The author of this post is a child protection social worker, who writes under a pseudonym, including in the Guardian.
There has been significant press coverage of the work of child protection social workers over the last few months. At times I have found this coverage to be misleading and unnecessarily critical. It is clearly right, however, that abuses of power and injustices are exposed and explored, with lessons learnt for the benefit of families and professionals working in the system. For that reason, it feels important – as someone working inside the system – to write about social workers’ misunderstanding, and resulting misuse, of section 17 of the 1989 Children Act. I have not seen this topic explored before, perhaps because it is not an area of social work practice that is scrutinised through the courts; there is little evidence in the public domain of its prevalence.
Section 17 sits in part three of the Act, which is titled ‘Support for Children and Families Provided by Local Authorities in England’. Section 20 (the misuse of which has been discussed elsewhere at length) is also contained in part three. The emphasis in this part of the Act is on providing services to families (including, where necessary, accommodation) to help them. Indeed, the provisions of this part of the Act contrast to those included in part five, through which local authorities can apply to the courts to become involved in a child’s life. Part five also provides the police with powers to protect children. At their most invasive, these powers allow the removal of children from their parents’ care. Crucially, it is part five of the Act, and not part three, which provides a means for the state to intervene in a child’s life without the agreement of the family.
My experience is that, in practice, social workers treat the two parts as if they are interchangeable. I have no doubt that social workers generally intend to do the best by the children with whom they work, often in very challenging circumstances, but observations of a typical local authority children’s service department suggest that social workers routinely intervene in a child’s life under the guise of section 17, where this may be inappropriate and without providing families with adequate information about the voluntary nature of their involvement. They are not working in partnership with families, but operate as if they are working through the powers available in part five of the Act. In this way, they are intervening in families’ lives potentially without justification, without scrutiny and without the agreement and consent from families.
This matters because it is through the provisions of section 17 of the Act that much of our work with families begins: most of the assessments we conduct are, in theory, ‘assessments of children in need’ (i.e. not child protection investigations). Many of the children on our caseloads are, officially, ‘children in need’. Parents may have heard social workers refer to their work with their family as ‘child in need planning’. In 2017 there were almost 400,000 ‘children in need’ in England. I suspect that this number would be smaller if section 17 was used as the Act intends.
This section of the Act places a duty on local authorities to:
‘(a)to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need; and
(b)so far as is consistent with that duty, to promote the upbringing of such children by their families,
by providing a range and level of services appropriate to those children’s needs.’
There is nothing written about the need to gain parents’ consent and agreement before local authorities can provide services through this section (the same is true of section 20), but this is because the Act is written from the premise that, ordinarily, parents alone hold the right to make decisions about their children’s lives. It is important that social workers are clear of the distinction between the duty to provide services and a right to intervene.
Moreover, this section in particular focuses on working in partnership with children and families, as does the guidance on assessing children who may be ‘in need’. Advice from the Family Rights Group notes that parents do not have to agree to their children being assessed (see p. 28 here). This is the critical point that social workers seem to frequently ignore.
Indeed, in practice social workers rarely ask families being supported through section 17 whether they agree to assessment or intervention. They rarely ask for parents’ consent to become involved in a child’s life. I have heard social workers say that it is not for parents to decide whether social workers should be, or remain, involved in their child’s life where it has been determined that they are ‘in need’. This is dubious practice which is not supported by the law or guidance. In fact, local authority guidance on this issue often refers to the need to gain parents’ consent before beginning any work with a family (see p. 3 here; here; and here), but this guidance is too commonly ignored by some social workers.
As I have noted, part five of the Act allows (in section 43) local authorities to apply for court orders if they are concerned for a child’s welfare and have been refused access. While the child assessment order is rarely used, it exists for those circumstances where local authorities have concerns about a child and have been prevented from completing an assessment to determine whether further action is necessary. Other sections of part five allow for even greater levels of intervention where necessary.
To be clear, I am not suggesting that social workers should seek court orders to intervene in families’ lives more often than they already do. My experience is that families usually agree to being assessed and supported by social workers if they are given the choice. It is important that social workers make the choices and possible consequences for families clear; that is the only honest, fair and just approach.
Where families reject an assessment or support, it should prompt social workers, and the other professionals involved, to thoroughly consider the risks to the child and whether it is necessary to take further action. If it is, social workers should refer to part five of the Act. If it is not, the case should be closed: social workers should not remain involved in families’ lives without sufficient justification.
That sort of discussion rarely occurs where local authorities use section 17 to support families, because social workers can, in effect, make decisions alone. This contrasts to cases where there are court proceedings or where a child protection plan is in place – in those cases, there are extra layers of scrutiny and independent oversight.
My observations from everyday practice suggest that much of social workers’ current use of section 17 may be inappropriate and families – often with few resources and little understanding of the law – are being treated in a way that is potentially unfair, unjust and not in keeping with the principles of the Children Act.
Well done you!! I am always shouting out about the duty of the LAs in section 17 (i) to provide whatever help is necessary to a family…. there is a reason why this is comes BEFORE the ‘powers’ given in part 5!
