr N

Dear Mr N

Thank you for your e-mail and I am sorry it has taken me a while to respond. You make some very interesting points. They are helpful as we are in the process of developing a Local Safeguarding Board website where much of this could be addressed. I have passed on your thoughts to the team and I am sure they will be in touch with you should they wish to explore anything further.

Kind Regards

(Directors of communities and people)

[ange301126]

Dear Blueplain, No response from my petition yet from either Alan Johnson,MP or Suzie.

Please would you write to Alan aswell as the Prime Minister and your own MP again suggesting the following lines of action?

The FRG have said that financial pressures on Local Authorities lead to children being failed.They are failed when taken from natural families needlessly.

1. Less finance for residential children's homes and foster care system. More to family support institutions,home support, supervision and even family support homes (shelters) for young, inexperienced or dysfunctional mums and dads.
2.Drug and alcohol problems to be addressed through supervision processes and more finance applied to solving addictions and poverty.Young 'needy' mums and dads to be paid for chores in their supervision shelters.
3. Quadruple the finance to the FRG and certainly enough to enable the London provisions nationwide.
4.More investment in training of social workers and Guardians.
5.Enhanced vetting of social work staff to prevent infiltration by criminal child-abusers and sexual predators.
6.More money to Legal Funding Commission to support parents.
Z .Bonuses to be paid to the Local Authority to keep children with natural family.
8.Bonuses paid when extended family or sibling care is enabled.
9.Bonuses paid to all including parents when care orders discharged by courts.

Crucially, cut foster-care and adoption revenue to the bone and switch the money to family support and the CS will change its attitudes instantly.

[blueplain]

will do ange, my local MP is stepping down, when the new MP is elected I will jump straight on him with it.

[blueplain]

Dear (Director of communites and people for my area)

Before I go into why I am contacting you today, I would like to thank you for seeing that my previous issue was resolved quickly and to my satisfaction. I appreciate you are very busy so I am very grateful for your quick action.

I am contacting you today because I wanted to identify two areas of concern I have. One being the support for the emotional and mental well being of parents/guardians and secondly the lack of presence within children's services circles of parents/guardians who have experienced intervention. I hope that in raising these issues, action may be taken to improve the areas of which I am contacting you about. If you are able to, I would also appreciate if my feedback could be passed onto the board of members that oversee children's services as a whole. This is so that my comments can have the greatest impact.

Summery of issue one: Intervention is having a powerful impact on the mental health of parents/guardians. I feel that a compulsory counselor should be in place and that the standards of these counselors needs to be quintessential to deliver a high standard of emotional therapy to combat negative emotions that come with the intervention.

An example of mental issues that can derive from intervention are as follows.

• Insecurity
  Depression
  Anxiety
  Fear
  Anger
  Frustration

I personally have felt all the above during my intervention, my intervention was ongoing for 4 years. As such these negative emotions built over time and at times became overwhelming. This was confounded by the poor services I had received which created feelings of frustration. I became anxious when I had not received my meeting minutes and was worried what action might be taken towards my family. I was angry that mistakes were being made. I am a strong and educated person. I was able to contact people above those that work within the complaint procedure and resolve my issues quickly. Other people may not be as strong or have confidence/knowledge to find a justifiable outcome for their complaint



I feel compulsory procedure should be in place to protect parents/guardians and their children who could receive a poor service. I feel a poor service can derail a family and cause their family unit to deteriorate to a point where children might be placed into care.



Conclusion: A compulsory counselors should be in place to safeguard families in case of a poor service. If this cannot be achieved by children's services, then allow parents to approach mental help without the fear of repercussions from doing so.


Summer and conclusion of issue two: As far as I am aware, families who was involved in intervention and have gained first hand experience of the system have not been offered a position within the inner circle of social services. I feel that giving parents/guardians a position within children's services, whom experienced intervention to be a fundamental step needed to build a robust and "in touch" service. This can help inform and tailor social worker interaction with their clients and improve their approach so that cases can be more successful due to less resistance. This can be produced from the insight which these people can bring.


Conclusion: I feel that feedback and complaints cannot produce something as fundamental as absorbing people who have experienced intervention into the services so that social workers have a true idea of what it is like to be on the other end. There are reasonable parents/guardians who are able to professionally work with social workers to improve the service. Children's services are just like any business that deal with people and all other businesses do this.



I hope my comments will help improve the services offered by children's services and I am as always, grateful for your time to read my comments and your efforts to put them to use.

[ange301126]

Dear blueplain,a post this weekend by 'fightsocialservices' describes a dispute between a separated couple in which the CS have become involved.As you probably know in situations where couples are at loggerheads they will have their own independent solicitors.

Do you agree that it will be an improvement to the system were they both assessed by separate sw's?

This one appears to be partial towards the woman who gave her version first,of course.

[blueplain]

I just got a reply from the house of commons about my concerns around parent/guardian mental health when under intervention, this is the reply I recieved.

Please thank mr N for giving me the helpfull background to his case. Parents should discuss any concerns about their wellbeing with their GP, who will be able to assess their health and assist them in accessing suitable healthcare services if appropriate.

More generally, on 20th january, the government published Closing the Gap: Priorities for essential change in mental health, which sets out its priorities for improving mental health services over the comming years. It follows on from the mental health stratergy, No health without mental health, which was published in 2011, and its implimentation framework.

Ministers in the Department of Health have stated that the government needs to do more to turn strategy's vision into specific actions. Closing the Gap therefore outlines 25 priority areas where people can expect to see changes occour most rapidly over the next couple of years. Important actions include patients being given a choice about where they get their mental health care: the introduction to new waiting time standards for mental health from next year; and the introduction of the Friends and Family Test for mental health service for the first time. There are also other key areas in which tangible action will make a real difference to peoples lives, including employment.

These changes will mean that the system is fairer for people with mental health problems. The action plan encourages the NHS to take mental health problems. The action plan encourages the NHS to take mental health as seriously, and treat it as importantly, as physical health. It can be viewed on the government information and advice website at: http://tinyurl.com/ljwgkvy

[Miserylovescompany2]

Hello all,

I have come across this very interesting albeit historic thread. The letters sent and received by blueplain are worth a read. The entire thread is. Sadly nothing has changed.

Misery x

[QuestionMark]

Thank you so much for trying to make a different and I hope to god they see sense and make a difference. The machine that is social services is systimaticly breaking parents everywhere

[PerfectlySafeDad]

Hello all,

I have come across this very interesting albeit historic thread. The letters sent and received by blueplain are worth a read. The entire thread is. Sadly nothing has changed.

Misery x

I have just had a read through this thread too. It confirms every complaint I have ever had about the 'SS'. The striking thing about blueplain (and many other critics /victims of SS involvement who have posted in FRG) is the intelligence and coherence behind everything written. That alone should speak volumes. The difficulty is marrying this up with confidence (to fight) and legal know-how and financial resources - all things which, as she so vividly exposes, are hard to come by because of the very nature of the shattering experience that SS involvement brings. It's truly a shambles of a system, which has descended into cruelty, managed and executed by unpredictable and capricious staff.