Refusing a CIN plan

[LC2023]

Hi, does anyone have experience of refusing consent of a CIN plan.My eldest (age 11) doesn't want to be talked to by social workers every 4 weeks and it is seriously affecting his self-esteem and confidence. We have been assessed a 6 on the safety scale (which I think is unfair) so are social services likely to take this further if I refuse to accept the CIN plan?
Thanks

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear LC2023,

Welcome to the parents' board and thank you for your post.

You would like to know some more about refusing consent for a child in need plan. You say that your eldest child, aged 11, does not want to talk to social workers and that this is affecting his self-esteem and confidence. You say you have been assessed as '6' on the safety scale and would like to know

Firstly, I am sorry to hear that you son is having a negative experience at the moment and that you may not feel the child in need plan is useful.

I would advise that you start by going through the child in need plan - consider what the local authority's concerns are, whether the objectives of the plan have been met, what is currently working in terms of the support being offered and what is not helping. Once you have taken some notes of this, you can ask to meet with the social worker to discuss in more detail how children's services involvement may be more effective for you and your family and how the plan could be adapted to suit this. You may find it useful to take a look at our top tips for working with your social worker here.

As you may know, a child in need plan is consent based. You could ask the social worker what steps they may take if you withdraw your consent. If the concerns are sufficient enough and children's services think they need to remain involved, child protection enquiries may be initiated. You can read more about this here.

Finally, you say that your son is being affected by children's services involvement. Would your son feel comfortable communicating to the social worker what he is finding difficult, and what he thinks could change to make his interactions with the social worker less stressful? If he does not feel comfortable talking about these worries, he may want to write a letter. Another idea may be to arrange for your son to speak to one of the other professionals involved about what is going on for him or to arrange for an advocate to help represent and amplify his views. The national youth advocacy service can help with an advocate and can be contacted on 0808 808 1001.

I hope you have found this helpful.

Best wishes,

Suzie.