I had a referral from someone to social services as there was a fake allegation made about me by an outsider clearly someone who doesn’t like me they backed off then they got referred again an ever since they haven’t gone away and I’m getting scrutinised on every little thing that goes wrong by my sons school and even the nursery where my youngest son goes they come round every single day and it’s so tireing now they are saying things are not improving witchbu feel they had improved for a while then there was slip up where my youngest got out the school gate an escaped near the main road on his bike while I was feeding the baby I was very worried an this was not intentional I just feel like they are going well over the top with this an they now want to try an remove my kids
They are appalling. Social worker actually went to my abusive ex to fish for things to get my child on CP, after I wanted to end involvement on cin! I went to them looking for help initially! She constantly talked about other cases, awful things about children, gossiping basically. She didn’t spend anytime building a relationship with my child in 12 months, only saw him 3 times. The things she implied to my ex was disgusting, luckily he told me all when he was drunk. They still haven’t closed the case as she emailed me recently to see if I want to see her! Unbelievable. A formal complaint is going to be made.
This is the second time of seeing their sneaky disgusting ways. Smiling assassins I call them. Never ever again will I turn to them for help.
Excellent critique of current social work practice. I am aware that many parents do not trust children’s social workers but feel obliged to allow them to make a home visit. They are right to assume that an initial visit from a social worker may be framed as a ‘child in need’ service but often includes an investigative element. Role confusion is now be a major cause of difficulties for children’s social workers.
My parenting assessment was negative but I’m doing everything the court and my solicitor is asking for me what else can I do to prove I can look after my baby I cannot bare to lose him
Sounds like you are doing all the right things NB – listen to your solicitor. Good luck.
Perverts target these jobs and children are turned into prostitutes the good social workers either can’t handle what’s going on and leave the job or they are sacked.To many scandals are been uncovered Rotherham and Rochdale children are growing missing and been trafficked it’s time to wake up everyone.Whistleblowers are actually getting sectioned
This is total nonsense. I have worked in a duty team for over 10 years and have always ensured that every assessment was completed with consent and parents being fully briefed on the legal context. I have closed many cases where consent was not given, and so have my colleagues. It would be best if your views weren’t based on entirely your own experience and rather a more robust study.
I don’t think the post is inconsistent with what you say is it Nicole? Your experience is different from that of the person writing this post – both are anecdotal and put together suggest some inconsistency?
I do fell my self Iv never getting the full details and well done for bring it to light for those mum and dads out there trying to get there children back and rebuilding a relationship between the family
My child should of returned home on a child protection in 2011….[edited] ive fought for him for six yr he been home two year now as been at my throat for two years even iro says it’s a joke.they want to justify not bringing him home for six year what do I do.
We can’t give legal advice I’m afraid R (We’ve slightly edited your post for legal reasons). It might be worth calling the family rights group helpline.
Hi
How about in a situation where the mum and 2kids live in a room in house share with 4 other adults of which one looks at the female child with a weird look every time?
How do we go about reporting it?
Your local authority will have details on their website if you wish to make a child protection referral.
I absolutely agree. I think maybe Nicole that it is you who are bias.
I work closely with social workers as an educational professional and many of your colleagues use threats of escalation to vulnerable families if they do not give consent. Not many SW’s tell families that CIN is voluntary and often use section47 practices thus scaring the most vulnerable families.
This is what I’m going though at the moment .. if I don’t agree to the c.i.n they said she will apply for a protection plan
b.s. social services are evil never offer help just make up lies to get our kid people should get the real people who life’s u affect so people know how corrupt the system is and the courts
I agree social wotker has neaver spoken to my children had meeting for 12moiths with me knowing and hands me paper 24 hours before a meeting and says I haven’t conpkide and still no one will talk with us
The social services are controlling freaks took my daughter in to be assessed with her 2 daughters when there was know need for it they have completely forced themselves on her all because she a her third baby born at home in the bathroom and was referred to social services by the ambulance driver and ever since haven’t be able to get rid of them maken my daughters life hell and my 2 granddaughters it’s all wrong because my daughter hasn’t done anything wrong I’m disgusted at the system
I agree my son is having the same problem at the moment
“Consent” is a bit of a woolly term here isn’t it. It is not true consent if it is done with the threat of a section 47 if the parent does not comply. Do it this way and make things easy for us or we will come back with a big stick and really make a mess of your life.
My experience of social services has been truly shocking.
No engagement, no explanation, no agreement, months of delays, no returned calls; just shocking.
Hi there, I’ve edited your comment. The Transparency Project is not a forum for advice-giving; we explain family law and we signpost to organisations and sites where parents can access information in relation to their rights. Thanks, Annie
Iam dealing with them to shocking behaviour ss no letters of them since 25 of june taking me to court txt them on the 31st of july n still no responce utter lies they tell how can this go on with ss things need to change on how they ave powers over solivitors wrong so wrong in my eyes
My experience with social workers has been traumatic. My family have been treated like criminals, not being able to see the kids, because [edited] Children’s services broke section 8a of the human rights act. Currently in the process of reporting them, together with legal advice.
You may be an exception Nicole; my experience of [redacted for legal reasons] was manipulative, deceitful and dangerous. It was a shameful abuse of powers and without cause or reason. Everything concluded, there was nothing to address, yet, through there actions, they destroyed a perfectly functioning family.
These are Ill trained people working outside best practice and process; doing what they like to whomever they like.
