Social Services Complaint

KDC

Hi all. I'm asking this on behalf of a friend.

She intends to complain about the treatment she's received by Social Services. However she and her husband do not qualify for
legal aid and they don't have money for a solicitor.

They took in her nephew on a residency order and from then on it all went downhill with regard to lack of support, advise and no financial assistance at all.

Her family were not made aware that they could foster the newphew, they were told to apply for a residency order and this was granted - 6wks after Social Services turned up on their doorstep with the nephew very late at night with only the clothes he was wearing. This was on the advice of Social Services.

It's quite complex and at the last review meeting with Social Services they (S.S) told my friend and her husband to get a legal team to deal with their complaint - knowing full well that they cannot afford a solicitor.

After 4 and half years the nephew has now gone into foster care under a Section 20 after 2yrs of asking/phoning/e-mails for help and support. It wasn't just financial help, but there were emotional/behavioural problems too. SS have slated her family and blamed everything onto them.

Does anybody know if CAB could help them? They both work but are really struggling for money and have no spare cash. They didn't get a penny from L.A and have recently been told that they should've got residency payments - but they didn't.

She's going to try and get 30mins free advice from a solicitor if she can find one who deals with this type of issue. If she's told that she has a good case but has to pay for legal services then she's stumped.

Any ideas anybody??

Thanks.

nochancesalon

where are u based. s 20 means the kid can go whever the primary care giver decides, ss have no power till s36

whitewing

It sounds a nightmare.

What I don't understand is what your friend wants as a solution? Do they want the nephew back, do they want an apology and change in working practise so that it dopesn't happen to anyone else, do they want payment for the time they had the nephew?

Poppy9

All councils should have a dedicated complaints officer and procedures has your friend gone through this procedure?

If your friends are working and are members of a union they could get legal advice from them.

What does your friend want from the council? Do they want the nephew back but with support (both financial and otherwise)? Do they want compensation for the years that her nephew was with her?

KDC

Thanks for the replies. We're in East Midlands. She will complain and follow the correct proceedure. We've checked the council website about complaints and over all its about the lack of support for her family and nephew when problems arose. Review panels said that things needed to be done, but they weren't.

Proceedures were not followed and they had no financial support at all - just got CTC and CBen. She asked about fostering but council recommended the residency order instead.

The final review makes the family sound absolutely terrible and that they didn't treat the nephew as one of the family - which is rubbish. My friend disputes alot of the things written in the final review and told this to the Social Worker who said that he would note her comments - but she's not seen an amended review or anything in writing which notes her comments - after being told by the SW that it would be done.

She doesn't want this to happen to another family. Her family have been wrongly blamed for several things that happened too.

Just a thought, can she request all the notes taken regarding this case under the Freedom of Info Act?? Alot of her chasing them for support back in 2009 was via 'phone calls, being told that somebody would ring back and they never did. All these calls should be logged on SS computer system - every contact detail and what was said. Can she request this?

Thanks again for replying and I've got to go out so please don't be cross that I can't reply for a while. I'll keep comp on and check response when I return.

gizmo111

What were these reviews? What is the final review you talk about when was it?

When a RO is granted SS close the case as the person with the RO has PR. Obviously they didn't think that fostering was appropriate in this case, maybe your freinds wouldn't have met the regs or maybe there were other reasons. Fostering payments aren't much more than the CB and CTC anyhow - usually but not all LA's will pay the difference when a RO or Special Guardianship order is made.

The child is now accommodated under S20 - what are the plans for him? Where are his parents?

What is it your friend wants - the child back, or the money for the past?

What exactly is she complaining about - how she was treated may just be the procedures and may seem unfair to her but may be not.
The phone calls will be logged under the childs record and she won't be able to see those but she can ask for a list of all the times she has rang but not really sure how that would benefit her unless they are denying she has rang.

sunshine_1988

Complaining to the council would really depend on the outcome that she wants, if she wants the nephew back/decision changed I am afraid thats not something that complaining will acheive as they are matters for the social service team and the court.

She may be able to complain and get the residency payments back, if she was entitled to them.

FOI wouldnt really get her too far either, it would all depend on what info they actually held about her calls etc, some councils do not keep record of all calls. And if the info named her nephew it would be a DPA issue, which I think you would need PR for.

