No confidence in social worker

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SM08
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2018 7:02 am

No confidence in social worker

Post by SM08 » Wed Aug 08, 2018 8:31 pm

I have requested a social worker who was assigned to my twins to be removed as I have no confidence in her I have emailed the complaints team and the managers at ******* social services to no success

My children as have been put on the register for emotional harm
there mum has opened them to adults conversation which is taking a massive impact on them
The complaints team have stated she she cannot be removed as access to my twins is going through court
Can any one advise me the best way to get a new social worker for my children to help my children
Very concerned dad
Last edited by Suzie, FRG Adviser on Mon Aug 13, 2018 11:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: To prevent a breach of confidentiality

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Suzie, FRG Adviser
Posts: 4207
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:57 pm

Re: No confidence in social worker

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Mon Aug 13, 2018 12:46 pm

Dear SM08

Welcome to Family Rights Group's parents’ discussion board and thanks for posting. My name is Suzie, FRG’s online adviser.

I am sorry to hear about the difficulties you are currently experiencing. You are involved with children’s services as there is a child protection plan for your children because of concerns about emotional abuse which you explain is due to their mother not protecting them from hearing about adult issues. It sounds as if you are also going through a (private law) court case, probably for a child arrangements order, to arrange contact with your children.

Your children’s social worker is their key worker both in terms of the child protection process and in providing a Section 7 welfare report to the court in the court proceedings. It must be very difficult for you then if you have no confidence in her or feel that she is not presenting information correctly.

You have already rightly let the social work team manager and the complaints department know about your concerns but have been told that she cannot be removed nor your family provided with a new social worker because the case is in court at the moment.

Just because a case is in court this does not mean that there cannot be a change of social worker. However, there can be very good, child-focused reasons, for the same social worker to stay involved.

It is up to children’s services to decide whether or not to change a social worker if a parent asks for this and provides reasons why they think this is needed. Parents do not have a right to a change of social worker as such. It is not unusual for managers not to agree to a change of social worker but every situation should be considered on its own merit. We have some FAQs on complaints which may help; have a look at ‘can I change social workers?’ and ‘can I make a complaint when my case is in court?’

Here are some suggestions for what you can do:

• You can certainly ask for any factual errors in the social worker’s reports for child protection meetings to be corrected.
• You could try to improve the working relationship with the social worker (and ask children’s services to work better with you) – these tips on working with a social worker tips may help. Has the manager offered a meeting to help resolve some of the difficulties?
• You can continue with your complaint to children’s services to the next stage if you think this is necessary. You can find out more about the complaints process here.
• You may also find our Child protection procedures helpful too.

You can challenge any errors in court reports during the court proceedings. If you have a solicitor they would be able to advise you further on this. If you don’t have a solicitor you can access information and advice from Child Law Advice or you may find the Bar Council’s guide to representing yourself useful.

I hope this helps.

With best wishes

Suzie

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