Shameful. Whilst as I said, you may be the exception, social working is a profession in shame.
Hi there, I’ve removed the name of the local authority for legal reasons. Thanks, Annie
I’ve overdosed twice during lockdown and ss putting my children on child protection:This mental decline where I would ever take a stupid action that would result in me loosing my boys,can only say is fighting for 3 years,meeting after meeting after meeting,having to be called neglect or abuser mental,they have ripped me apart then blame me for mental decline.my oldest son in LAC because they won’t give him service even though he’s on disability team,trying to get him back.sorry I absolutely hate them,My ss doesn’t have kids,as many havent so how the hell are you going to guide me
My shocking experience with SS is similar to everyone else’s on here.
My visit smiling and offering help, but secretly building a case against you. They keep stating my mental health, even though I have none and they have no proof and if anything, they cause mental health. They persecute and victimise normal, loving parents, I don’t know why. Maybe it’s a power trip, maybe they are the devils disciples, maybe they’re miserable in their own lives so they have to cause chaos in ours? Whatever the reason, it certainly isn’t in the ‘best interests of the child’. The children rarely come into it!
They abuse the use of section 47, and placing a child on child protection. Our current SW placed son on CP after only meeting him once and me twice because I didn’t do what I was told whilst on CIN. Lies were made up to make the situation more serious, said my mental health was preventing me parent (I had a period of depression in 2017 which was dismissed by the mental health team in 2017 as diagnosed with environmental depression as opposed to mental illness and they had no more concerns but they beat me with that stick every time), that I had disengaged with services, I’d never missed an appointment with her, she’d cancelled on me and blamed me but I had the text to prove it. We were staying at my moms, with son having a double bedroom and double bed to himself whilst new house was being done but even though they had no concerns about the environment, they stated he needed to be in his own house for routines and boundaries. Why should it matter to them as long as my son is loved and cared for in a house where people love him? They have too much power and use it to crush us. My voice hasn’t been heard in 4 years, I’ve been belittled, humiliated, disregarded, parent shamed. It’s a wonder I’m still standing the way they have treated us. Now they’re taking me to court to remove my children because they want to. I’ve wasted so much time and energy on these so called professionals over 4 years when we could have just been getting on with life. I have no mental illness (but so what if I had? There’s no stigma now, people are encouraged to talk about it, nothing to be ashamed of), I don’t drink, I don’t do drugs, there is no domestic violence, they’ve never seen my son with marks and bruises and have reported son is always clean and presentable but that’s not good enough. These are an evil organisation and I rue the day I ever asked for help.
Love this comment
It’s not nonsense.. maybe its different for you and your duty team but from my experience and others i have talked to.. we were not at any point of involvement with the social workers, given that information.. that it’s a parents choice and that we have the right to say no.
Also my child is a ‘child in need’ and social worker is determined to make up reasons as to why she thinks my child is unsafe.. using my past against me.. the social services department in my area are known for scare mongering and i, now after reading this thread, am taking legal action. Just because you do things by the book, dont presume every other social worker does. My life has been made hell for 13 years and it continues. PowerTrips’R’Us..
In my experience there are social workers who think nothing of lying and making false or misleading statements ,merely because they take a personal dislike to parent or parents and I know many social workers who seem to dodge soap and whose lives are car crashes ,yet they persecute other parents .
Your comment is rubbish. I have had assessment done and was NOT aware i could refuse as the social worker never informed me
I just found this web oage after googling to find out what my rights are. This is not,as you state, total nonsense.
I have had a social worker start a child in need assessment, interview my children, come to my home and interview me and insoeectmy home. She says she has no concerns and we night just beed a little support due to me having anxiety. She said its a legal requirement and she will contact my gp to get information about my medical record abd she is contacting my abusive ex as part of her assessment to ask him if he has concerns about me. She said these steps were legal requirements for a child in need assessment – she did NOT say I had any rights.
You work in social work so naturally you will defend the bad practice that goes on and state that parents are lying.
Parents need to become informed and learn their rights. If they have bo child protection issues, get them to say that in an email and REFUSE THEIR ‘HELP’
How do we stop children being taken into care and being brought up in a system that could actually cause them to suffer with long term mental health when they could be at home with they’re parents who actually just needed an extra hand I know an ex Foster carer for 20 years she looked after children but she witnessed the harms and stepped away she reported her findings but no one ever took her seriously or wanted to look into the other side of the harms some of these social workers can do in they’re messed up way they think they are protecting the children or from the children themselves what they are told about they’re parents why they were put into ss care ive heard some harrowing accounts many of these children in the care system receive no love they cannot form attachments this I know for a fact my ex husband was a child brought up in the care system and I agree in the circumstances it was the best thing for him but fir him then to be dumped into child homes with no love and if he became attached to any off the staff he was moved on to another home and I’ve heard a lot worse from other children adults that have been through the system
And yet we are being harassed and ANOTHER visit from the duty team for sticking with an agreement drawn up by yourselves. We had a report re written 3 times as the Duty officer blatantly lied about talking to us and when the complaint went in shed left the authority, only to find out she’s working at another.
Self governing bodies have no right in this day and age. You have no one to answer to but yourselves and are a scourge on working families with little in come because you REFUSE to work out of office hours
so true! i have had a number of assessments, none of which Ive ever been told were voluntary!!
