Advice please Suzie

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DJR434
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2020 3:00 pm

Advice please Suzie

Post by DJR434 » Thu Apr 29, 2021 4:51 am

My children are on a child protection plan.
At the follow up child protection conference, all agreed at the Core Group Meeting prior to this that it should step down to Child in Need.
At Conference, this was conveyed as the view. However, the Children's Social Workers Manager (who had previously agreed with this with the Social Worker, at Conference agreed with The Chair i.e changed his mind!!). The Child Protection Plan thus remained in place. The Social Worker was not at Conference but the Manager was. The Children's Social Worker on his return to work, was rather shocked with the Conference decision, as in his words ' My Manger had read my recommendation and had agreed to this. I don't understand why the chair did not agree.'
We have since had several Core Group Meetings and the view is that there is no longer a need for services to be involved at all i.e. case closed.
The Social Worker is putting this as a recommendation for conference due in the next 10 days. However, he has said that 'It is not unusual for this to happen, i.e. case closed after conference, but not with this Chair. She is known NOT to do this.'

What if any redress do I have please ?
Can I ask for another Chair prior to Conference taking place, given her reputation for not stepping down and / or closing cases, where other chairs do and have done, according to a member of the Core Group and the Social Worker?
Do I let Conference go ahead and see what happens?
It just seems so unfair that the outcome is owned by The Chair, regardless of what views others may have.
Any suggestions Suzie

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

Re: Advice please Suzie

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Mon May 10, 2021 10:59 am

Dear DJR434,

I am sorry for the delay in responding to your post. The review child protection conference may well have now taken place.

I can see that at the previous review child protection conference, the professionals at the core group meeting had agreed to a recommendation that there be a child in need plan rather than further child protection plans. However, the chair at the review conference did not agree and decided that, in her view, there were still ongoing risks to your children and made a further CP plans.

The chair is a senior social work manager who is independent from the social worker and team manager and so is not involved with the day to day work of the social work team. At the review, she will have seen and heard the reports from all the professionals not just those who attend the core group meetings and seems to have come to a different decision- that there should still be child protection plans. The written minutes of the meeting should set out her reasoning and what else needs to happen to enable the CP plans to be closed.

You are not able to challenge the decision that a child protection plan was made but you could make a complaint about it and ask for a new chair to be appointed and/or for a fresh review conference to take place (called a re convened conference).

Here are some FAQ’s about child protection and complaints (scroll down towards the bottom of the webpage). They set out the process of complaints in a child protection situation.

I hope my advice helps but please post again if you need further advice.
Best wishes,
Suzie

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