Advice needed

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Family
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2021 9:41 am

Advice needed

Post by Family » Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:06 am

I am needing urgent advice. Theres alot to cover and will probably miss some so bare with me.
 
My son is currently under a child protection plan starting on 27.01.21. This came about through false information and incorrect reports.

Ss care involvement came about becsuse of domestic abuse reports from my child's fathers previous relationship, with whom he has 2 children. These documented reports come from both sides. My ex partner (child's father) was in prison at this time (non violent offence) and put my address which is why i was contacted by them and asked i was aware of the previous issues. I am and have known my ex partner for over 12 years and briefly new his previous partner. I agreed that they both had a part to play in the abuse. This was put down as me minimising it which isn't the case. On my first few meetings with the assigned sw she kept saying she couldn't see any issues and couldn't see them staying involved for long. But just before my ex partner was released I was told the manager had decided my child would be put on a child in need plan. A month after release unfortunately myself and my child's father split up but continue to have a good relationship. In the time after this  id have visits changed last minute, sw hard to contact, child in need meetings happening that i wasn't aware off (father was never invited to these meetings) got told by hv about the last meeting which then got cancelled the morning of. While this was ongoing my ex partner suffers with mental health issues and it was declining. On a few occasions he had threatened suicide and was classed as a missing/vulnerable person. My ex partner doesn't live with me so these incidents happened nowhere near the home and my child has never been around them. At the beginning of the year  2 social workers turned up at my house stating that my ex partner must leave the house or the police will be called and that I had breeched an agreement that the father can only see my child supervised by a third party (They had a call that my child was inappropriately dressed while in his fathers care, but I was present and these have been proved wrong by other witnesses in tesco and a police officer who was there). This 'agreement' never happened. During a meeting the sw discussed  3rd party supervisinon and i actually asked if this is something i have to do or advice. She stated it was advice. I never aggreed, there has never been any paperwork, nothing signed by me. Also sw has been aware on many occasion since then that my ex partner has been at my home and never informed me i was doing something wrong or breaching an agreement. Anyway, back to the 2 social workers showing up. They handed us a report to sign. This report was incorrect information, the reason my ex partner was in prison was wrong, they made an assumption that my ex partner dominates the conversation and I stay quiet ( this is from meeting us together once where the discussion was about him so I didn't need to say anything) it stated i have said my ex partner comes round when he wants, I can't stop him and I am scared of him. This has never been said. This report was used in the meeting to decide whether a child protection conference needs to take place. Since then the sw has admitted to SOME of the lies saying i never said I'm scared etc and that her notes had been 'misconstrued' and it was a 'miscommunication' on there part. Nothing has been done about this or any corrections made. I have made 2 formal complaints to them following there complaints procedure but haven't had any contact about it. Paternal grandfather and paternal grandmother have also sent separate complaints but they have heared nothing from this. Following these complaints there have continued to be incorrect information put in notes and reports.
  
In the sw report for the child conference she continues to say I have breeched an agreement, and has little things wrong such has stated she has seen my ex partner and child together twice, she's seen them once, that my child goes to maternal grandmothers every Saturday, its every other Saturday. These are obviously minor compared to the rest but show the pattern of inaccuracies we are facing. The hv report for this meeting kept talking about incidents of dv and my child being witness to this.

After the conference when I got a chance to question the hv about this she said things also got 'Misconstrued' and she was looking at reports from my ex partners previous relationship and got confused! Again no offers to amend this.

This is 2 very important meetings now that have had incorrect information in the reports. Without these inaccuracies the outcomes of these meetings could have been very different. 

I provided details for the third party to supervise straight after the conference. The sw had her phone off and i didn't hear anything back till the week after. The third party still hasn't been sorted out even though the people we put forward have been assessed. Meanwhile my child hasn't seen his father in over a month and this is having an adverse effect on his behaviour.

My ex partner has been asking to speak with the assigned social workers manager since last year where we got told she would arrange a meeting, which never happened. We have also asked to speak to the quality assurance manager about this but keep getting fobbed off. We have tried to ask to work with a new social worker hoping things would get better without any inaccuracies being made but without being able to talk to the manager and being ignored by the social worker when asked about this matter we haven't got anywhere with this either. 

I've tried to cover as much as i can and this 'case' continues to be handled incorrectly and insensitively with details being fabricated and "miscontrued" and an all round failure by so called proffessional people to take into account the best intrests of our child.

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Suzie, FRG Adviser
Posts: 950
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:25 pm

Re: Advice needed

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Fri Mar 05, 2021 3:10 pm

Dear Family

Thank you for your post and sorry for the delay in responding. I will respond to you here but for your information you may prefer to join our Parents Discussion Board as this Board is mainly used by family and friends (kinship) carers. A link to our Parents Board is here.

I am sorry to read of your situation and would suggest that you ask for all of the documents that children’s services hold about you and then make another complaint. To access your records our advice sheet called Access to information held by Children’s Services may help.

Our sheet called Challenging decisions and making complaints may be useful and this document called Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 may helpful for going through the step by step procedures social workers may use when working with families, do start reading from page 27. We have an advice called Child protection procedures which may help too.

It may also be a good idea for you to keep a copy of your correspondence with the social workers especially where you have asked for amendments or corrections to be made and nothing has been done or changed. Your complaint may need to be escalated; the Local Government Ombudsman has some information about how to do this.

Best wishes

Suzie

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