I wasnt asked for consent. Until reading this incident know I could refuse their help. It has not been made clear to me at all.
As a student social worker, I have personally observed a social worker coerce a parent into taking a random drug test. The parent initially didn’t agree to the swab but after the social worker said he would consider his refusal as a tacid admission to using drugs, the he parent then reluctantly agreed to take a drug test. This was a CIN case.
As a student social worker I hope this has opened your eyes and I hope you will be a better social worker not all parents are bad just like not all ss workers are bad but they’re are a few many parents just need abit of extra help and many years ago that was what the ss was for but to take a child into the care system we have to understand the psychological damage this may cause in the future as not all children who are put up for adoption thrive many are disadvantaged no love no proper attachments no sense of belonging many leave school with little to no qualifications surely it is best to work with parents who you can see love they’re children but just need extra help
Do it’s you . Others don’t even explain anything, you just feel forced to agree to whatever they say or decide
When my children were young (8 years ago) we were out in CIN twice, I was NEVER informed that it was voluntary, had I have know I would have pulled out, as my experience was not great, the things they said they would do to help never prospered, instead I felt a lot of parent blame. They used to come to my house and look in my fridge, which was always full of fruit and veg!
I have now been offered a CIN plan, because my daughter is now refusing school due to her Autism and discrimination from the School, and sadly I’m struggling with accepting as I’m a fully aware of out previous negative experience that was always more interrogative than supportive. So now I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. We have been consistently failed by many services and I’m expected to put my trust into them. So it’s not nonsense at all.
She’s not wrong I have experienced the same mistreatment, injustice and abuse of power by 2 separate social workers and their manager where reports consistently contradict each other & where they deliberately misrepresent info by twisting it and leaving crucial information out and pick and choose what parts they do and don’t report so that the report is their version and not a complete honest account to manipulate panel members and the court into decisions they want and not fair and right decisions and in some cases flat out lied to which I have proof of
To say corruption is absurd leads me to believe your the one that has something to hide or are really just that ignorant that it can occur in any establishment
I know its a reply to an old comment but last year (2023) I was tricked, along with my partner to sign a Section 20.
Now we are stuck with social services and can’t get rid of them. We were not given 24 hours to speak to a socialitor, we never had one and we weren’t aware of what we were signing.
The social worker, last we heard, was under investigation after she fluffed everything in her paperwork.
My partner also have a “Social Worker bingo card” consisting of 3 phrases;
1 – I am nice
2 – everyone says nice things about me
3 – I am open and honest
We’re on our 4th s.workers and her first visit she dropped “I am open and honest as a social worker” to us. Now we’re waiting for her to say the other 2 phrases. The 3 before her said it. This is a scripted list of responses they say to any criticism. The first one, who said no.3 several times, was the one who illegally got us to sign a section 20. Meanwhile, she said both my partner and I had ASD, wrote he had physical disabilities but not what they were (this led to some trouble), tricked us to agree to residential stay of 13 weeks (telling us it was only 6, and didn’t realise herself her own mistake). Her work was so poor that the placement turned around on week 10 and said “she’s not very good at her job is she?” after they found her work was rubbish. We ended up, btw with such a badly constructed report at the end of the 13 weeks that… Well… It was useless to the social workers, so now they’ve moved onto support in the community.
So pardon me saying so Nicole, maybe YOU aren’t that bad, lets give you a benefit of the doubt here.
But you have some VERY poorly qualified people in your field that should NEVER be in social work. Playing games with new families is not fun to endure. And no matter the clause of concern, I’ve yet to see Social did a thing to help. They just threaten, lie, cheat and let us down.
There may well be inconsistency, & my experience is anecdotal, but it is that parents are always told that Child in Need is voluntary. Consent is usually given because parents want services and support and it is a multi agency process, so consent to share information must be sought, & given in order to work with a family under Child in Need.
I think it is just disappointing to read an article which complains about inaccuracies in reporting social work but which itself feels inaccurate.
Hilary – not sure who is confused about the role of SW. It does of course cause concern if someone refuses a visit, and all visits contain an investigative element, for e.g. if a child in need visit raises a significant safeguarding concern. Supporting families whilst working out whether children are safe is not an unresolvable tension, it just requires transparency.
Social services hold such a bad rep. Scare mongering is a tactic used by many.. just the mention of a social worker sends chills down my spine because i know from experience the devastation they can cause. Ask yourself why people refuse visits. I wish i knew i could refuse.. maybe then my eldest wouldn’t have been taken 13 yrs ago due to social worker power trip.. my family has been torn apart because of social workers.. damage that will never be repaired. All because of malicious reports from a paedophiles family.. GTF
Many parents are involuntary clients, despite giving their consent to services under s17. Also, there is an inherent contradiction between the principle of ‘working in partnership’ and the fact that social workers sometimes have to take action to protect the child without consulting parents. The levels of hostility towards social workers appears to be much higher now than in the past, suggesting many parents feel they have been treated unfairly.
