Social Services Complaint

eezer

forchristsake wrote: »

The LA contacted this person inititally. stating they were the best person to care for the child and pushed for this

IT IS WHAT THE CHILD ALSO REQUESTED - THERE WISHES.

- Knowing the child is very important.

i.e. knowing there history - significant events that could impact or explain future behaviours.

Maybe the fact that this person may love them - and they may feel more of a sense of belonging within a stable family home.

"Tied in" isnt meant in a derrogatory way at all. But if there are risks - a residence order would mean no support at all, left alone, things may deteriorate beyond help. Isnt it better to be able to relinquish that responsibilty for whats in best interests of rest of the family if it were to reach extremes of not being able to cope with certain behaviours.

Also fostering would allow the child to b given chance of any school in area...even over subscribed ones (so pick of good education).

FinanciaL assistance that can be used to encourage after school activities - spent on keeping the child out of trouble, engaged etc.

providing a package that supports the child in a way that it can be a permanant home for them without any further disruptions

Are you really suggesting one of the reasons a child should be fostered is so they can have the pick of any school in the area? You are missing the very basic principle of permanency planning.

puddy

the child's wishes and feelings are paramount,,,,, but this does not mean that their wishes and feelings HAVE to be adhered to if assessments show that a decision would not be in their best interests

again - where is the child living? is the child already in the care system?

if the child is living at home and the LA have not started care proceedings, then its unlikely that you would be a LA foster carer. the child could either stay with you under private fostering regs (if you are not close family) or under RO or SGO.

if the child is in care and you want to care for the child AND the LA were in agreement that this would be as foster carers (why they would do this when its not permanent i dont know, but lets say for sake of argument they would), then as i say you would be required to make an application to become an LA foster carer.

you identify some supports that this child might need, but children access supports like these without being under the eye of social services as a LAC.

you're right that money can help with engaging children with extra curricular activities but many of these things can be accessed under the extended schools schemes for low or no money, OR the child may be considered a child in need even if he is living with you under RO or SGO, thereby still accessing services.
if the child's problems are criminally orientated, then he may be able to access services via the prevention section of the youth offending team.

none of these things are only able to be accessed by LAC, other children get these services too

again i ask, because you seem vague, what skills do you have to be able to work with the potential difficulties you have referred to, what techniques and strategies would you use to work with them

puddy

eezer wrote: »

Are you really suggesting one of the reasons a child should be fostered is so they can have the pick of any school in the area? You are missing the very basic principle of permanency planning.

yes, i forgot to respond to this point, this is not true in any case, secondary schools can be unbelievably resistant to taking LAC (especially problem ones) if they dont want to. if they are oversubscribed anyway, you've no chance.

forchristsake

eezer wrote: »

Are you really suggesting a child should be fostered just so they can have the pick of any school in the area? You are missing the very basic principle of permanency planning.

No, i wasnt just suggesting that... but the grim fact is...

who wouldnt try and get the best they could for any child? Get the most they can to give to this child?

School wasnt the only thing suggested.

A connection to the child...financial support. A social worker to be able to liase with, Address problems with, regular reviews, care plans, agreed by schools, carers, social services - as a group decided whats in best interest for the child. These things dont happen with residence orders, you are left to defend for yourself with no guidance.

Foster carers get training, advice etc. The child has a confident they can go to out of the family they are with - but at same time get to live with someone who can tell them about their past, life story, answer questions on their history from personal experience. Tell them personal things about themselves growing up, anecdotal stories that have more meaning and substance from someone who has experienced them growing up etc.

The OP Stated that if they had that kind of support in beggining, they may not have ended up having to give the child up for foster care in first place is point i am trying to make.

wouldnt it be wise to learn from past errors, to put the support in this time round to stop it ending up the same as before, To stop this child feeling rejected as you put.

puddy

The child has a confident they can go to out of the family they are with - but at same time get to live with someone who can tell them about their past, life story, answer questions on their history from personal experience. Tell them personal things about themselves growing up, anecdotal stories that have more meaning and substance from someone who has experienced them growing up etc.

would you not be able to do this under a RO or SGO?

if the child was in care other than your own care, would you have contact with the child so that they can access this rich and vital information?

forchristsake

puddy wrote: »

The child has a confident they can go to out of the family they are with - but at same time get to live with someone who can tell them about their past, life story, answer questions on their history from personal experience. Tell them personal things about themselves growing up, anecdotal stories that have more meaning and substance from someone who has experienced them growing up etc.

would you not be able to do this under a RO or SGO?

if the child was in care other than your own care, would you have contact with the child so that they can access this rich and vital information?

This is hypothetical..But as the aunt stated....she had a residence order. She had to beg for help that she didnt seem to get. Had he been fostered, this would have been easier to get. reviews etc would already be taking place. A named person to contact, who worked with family and child. Things the aunt already said took 2 years or more to establish hit and miss support.

Isnt it better to get that support with family that know and love you than with a stranger and only get to see your real birth family at scheduled times?

forchristsake

The aunt stated that the child was bought to her without her options being explained...only a residence order suggested.

Thats why i asked what obligation does SS have to explain all possible options available and give the one that is in best interest of the child.

Had this been done - would this family and the child have had a better outcome?

puddy

absolutely, living with family (if the family members are able to meet the needs of the child by demonstrating that they have the level of skill needed to work with very difficult problems sometimes), is the best outcome

but,, this needs to be permanent if possible. without knowing the full details of OP's query because we only know one part of the information, its impossible to say whether the right decision was made initially about the residence order, or whether OP tried to access services like camhs, statementing, school action or action plus, CAF meetings and assessments, etc etc etc. any parent can get access to these services, residence order or not.

not all of the OP makes sense, if the child was under RO then there would not be any 'reviews' (of a LAC type) so its unclear what decisions at the reviews were not acted on, what reviews does she mean?

if you are going to take a child on, you have to be prepared to offer stability, consistency and permanence if that is what the child needs (ie they are not going to live at home again) and you have to demonstate how you would do that better as a foster carer than under RO.

ultimately it is a balancing act, obviously the child's links to you (if you are talking about you) is extremely important to them and their heritage and history, but so is the need for permanence.

forchristsake

Sometimes though, if you know nothing of the system, no legal advise how do you know where to start.

The aunt said she had the boy 4 years and it was 2 years down the line the problems started and she tried to access support but didnt seem to get any that was sufficient.

Looking back, now reflecting, and going over everything thats happened, what if things were done differently? knowing what she knows now.

Maybe this will advise people taking residence orders etc to get advise, explore all there options before etc

hazydays

thanks for your reply, i have asked for a complaints procedure form twice from s/s, which to date i have not recieved.