Social works ways of communicating ???

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whatnow
Posts: 24
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2014 11:00 pm

Social works ways of communicating ???

Post by whatnow » Wed Mar 04, 2015 9:37 pm

So i decided to email my social worker as i have read this is a very good way to a keep a record of conversations. After two days the social worker did reply saying- hi, thanks for your emails,sorry i cannot reply through emails as it is not a secure network.
However i have a yahoo.com account which starts with https, meaning its a secure channel. I have read many posts from people stating their social worker emails them, and i have also received all my court papers including court order through this email address.
Im not 100% sure but i think the social worker does not want to reply as i have asked her questions that she might find difficult to answer and does not want any evidence of the incident.
can anyone advice me on this? how can i get her to email me? should i just point the address of my email and explain its a secure channel, or should i ask my solicitor to deal with it?

ange301126
Posts: 537
Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2011 1:27 pm

Re: Social works ways of communicating ???

Post by ange301126 » Thu Mar 05, 2015 8:05 am

Dear whatnow, The social workers are allowed to take decisions like this one as they wish, apparently,regardless of your convenience or the welfare of the children involved.To make the possibility of any comebacks less likely, they do like to keep sensible discussion and consultation off the record.This is because,they have to obey and pass down the edicts from their team manager ( whom they consult before doing anything) and have them accepted without argument.
The children take second place,I'm afraid. You must look upon these team managers as consultants.They have to be obeyed by key social workers and everyone else rather like a doctor follows instructions from a hospital consultant.His word is taken as "LAW" and although he often acts against the children's paramount interests, that is the way it has to be,it seems. It is he who organises the imposition of the social work policies (inhumanities) and he has to disguise them.The easiest way is to keep discussion off the record particularly anything which disagrees with him and which might make it clear that what he is doing is wrong or cruel to children.If you face up to him in person and try to protect your children from him. ,his face may discolour and his eyes go dark with anger.Male or female, their body language and tone of voice is cold and callous. They are heartless and can be brutal. For example,regardless of how much a child loves his mum and enjoys contact, they will ( without discussion) declare that contacts will be cut to quarterly for a period of only half an hour or an hour.When passing an edict like that,obviously,they have to push out of sight the childs feelings and mum's. I suppose it looks better on the record and makes it look like mum is uninterested. They usually take badly informed decisions made on general assumptions which have become established practice ( unauthorised or not) within the department without much consideration of individual circumstances of a case or the actual families concerned.You may never actually see them neither will they even see the children to ask their views. They keep well hidden as far as they possibly can and get the junior sw's to do their bidding.
I imagine when the sw produced your e-mails , the team-manager came up with the one about secure connections as a ploy. They are experienced in all kinds of deceitful tactics and pass it down to their juniors.

If you protest,you will be told you must cooperate or it will be said you are unable to work with them. In the real world it is the other way round,of course, but as Suzie will emphasise,you have to do all you can to cooperate with them.Unfortunately, they take little notice of solicitors either but you can try it.

This is the reality of your situation and you have to take it on the chin. They are allowed to break rules but you are not allowed to do much about it.Children's opinions are not listened to and those of parents discounted. Unfair,I know, but all part of the system!

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

Re: Social works ways of communicating ???

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Mon Mar 09, 2015 1:26 pm

Dear whatnow,
I think it is a tricky one! You should run it past your solicitors in any event, as you are in care proceedings.

You could politely point out the discrepancy in what she is saying about confidentiality and the fact that she has sent paper work to you via email.

She might be referring to the systems at her workplace. Sometimes, the IT system may prevent an email being delivered, for example.

You could say why you prefer email. Other methods could be texting on mobile phone, keeping a contemporaneous note in a diary of phone calls you have made. You could then refer to this in court.

As Ange says, you could run it past the social workers manager.
The team manager’s role is to manage a team of social workers and usually will attend court with the social worker. They will usually have regular meetings with social workers where cases will be discussed and decisions made. So for example, an assessment that is completed will have conclusions. The assessment report will always be signed off by a manager –usually the team manager.
Some funding decisions will be made by the team manger although most will go to a “panel” to be considered.

So the manager will have a substantial role in decision making.

Best wishes,

Suzie

Boobop16
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2016 8:31 am

Re: Social works ways of communicating ???

Post by Boobop16 » Thu Jul 21, 2016 3:24 pm

I know this post was a few months ago but I reached the point where the sw had lied to both me and my 16 year old so much that I told her on the phone that I would only communicate with her under 3 circumstances 1 with a witness of my choosing present 2 with a digital recording of any conversation 3 by email (all CS have secure email). She immediately panicked and asked if I was recording her at that time, I replied no that would be illegal without me informing her first but that any future conversation would be recorded. She never called me again. She did however, tell my daughter what I had said which my daughter felt was inappropriate. I will be taking my recorder to all meetings, if they are not lying they will have no reason to object.

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