Current policies and practices emphasize the value of combining the two social work functions of family support and child protection and focusing on needs and strengths-based approaches rather than risk. This has produced a professional orthodoxy of re-defining ‘risk’ as ‘need’ – although this has made it harder for social workers to think clearly about the purpose of their interventions and contributed to role confusion. I have written about this in my article: Child Protection: Radical Thinking https://radical.org.uk/barefoot/radicalcp.htm
You have and I disagree with you.
I think the focus on role confusion is not mine because it is absolutely not my experience, having worked with most LAs in the country as part of a specific role, so I would be interested to know where your evidence base is – as ever. My experience I accept is anecdotal.
I work on the basis that most cases are sad not bad, even there but for the grace of (insert deity of choice) go I. So then you have a premise that most parents love their children and do not wish them harm, appropriate challenge is helpful, & if the aim is to help more children to remain at home with their families it is essential.
Helen, you are part of the system; of course it feels fine where you are.
As parents, the experience had the empathy of the Spanish Inquisition.
Anybody reading this, in a social working capacity, should be ashamed of their profession.
My son got bullied at school with two pupils subsequently being prosecuted. Because my son refused to go back to the same school, he was taken from me and put into care. The judge accepted everything the social worker said about me being responsible and the bullying being blown out of all proportion. Last month my son tried to kill himself whilst in care. The social worker has destroyed his life. The issue of judges rubber stamping what social workers want gives social workers the authority to intervene, threaten and lie to the child’s detriment.
Well said
I could not have put it better myself.
Spanish inquisition.
My mental health has been seriously impacted by the level of wreckless malice displayed.
A select committee is looking at the experiences of unmarried women who had their children taken by the state in the 50-70s.
So most of them will be dead.
And advertising for submissions? No where to be seen.
A select committee needs to look at what is happening now.
Let’s be honest here. Virtually no one likes or respects social workers and they suffer from delusion. History is awash with their failings and harrassment of parents merely on heresay and tittle tattle . Even when caught lying in court under oath, no one seems to care . Most are bitter and twisted ,childless individuals with car crash lives and very few friends. I know one who won’t even admit to being a social worker.
‘need’ has been defined as ‘ risk’. The profession in general misunderstand the level of the authority vested in them by central government; the police and the courts have authority to make decisions about the level of interference allowed in a person’s right to a family life: not social workers who behave like playground bullies.
I as a parent have had social workers come into my life since I was 19 years old to me the system is being abused by social workers who like to stamp there authority especially if your a low income family they know you can not get legal aid unless they themselves take you to court so they indeed use this to there advantage they lie they access files without permission from who there files they are looking through they also state that if you do not let them in or refuse to give them consent they threaten to bring police to your door they abuse there power and a constant basis instead of working with families they constantly rip families apart also in my experience if yourself question what they are doing they will say that your are aggressive ,offensive ECT they come into your home and they expect you to do everything they or they will take your children therefore as a parent how much rights do you really have when these people come into your life the whole service needs to be seriously looked into in my opinion from my experiences with social services .
This is so true and is my experience. I have recently felt threatened and intimodated by them as i refused a child in need plan in the best interests of my children. Then next thing i know is there’s false allegations being made an the social worker can’t even do her job properly and both myself and my doctor had to tell her if what she suspected was true(which it isn’t) then she needed to go through her child protection procedures team and she should of removed the children under a emergency protection order or a police protection order but nope she left the children with the parents and the alleged abuser. Now they having a strategy meeting to discuss next Steps. I’ve put a formal complaint in as i should not feel like i have to agree to something that is not suitable for my family when i know the allegations was not true
Helen, you seem reluctant to acknowledge the inherent contradictions within the social work role. The professional assumption, supported by ideology, is that social workers are caring and supportive people who can achieve good outcomes – even with the most disturbed and irresponsible parents. On the other hand, many parents believe that the current level of social work intervention into family life is excessive and must be resisted. Children’s social workers find themselves at the centre of these conflicting viewpoints. This is leading to anxiety, stress and burn-out and an authoritarian trend in children’s services (which good social workers are resisting).
The number of referrals to children’s services has risen to the point where about one fifth of children are referred before their fifth birthday (Bilson and Martin) and more children are being referred for neglect or emotional abuse, the latter often following an incident of domestic violence. Many referrals arise out of information-sharing between agencies without parental consent. Most initial home visits to a family are to make an ‘assessment of need’ but half of the children assessed are deemed to have needs arising out of abuse or neglect.
We need to understand why more and more families are investigated. I admit that I am confused about the meaning of the word ‘investigated’ now being used by Andy Bilson in the media. It is not clear to me whether these investigations are informed by a clear understanding of the legal framework provided by the 1989 Children Act.
I am also concerned about the way that some social workers elevate informal, safeguarding work above the more formal approach of the child protection plan. This is an important social work tool. Its aim should be to work collaboratively, offer support services and try to prevent the need for care. However, the threshold for formal child protection measures is now less clearly defined and some children at serious risk are still slipping through the net. It seems that nothing has been learned since the Serious Case Review on Daniel Pelka which showed the problems that can arise when a case is never treated as ‘child protection’.
Good article which echoes my experience of working with/supporting families who have become involved with services. I completely disagree that working in partnership with families and taking action to protect children are mutually exclusive. This belief is at the heart of the problem identified in the article, honesty. In my personal experience what is required is honesty about whatever the situation is, good or bad, and this is at the heart of establishing a working partnership, this doesn’t mean everyone has exactly the same opinion about what should/is going to happen but it does mean everybody should know why it is happening and have had their chance to be involved in the journey towards that decision.