I would say to give the complaints team a call as they can certainly advise, but I think they are right that she needs a Solicitor.

hazydays

Hi i am the friend that my friend is talking about. My nephew went in to care under section 20, voluntary. I do have pr, with is now shared with the local authority.i have chose to not have him back. I have been fighting for help and support for both myself, my family and nephew for two years.He came to me over 4 yrs ago. I knew nothing of how the care system worked, and trusted what the s/s told me. They knew we couldnt afford legal as all our money had gone in to a new house that we had bought b4 my nephew came to us.They were the ones who told me to go for the residency order, fostering or any other option was never discussed. i have since found out that this could of been one of the options. also to find out that we could of had residency payments. this came to light last year, my nephew had already been with me for sometime, i began to fill out the forms, but then found it intrusive to have to list my debts. I made it clear that this shouldn't really come in to it, as he is not my child. So it stopped there.It took a complaint letter the first time round to get them involved, is was obvious that before my nephew came to me that there was going to be emotional and challenging behaviour and support was going to be required. The residency order was in place with six weeks and within a month or two s/s were gone. for two years we continued on our own. It was never just about money, but for help and support for myself, nephew and family. I had said two years ago without this i would be unable to continue to care for him. It was made clear from the first assessment that there were issues that needed to be addressed support and help for myself and nephew. From this we had 1 or visits which were pointless. It took 7 months and things to reach severe crises point and threats of my nephew having to leave to get social services to come out to us.This took 15 calls a day over 5 days.This was what the straw that broke the camels back. I had been begging for help but got nothing. A meeting took place before xmas and we made it clear that they had done nothing to help and had come a little too late. We did say that if things continued the way they were, we could no longer care for my nephew. s/s got him involved in youth club etc, but was not on a regular basis. visits from s/s were hit and miss, often cancelled etc. Again after xmas we hit crises point again, putting enormous stress and strain on the family. we made it clear we could not continue like this and some thing had to be. We had thought my nephew would go to a relative, and arrangements, assessments were supposed to have been begun in feb. This was not the case. things were getting ever more strained at home, s/s were continually aware of this, the visits got less and less. during this we were hitting crisis point again and again.S/s were trying get the relative to take my nephew on with a residency order, which she refused. She had issues with housing to which she requested assistance with, and also wanted things in place for his emotional needs. s/s services told us that they were looking at foster care, at the time, this was not the case.we were being told different things, calls/letter being ignored by both myself and my relative. we wanted my newphew to move as smoothly as possible. 4 months later nothing has been done, things havent moved forward, again we hit crises point which was effecting myself and own children. I put in writing that i no longer could care for my nephew and something had to be done. I was told by s/s that that a foster search was done. a week later i wrote again, due to the s/s visit yet again being cancelled. I wanted a update on things, what was the procedure time-scale etc.
I got no reply to this, but got a phone that evening to be told that a placement had been found and he was going he next morning. This was less than 12 hours notice, it was not an emergency. It could of been more planned, giving me time to get his things together and say a proper goodbye, but it wasn't just very rushed and shocking experience. this was when I got the assessment, i was told by s/s that it had to look bad to get the foster funding for my nephew.I had a meeting the following week where i raised my many concerns with the assessment, as i found many parts unfair and untrue.I disagree with issues being insignificant, these insignificant things occurred on a daily basis for over two years. with no help and support with i requested many many times, turned this issues in to much bigger things that had an effect on myself and my children. I was told the bits i did not could possibly be changed, but that was up to the manager. I am still awaiting this assessment with the changes. as far as i am aware the assessment has gone ahead with out my say so. I was given no information on the procedures of my nephew going in to foster care and was left in limbo........

sorry its a bit long winded will continue with the rest , just want to give you an idea of how things went.

whitewing

Okay, so the suggested outcome you want is:

1. the report rewritten or amended to show a true reflection of the situation, or a letter from you attached to the report to highlight your version of events? Citizen's Advice Bureau could probably help you with that. Put it into the Complaints Team for SS.
2. procedures changed to offer more support/correct advice to other families in the same situation? If CAB help you write the above letter, the CAB or your MP could then write a covering letter and forward a copy of your letter asking for procedures to be changed.
3. financial support/compensation to cover the time your nephew spent with you? Try the CAB for free advice on the way forward with that. If this is the main result that you are after, it will need to be considered in conjunction with points 1 and 2.

Other things to consider - how much worsening of your nephew's situation was attributable to you wanting him out, or wanting to be paid more money for having him? What were his feelings on the subject? Do you still see him? (In fact, do the above letters need to come jointly from you and him; if so, take him to CAB with you).

gizmo111

Hi i am the friend that my friend is talking about. My nephew went in to care under section 20, voluntary. I do have pr, with is now shared with the local authority. No it is not – the LA do not have PR when a child is accommodated under S20, you have it shared with the parents – where are they in all this?


i have chose to not have him back. I have been fighting for help and support for both myself, my family and nephew for two years.He came to me over 4 yrs ago. I knew nothing of how the care system worked, and trusted what the s/s told me. They knew we couldnt afford legal as all our money had gone in to a new house that we had bought b4 alec came to us.

Obviously they never took care proceedings but you would have been entitled to free legal advice and representation as it involves proceedings of a child.

