Section 47 again

[bells16]

Ss carry out s47 due to non attendance at school for my asd 16 year old. They seem to have no acceptance of their actions on the added anxiety being caused. Camhs have written report states the school is not appropriate and home tuition now in place but ss not stopping
They have got the gp to make appointment for my 16 year old. I can’t tell her what it will involve as no idea myself. Does anyone know or been there?
Also ss involving my was 18 now 19 year old even though he was discharged from there service at 18

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear bells16,

Welcome to the forum and thank you for your post. My name is Suzie and I will be responding to you today. I am sorry to hear about the difficulties that you and your family are experiencing.
In summary you say that children’s services are carrying out a section 47 investigation currently due to concerns about your 16 year old daughter. You say that children’s services have asked the GP to see your daughter but you are unsure what this will involve. You feel that children’s services involvement is adding to the difficulties rather than helping and you are also unclear why children’s services are involving your 19 year old son in the investigation.

I hope that the following is helpful to you.

When children’s services receive information that makes them suspect that a child may be suffering significant harm then they must by law carry out child protection enquiries. For detailed information about child protection enquiries and assessment you can see our website here and here. We also have a webpage which explains how children’s services should involve parents during the process here. Although your son is now an adult he is still part of the immediate family network and so children’s services would still want to speak with him as part of their investigations. This would be particularly so if he still lives in the family home.

When you say that a GP appointment has been arranged by children’s services for your daughter I am unclear if this with her usual GP or if it is a ‘section 47 medical’ arranged with a paediatrician on behalf of children’s services. If there is a suspicion of physical abuse, neglect involving an injury or sexual abuse then a ‘section 47 medical’ would always be considered during a section 47 investigation. However given the information that you have shared this seems unlikely in your daughter’s case. I am unable to speculate what exactly the purpose of the medical appointment may be and would suggest that you speak with the social worker as soon as possible to clarify this.

Given your daughter’s age she will be able to choose whether or not to give her consent to any kind of medical examination or assessment. She should not feel pressured by either children’s services or a doctor to agree to anything that she is not comfortable with. She would have the right to request a chaperone present at any appointment if she would like this.

I am sorry to hear that you are finding children’s services involvement to be adding to the difficulties rather than being supportive. You may find it helpful to read our guide to Working with a social worker which contains our top tips and advice about how to get the best out of working with children’s services. It may be helpful to ask the social worker and their manager if you can arrange a meeting in which you can discuss the things that you feel are not working and how you feel that they could more effectively support you and your family.

I hope you find this helpful and should you wish to speak to an adviser, please telephone our free confidential advice line on 0808 801 0366. The advice line is open from 9.30am to 3pm Monday to Friday. You are also welcome to post again in this forum.

Best wishes,

Suzie