I agree. Most people can deal with difficult conversations if they trust the other person to be honest. I worry that this is what we have lost in recent times.
Well said Steve.
The reality is that, far too many social workers take a manipulative, deceitful and divisive approach to their work; typically concluding there was nothing to address / no risk, but, leaving families in ruins through their approach.
I have never been involved with ss before even growing up until now.i was reported ss lies fabricated excuses stone faced idiots trying to cover up there mistakes leading to the safety of my child.
Anyway without going into too much detail,not once have I been told advice nothing from sw
What I’ve been told an what they have tried to get me to believe was lies.nevrr had any paperwork sent to me it’s always been hand given by sw
Even child protection conference mins by hand printed off by sw
I’ve jumped threw hoops worked along with everything they asked.
Sw put me on a certain plan where legal aid was not option to be able to get help.
Nothing is logged with local authorities not in system etc,6 months later am still going threw this nightmare.
I don’t no what world people are living in but in reality, children social workers are a bunch of lying, manipulate, trouble making bastards.
I’ve read the training manuals of child social workers, and I am not impressed.
They are taught to manipulate and lie!
How is this benefiting families?
How is this gaining trust ?
Family’s are not wanting to work with the SW, Of course not, as they lie and cause disruption and agro in families that genuinely need family support for what ever reason
From my experience, it’s the family that is disabled, refused social services care assistance because of child services sticking their nose in and influence the outcome…
After having a care needs assessment . Help refused on the basis of having a child. This is then used against me and my health condition, to remove my daughter.
My sister has a social worker who is terrible, she doesn’t help me sister at all she goes off the plan when not in meetings. She is siding with my sisters violant, drug taking ex on having unsupervised access to my nephew which will never happen while I am around. The woman is not fit to be a social worker. They are not at all helpful.
Social workers in my experience, are not properly trained to work with kids on the Autistic spectrum. They make judgements based on things they don’t understand e.g. poor understanding of autistic separation anxiety and mixing it up with attachment disorder and then blaming the parent for child’s separation anxiety. This is why so many of us leave the system and would rather stay under the radar and Home Ed our kids.
The system would rather force our children to “behave” than to understand how to support a child with anxiety, and to perhaps consider doing things differently. There is so much misinformation out there.
I used to work in an Adult Social Care team pre-children. I am now of the understanding that social workers should not be allowed to intervene unless they have responded to the concerns of parents in the past when asked for help. Try getting help when you ask for it. Impossible. Yet they think they have the right to ride rough-shod over parents and children’s rights. Not the first time I have heard of a brilliant mum being threatened that her child will be removed as she “can’t cope with” her child, yet child is much bigger and has severe anxiety due to unmet needs at school or in the community in general, yet kid’s mental health teams will not attempt to engage with the child in an alternative setting than their own clinic, and then close the case because “child won’t engage”. CAMHs et al need more money, but they also need to think outside the box more than they do. Then medically unqualified social workers wouldn’t be having to make so many difficult calls about children whose parents have begged for mental health support for years and been ignored.
My granddaughter had her [child] taken into care. The LA provided the court with a statement that was not true and withheld the medical evidence that proved that. They withdrew the interim threshold in the first case summary. They deliberately withheld information from the court including court orders as they did not keep the bundle up to date. We raised a complaint after the case was finished and after almost 6 moths were provided the missing court orders which showed that the LA had ignored two court orders. We received 2 missing LAC review reports which were in word processing format not the computer report format of the one we already had. We were told that the difference in formats were due to a program change, this is not possible. They provided us with information that was incorrect and deliberately withheld our personal information in violation of the data protection act. They also confirmed that they were not convinced the statement that gave them threshold was true. I have all of these details documented. Is this acceptable under the children’s act?
DH
It’s impossible for us to answer your question without understanding more, and in any event we don’t offer legal advice as we are an educational charity. These are probably matters you should take up with a lawyer or that your granddaughter should take up with her lawyer.
Hi,
I came across this article the same way and fir the same reason as you.
I find your comment really interesting because I am finding myself in a similar situation whereby they have no issues with home or parenting or safety but I have also been told I should accept support for anxiety. I object to being forced to receive treatment I neither need nor want – I didn’t have any anxiety before they got involved.
I too have an abusive ex who is turning this abuse onto my children – we were dealing with this ourselves quite well – neither child wants contact are both are old enough to make that decision for themselves.. They (SS) also want to put in place family support in order to bring him back into the conversation and our lives.
Things generally are much worse since they became involved – they have made assumptions and judgements leading to inaccurate assessments.
I hope you’re situation has improved since you made your comment.
Any advice you can share would be appreciated.
Hi
I’m confused on this, they say they are initiating a child protection plan under section 47, they’ve never been to court but because the partner is emotionally abusive, is this legal, the girlfriend now dislike Sw involved in their Life, can they refuse a CPP?
So are you saying it possible if your child is classed as a “Child In Need” to withdraw consent to interventions from the social worker once you’ve already given it? Can you suggest somewhere I can get personalised advice on this? Thank you.
