Son housed under section 20 and no communication from social

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Meezer22
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2022 5:14 pm

Son housed under section 20 and no communication from social

Post by Meezer22 » Mon Feb 14, 2022 10:15 am

Hi my son was housed under section 20 on 1/2 due to autism and maybe other conditions. We couldn’t handle him anymore. He’s 16 and vulnerable. Social services handled it really badly and told us we were awful people. He’s living 15 minutes away in a supported living house. He’d been classed as a child in need sinceNovember due to risky behaviour and violent outbursts. Social came to visit once on 21/12 and not again. He had a huge meltdown/psychotic episode which ended up the police being called (he called them) and he just didn’t come down from it. Social have given us no feedback at all and do not reply to emails and haven’t called a looked after child meeting or multi agency. I’m concerned about the area he now lives in as he’s vulnerable and has been pulled into dealing before. Do I have a say where he’s homed? Also he’s in a specialist asd school but he’s almost 17 so we have less and less say on anything.
Any thoughts? Thank you

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Suzie, FRG Adviser
Posts: 4210
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:57 pm

Re: Son housed under section 20 and no communication from social

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Wed Feb 16, 2022 3:34 pm

Dear Meezer22,

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

You say that your son, aged 16, is currently being accommodated by the local authority under section 20. He has autism and is vulnerable and is currently living in a supported living house. He is also on a child in need plan due to risky behaviour and violent outbursts. You say that you have received no communication from children’s services and that a looked after child review has not been held. You are worried about where he is now living and wants to know if you have a say in where he is homed.

Firstly, I am sorry to hear about the difficult situation you are in. As your son is 16 years old, he can consent on his own to being accommodated under section 20. This means he can also agree his own care plan and where he lives. This does not mean you should be automatically excluded from your son’s care and the social worker should continue to work with you; ask for your opinion on his care plan and invite you to any looked after reviews that are held. The exception to this is if your son has expressed that he would not like this information to be shared with you; as he is 16, the social worker will have to balance the need to respect his views and wishes. Nevertheless, it is important that you maintain a relationship with your son, and I advise that you have a meeting with the social worker as soon as possible to discuss how you will continue to play a role in his life.

It is clear that you have some concerns about where your son is living and his vulnerabilities. If you have communicated this to the social worker and received no response, I would advise that you escalate this to the team manager. As your son is now a ‘looked after child’ a looked after child review should have been held within 4 weeks of him being accommodated. You say that a review has not yet been held, but it may be that this has not yet been scheduled, or that it has been scheduled and not communicated to you. These meetings are chaired by an independent reviewing officer (IRO), whose job it is to oversee his care and ensure that the local authority are meeting their duties to him. You can read more about these duties here. It may also be helpful for you to take a look at our page on section 20.

If you have any concerns about your son’s care, now or in the future, you may also want to communicate these to the IRO. From your post, it would appear that no-one from children’s services is communicating with you, and therefore you may want to consider making a formal complaint about this. Please take a look here. here for more information on how you would do this.

I hope you have found this helpful.

Best wishes,

Suzie.

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