SS removing son from our care

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Rolly
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Apr 25, 2019 5:56 am

SS removing son from our care

Post by Rolly » Thu Apr 25, 2019 1:34 pm

Hi, we awoke a couple of Saturdays ago to find that our son had massive swelling to the side of his head. Rushed him to hospital and to cut a long story short he was diagnosed with a skull fracture and bleed on the brain. We were told social services would be involved because we were not sure how he had done it and the local hospital notified them. He was transferred hospital to one specialising in head injuries and soon after arriving at the new hospital SS and 2 police officers turned up. At this point we had been awake 17 hours and stressed out of our minds and were not thinking straight. The SS worker and the police spoke to us huddled around our poor sons cot and when we asked the SS what the procedure was she very quickly got to the part about how she could take our child away. When she could see my wife was visibly upset all she said was “well you wanted to know”. Thinking we were doing the right thing we signed the article 47 document which meant while in hospital we had to have supervision 24-7 and that when discharged he would go into the care of his aunty and uncle. During this whole process we kept asking doctors what sort of force could have caused the fracture and all we got told that it was significant. The only fall he had was a small fall at his grand parents place. However when at the strategy meeting the doctors said that the fracture could of been caused by a small fall if it hit the right part of the skull. This fits the timeline perfectly as he did have a fall at his grandparents place the day before but even though we told the doctors this multiply times we didn’t put to much emphases on it as we were told it had to be significant force. It has now been 12 days since first arriving in hospital and not much has really been done on the case by SS and the police. We are still in hospital with and unrelated illness to our son (he has a liver disease) so struggling to find 24-7 cover as we do not want to leave our 9 month old son alone. I understand why the process is in place but feel like innocent families are being ripped apart because of it. While SS are following some of there processes and procedures they seem to change some other parts to suit them, like the way we add supervisors to our list. Our supervisors haven’t even be told what their role and responsibility are! All they have to do is get a police check, sign the sheet and away you go, makes an absolute joke of the system. They tell us they want what is best for our son but in the whole 12 days the most time the social worker has spent with him and us together as a family is a maximum of ten minutes. All they seem to be doing is a tick box exercise and don’t really care what they are doing to us as a family. Really can’t believe we are in this situation when we have don’t nothing wrong. Due to our sons liver disease he is constantly seen by doctors and health care professionals and they all comment on how good he is doing which is down to the love and care that we are giving him but none of this seems to be taken into consideration when deciding to take our son out of our care. I know they say it is voluntary but it really does not seem that way as the only other option seems to be forced removal. Any ideas or help you could offer to try and bring our nightmare to a close is greatly appreciated.

Cat
Posts: 30
Joined: Fri May 18, 2018 12:15 pm

Re: SS removing son from our care

Post by Cat » Mon Apr 29, 2019 3:33 pm

Please keep as far away from the Socal workers as possible. Really don't let them near your child sweetpea! They are nasty evil minded people. Get a solicitor ready now incase. Hopefully if your one step ahead of them they'll back off. Suzie is cool on here she'll guide u. Please take care I hope all is ok Xxx

ClJu
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2019 7:40 pm

Re: SS removing son from our care

Post by ClJu » Thu May 02, 2019 12:38 pm

Going through a similar situation x check out my post above. Ss have lied under oath in court against me and my partner.

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

Re: SS removing son from our care

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Fri May 24, 2019 3:00 pm

Dear Rolly,

Welcome to the Parent’s Forum.

I am so sorry to hear that your son is so unwell and has suffered head injuries.
I am sorry that I have taken so long to answer your post. It is some time since you originally posted and I am wondering whether things have moved on in terms of your son being in hospital and children’s services involvement.
Has your son returned home to you now? Or are assessments still ongoing?

You were critical of the assessment process by the social worker. But I think children services had just become involved and the injuries your son suffered were significant, so the social worker was concentrating in gathering the medical evidence and making sure your son was protected first, before assessing you.

When you posted, the cause of the injuries were unexplained. You were not aware of him suffering injuries in your care. However, he had fallen whilst in the care of his grandparents. A doctor had said that may have been sufficient to cause the injuries. This is the only possible explanation put forward.
Until they know the cause of the head injury, children services cannot take a risk and return your son into your care. This is in case you or the other parent might have caused the injury and then go on to be further abusive. Children services have to assess first, so they get a better understanding.

Both the police and children services have been involved. Are the police still involved? If so, they will be investigating to see whether a crime had been committed.
Often the police are not able to take the matter further and so children services will be leading the assessment process.

If any of the medical reports come back as not being able to explain the cause of the injury or that they suspect the injury was caused deliberately, then children services are likely to consider care proceedings. Please see our
FAQ’s and advice sheet about care proceedings.


You should also look at this
article about non accidental injury in children by the Child Protection resource .


I strongly advise you and the other parent to get solicitors who are experienced in dealing with cases where there have been head injuries.
I hope this advice helps. Please post back if you need further advice or call our private and confidential advice line on 0808 801 0366.

Best wishes,

Suzie

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