You can 100% withdraw your consent at any time to ANY part. Please do not be bullied by these people. Throw the word coercion at them and they soon back down.
hi can some one enlighten me I received a letter from [edited] social services in [edoited] saying dear mr n mrs [edited] I would like to visit to discuss any possible support’s you may need
I have said as has my wife we do not require any support services as im financially sound have a nice home and two cars and are a well established [edited]
firstly we were asked as is required by midwife we politely told her no thank you as I told her the above I did in the past have a daughter who was unruly n would not do as she was told when she did not get what she wanted she played me n her step mum off against social workers and she would ask social works to take her back into care to get what she wanted she did this 4 times in 8 yrs I must state that at that time we were unemployed and legal contact with her ceased 4yrs ago/ and she was found to be a compulsive liar … we have not asked for support and don’t need it as we have had no involvement with any legal social work dept four yrs now I do not require any type of support what so ever… and never asked for it . as my wife is due to give birth any day .ps wot I put at the start is what the social worker says in her letter she also stated I intend to vist witch I find intimidating.. can some one please advise what to do
Dear P,
We are an educational charity and don’t provide legal advice I’m afraid. Moreover, you seem to be based in Scotland which is an area we don’t cover in any event. Sorry not to be able to help.
TP Team
I have had social care involved for 2years now. We started on a child in need plan and everything was explained me properly. I was fully aware it was a voluntarily plan. We have now sadly had to be moved to child protection services. I can honestly say that in our area our social care team have been brilliant. They really try very hard to help us. One of our social workers was keeping track of events until 11pm one evening and supporting me through the extremely difficult time I was having with my daughter. We are fortunate to have a good team of professionals around us and so when I have made complaints to professionals about social care, our social worker has called me the next day trying to regain the rapport and trust between us and sort my concerns out. Even though I was extremely unhappy to have my children put on a child protection plan, I cannot be grateful enough to social care for all their hard work and support through our horrible time.
When there have been serious case reviews social workers have been criticised for not picking up the signs early enough and yet everyone seems to be criticising them for showing concern of the welfare of our kids. If there is nothing to hide you have nothing to worry about. Yes you can refuse their help on child in need plans and yes they do take into consideration our past, but this is to protect our children. I would rather have a social worker ensuring children are safe than to miss a child seriously in danger. It doesn’t matter what our status is, ie nice house, cars etc doesn’t mean abuse cannot happen in these homes!
‘If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to worry about’.
Oh my dear girl, that is coming from a place where you have had a fantastic team around you and sounds as though you have had much help. Most people on here are coming from a place where they’ve had a terrible SW and been put through absolute hell. Every lie and exaggeration is believed so it can escalate quickly. If you have a spiteful narcissist who just wants to ‘win’ they will stop at nothing. Every report is believed. Even if they move on then that report still stands and raises concerns with the next SW. If the SW says you’re not engaging with professionals even though you have been then the next SW will jump on you if you miss a couple of appointments due to ill health (isolating through covid) and say you’re not engaging and rush you into CP.
I’m glad you’ve had a positive experience but please don’t knock the terrible, hellish experiences of the many, many people who have had their lives ripped apart.
The name should be change to child abuser’s , human life abusers, family life abuser they care children nor their families all they care about is to destroy better themselves and jobs they can do anything to destroy lives
My child is a ‘child in need’ because he is disabled. I have experience of several social workers over 2 local Authorities and all have them have told me visits are a “statutory requirement”. In every case I have initiated an assessment for access to short breaks. Most recently I requested urgent support after moving authority and separating from my husband and support network. Also because authority took several months to provide an education for my child so I was entirely on my own with my profoundly disabled child. It took 7 months to complete an assessment then another month to approve the support package. I have now been waiting for 2 months for support to be put into place. So still waiting after 10 months for support that I have been begging for for months. Exhausted by it all now, it is more stressful trying to get the support than having no support. Declined a visit by my son’s social worker as I was only allowing the intrusion to get help. Had bombardment of emails and phone calls over last couple of days. Sitting here panicking every time my phone rings or an email arrives. This is harassment pure and simple. They are supposed to serve not destroy you. The only positive I can say is they do not come close to the evil lying scum in the SEN department.
Social services.
– you cant not trust them if they speak to you without another professional witness or you can record what they tell you, as they may advise you that arranging handover at the school is bad, so you change it and it causes friction with other parent, only for social to deny they said that.
Social may tell you theyre not happy with the other parent and they have concerns, but then in court they will say there is no problem and so ial cant tell which parent is the issue.
– fathers rights is higher than social services. If i am cruel to a dog, the rspca will get involved , i may find the police and perhaps a court case to which i would be found guilty of cruelty and delt with.
Yet Dad can refuse to give children medication for conditions documented by the doctor, feed them food that makes them so ill it will give the days or weeks of painful acid reflux, constipation and if Dad sees children for longer could mean the childre so ill the end up with their health in crisis.
He can aliean the mom by lecturing the children about how mom is bad, how she lies , how she is breaching the court .. Basically brain washing young children to hate mom . He can talk about adult stuff with young children eg show court papers and even tell lies about mom eg she is a drunk, she has lots of men, she works in an adult club….