They were the ones who told me to go for the residency order, fostering or any other option was never discussed. LA will always go for permanency options for a child rather than fostering and they may have other reasons that you would not have met the fostering regulations.

i have since found out that this could of been one of the options. also to find out that we could of had residency payments. Explained above there is little difference between these and the total of CTC and CB – you would have only got the difference, not full amount plus CTC & CB

this came to light last year, my nephew had already been with me for sometime, i began to fill out the forms, but then found it intrusive to have to list my debts. I made it clear that this shouldn't really come in to it, as he is not my child.

What form was this?

So it stopped there.It took a complaint letter the first time round to get them involved, is was obvious that before my nephew came to me that there was going to be emotional and challenging behaviour and support was going to be required.

You should have discussed this and planned how it would be managed before agreeing to the RO – has your nephew had CAMHs support? Extra support at school is he statemented?

The residency order was in place with six weeks and within a month or two s/s were gone. for two years we continued on our own. Which is correct from the date you had PR they would no longer be involved – if there were issues with your care needing the case to remain open then they wouldn’t have supported the RO. From this moment on your nephew was your responsibility.

It was never just about money, but for help and support for myself, nephew and family. I had said two years ago without this i would be unable to continue to care for him. It was made clear from the first assessment that there were issues that needed to be addressed support and help for myself and nephew.

What assessment was this and when?

From this we had 1 or visits which were pointless. It took 7 months and things to reach severe crises point and threats of my nephew having to leave to get social services to come out to us.This took 15 calls a day over 5 days.This was what the straw that broke the camels back. I had been begging for help but got nothing. A meeting took place before xmas and we made it clear that they had done nothing to help and had come a little too late. We did say that if things continued the way they were, we could no longer care for my nephew. s/s got him involved in youth club etc, but was not on a regular basis. visits from s/s were hit and miss, often cancelled etc. Again after xmas we hit crises point again, putting enormous stress and strain on the family. we made it clear we could not continue like this and some thing had to be. We had thought my nephew would go to a relative, and arrangements, assessments were supposed to have been begun in feb.

Again assessments of who and what sort of meeting.

This was not the case. things were getting ever more strained at home, s/s were continually aware of this, the visits got less and less. during this we were hitting crisis point again and again.S/s were trying get the relative to take my nephew on with a residency order, which she refused. She had issues with housing to which she requested assistance with, and also wanted things in place for his emotional needs. s/s services told us that they were looking at foster care, at the time, this was not the case.we were being told different things,

How do you know that they weren’t exploring foster care as an option?

calls/letter being ignored by both myself and my relative. we wanted my newphew to move as smoothly as possible. 4 months later nothing has been done, things havent moved forward, again we hit crises point which was effecting myself and own children. I put in writing that i no longer could care for my nephew and something had to be done. I was told by s/s that that a foster search was done. a week later i wrote again, due to the s/s visit yet again being cancelled. I wanted a update on things, what was the procedure time-scale etc.
I got no reply to this, but got a phone that evening to be told that a placement had been found and he was going he next morning. This was less than 12 hours notice, it was not an emergency.

But you seemed very eager for him to move on – foster placements don’t just stay empty they are often very quick.

It could of been more planned, giving me time to get his things together and say a proper goodbye, but it wasn't just very rushed and shocking experience.

Are you having contact with him?

this was when I got the assessment, i was told by s/s that it had to look bad to get the foster funding for my nephew. Are you sure?

I had a meeting the following week where i raised my many concerns with the assessment, as i found many parts unfair and untrue.I disagree with issues being insignificant,

I would say 99.9% of assessments that I do the person who is being assessed feels they are unfair.

these insignificant things occurred on a daily basis for over two years. with no help and support with i requested many many times, turned this issues in to much bigger things that had an effect on myself and my children.

What sort of things?

I was told the bits i did not could possibly be changed, but that was up to the manager. I am still awaiting this assessment with the changes. as far as i am aware the assessment has gone ahead with out my say so. I was given no information on the
procedures of my nephew going in to foster care and was left in limbo........

An assessment will not be changed because the family don’t like the contents – it will be noted on the records and if there is a next review bought up then and discussed.
When you say procedures what do you mean – a placement is found and the child is moved, then follows LAC Procedures which as you have PR you will be part of. Reviews, permission to certain stuff etc.

sorry its a bit long winded will continue with the rest , just want to give you an idea of how things went.

Can you sya what sort of support you think would have helped your nephew to stay with your family?

esmy

Hazydays - Was the form you started to complete a financial assessment for Residence Order allowances? This is usually a requirement before an allowance can be paid and if you chose not to proceed because you didn't want to disclose your finances, the LA couldn't complete the assessment for any payments. You say that he wasn't your child but by this point you had RO for him, so had parental responsibility.
Where was your nephew before he came to you? Were LA involved with him and his parents before he lived with you?How he came into your care sometimes makes a difference to how the LA proceed.
Social Work assessments aren't usually changed unless things are factually incorrect - ours have an additional bit for family's feedback to be recorded.