He can slap, his kids as its just his way of disaplining the children… And what does Social services do.. Claim they collecting evidence, like some morbid spectators watching young children being poisoned by a toxic parent who is very high on the narcisistic spectrum.
– mom on the other hand is critised, scrutanised, investigation, interigated and she is in a catch 22 situation or being told she maybe unfit to parent because she reacts to receiving sick children, in the same manor any human would.. What social services seem to want is mom to be have disconnected from the childrens failing health( physical and mental) and have not concern when children come back having outbursts where they repeat word for word , exactly what dad has schooled and brain washed them to say.
Social services, from my expierence are not fit for purpose, they will throw mom under the bus at court to save their own ass and it appears social just want a quick fix eg remove the children as ” we cant tell Dad how to look after the children”.. Really?? You cant Get one parent to correct his bad parenting and he refuses to go on the courses you recomend, and the one he did go on, he got kicked off for argueing and blaming Mom for everything.
At the moment im looking to find out how i can help someone to try and help her and her children , to try to get someone to deal with Dad, as for many years social services see it, but just do nothing, and if you challenge them they go on the attack and appear to pick on mom , quoting mental health” i worry about your mental health, i have the power to remove the children if youre not well” .. Counceling for ptsd caused by a hideous marriage is being used as a bulling attempt, even those mom no longer has or needs that help.
Hi I’m currently under social services due to my ex physically abusing our eldest daughter. I have refused all contact, and also i was in a 9 year abusive relationship with their father. Social services have suggested a child in need referral and reading some of these comments I’m unsure what to do. I’ve also been in and out of family court with him since 2014!!
Does anyone know of a situation where they’ve got involved without even telling the mother, let alone asking consent?
Yes. Two of my children were removed from my home without consent, without a court order or emergency powers. It was unlawful and it was not justified. There is currently a cover up. Myself and the children have never recovered. The children were returned the next day. I regard their removal as abduction/plagium
We’re currently involved in a CPP as part of a section 47. We are fully complying with every visit and question, as we must. We expect that the next conference will step down to a CIN plan. Do you know if that will be under section 47 (I.e. required compliance) or if we have the right to refuse, as mentioned in the article. Thanks!
Engagement under s17, child in need is voluntary, so you have no legal obligation to engage.
My daughter is 17, we are going through hell.
Social services have been involved since November, and at no time did they inform us our involvement with them was voluntary. about to be signed off on Tuesdsy, but daughter manipulating them to try and intervene with schooling, and they are.
Ridiculous, there should be laws to protect innocent parents, not Social workers making a bad situation worse.
Fantastically useful note. I am complaining about lack of consent to access medical records under a s17 assessment with my local council and they have written to say that Article 6 allows them to proceed and because the Children’s Act is over 30 years old there is confusion and contridiction.
They still claim they do not need consent especially before a case becomes a s17 as they have to move quickly.
It appears consent is not an issue Social Workers take seriously, indeed our coucil don’t even have forms to record it.
Try CS that jump straight to child protection plans for funding reasons. No section 17 assessments or help. Blanket approach.
‘ agreements ‘ to access your child with no written basis of concerns, no police involvement. For 12 months.
Male team leaders presuming they can enter your house at any time and suggest they should bath small children. ‘ it will be fun, wink wink’
And yes, the courts know. And they ignored it. As did the police.
Because it’s children’s services. They are untouchable.
My ex husband and I are currently in the CIN process and didn’t realise they actually do not have the power to do a number of things. Currently they are pushing for me to do a hair strand test (I’m a trainee solicitor and have refused as no grounds for it aside from my ex husband asking for it), but today during a meeting with CIN, the childrens school and my ex husband, the lady from CIN asked me if I have cancer (something she knew I had tests for the week before). She aired this hugely sensitive information in front of third parties without my consent claiming she had acted appropriately for the childrens safeguarding needs. I have made a complaint today to her Manager but am stunned that this level of highly confidential information has been aired without explicit consent. Has anyone experienced anything like this?
From my own bitter experience, it is very clear to me that the biggest danger to children is the intervention of social workers in their lives. Once they get their claws into your family both you and your children are doomed! Many lives are destroyed by them as they wield their destructive powers but look the other way in the face of any obvious danger to children. All power corrupts and social workers are a glaring example, but still there is no attempt to oversee their disastrous activities. Their line managers and legal teams just give them blind support while families are ruined and endless public funds are wasted. The present system cannot be improved while ignorant but arrogant social workers are given free reign and support to destroy any families who fall into their clutches. Society at large would be better off without this army of illiterate busybodies masquerading as do-gooders.
I am going though hell, we are not british, i cannot work i need medical threatment and NHS refuse .One of my child is in foster care and the other in interim care. We are going to become homeless. They are running a case on accusation only, not given any concrete help, case is now over 30 weeks . My youngest child is not going to come back to me and my oldest is 14.
I am living in hell as i am all alone my ex partner desappeared.
I missed my family and my country and i am blocked here like a prisoner, forced to live in poverty, sick and soon homeless. They said they have other people in the front to be rehoused but we cannot leave the country.
Social workers misconduct as been going on for eternity, they feel the need to use power and misunderstanding to their advantage. Families that just need a little support are brought down until they are broken and then they prey on them. I worked in foster care and I left because , I feel their ethics are totally bang out of order , I’ve lost all respect for them