My child has been reported to social services

neverdespairgirl

My dad's car was broken into when I was about 8. A policeman called at the house, and wasn't remotely interested in teh car once he'd seen me. I'd decided to see if I could ride my bike down a flight of 6 steep stairs (I was 8, you see. Seemed like a good idea at the time).

He asked me lots of questions about it, having chucked my parents out of the room, and was then reassured by me that I had actually decided to ride my bike down some stairs.

Don't worry OP.

Seanymph

They were going to call social services on me once. I turned up at casualty with my toddler who had a cut lip from falling off the toilet and hitting the sink whilst in the care of her grandmother.

The problem was caused when I couldn't remember her date of birth (truly!) and I was insisting that she had been born there and they couldn't find any records...... cue many sideways looks, staff being called from other offices, and security standing VERY conspicuously behind me.

I remember still the fear because I couldn't get the answer they wanted.

You have nothing to worry about - you know that, your husband knows that - the people at the centre know that. All they are doing is covering their back, all agencies who deal with kids are on permanent red alert after the recent cases that went terribly wrong.

They may or may nto call you -but even if they do it's a formality. Speak to them, reassure them, they'll go away.

Nicki

bestpud wrote: »

That's the problem - people will stop taking their children out for fear of being reported!

And using resources for this kind of nonsense means they won't have time or money to get out and find those who are never taken to places like that in this first place!

So because THIS poster can explain how and why her child is bruised quickly and easily means in your opinion that NO parent of a child at the doddery stage of walking should ever be questioned as to how the bruises occured? There will in that case be a lot of badly abused and neglected children falling through the net until they reach the age of about 3 and can be expected to be more steady.

As many of us have said, IF social services get in touch at all, it is likely to be a quick call to check out the story and if the bruises are consistent with the explanation, that will be the end of it. Sadly though there are kids who are not as lucky as OP's who will first come onto the radar because someone has picked up that they have bumps and bruises more often than is to be expected.

Unless there is a fail safe way to pick up all these unfortunate children just by looking at them in a play setting, then there has to be a protocol and policy to make sure they don't slip through the net. And that is likely to mean that many more completely innocent and benign parents are briefly contacted and screened, than guilty ones. For me, as a parent, having had the report made against myself, that is a price worth paying.

sarahevie

She is known to the healthcare professionals as she has congenital lung and heart problems, and sees a specialist regularly. They don't really know about this at the children's centre though.

She also recently bust open her septum, by knocking it lightly, there was an underlying problem with it apparently according to the surgeon who operated on her. Again the children's centre wouldn't know.

I have asked about whether she has further conditions which make her so clumsy, but was dismissed by my GP as 'paranoid' parent, and told not to wrap her in cotton wool, she's no clumsier than other babies her age, which I agree with.

She has never had any other visible marks on her, when I have taken her there, I knew it would be routine just wondered what the stages were.

emg

I work in Children's Services and our policy would encourage us to report a child with a bruise on their cheek as it is a less common site for an injury (bruises on shins and foreheads would be less likely to trigger a report). One of the reasons we are meant to report them is, while an isolated incident may not really be a concern, if there is any other information on that child then it can be added together to form a bigger picture. The failings of the previous high-profile cases were that lots of people had lots of bits of information and low level concerns but they never got 'joined up'. HV are also notified of any children attending A+E for the same reason.

Don't worry OP, the Children's Centre staff will most likely be aware that this is an innocent injury and SS probably wont be that interested.

AnnaLicious_2

I work in children's services also, and there is no joining up of information. If you're going to a children's centre and have been referred to Social Services, your details will be on eStart, CareFirst and maybe more Capita produced software. But one Local Authority won't talk to another, and records won't follow children. They barely follow around a local authority, much less connect up police and NHS records. ContactPoint was supposed to do this, but the new government threw that in the bin. We are going to continue seeing children fall through the system as there is no effective system to help all agencies involved in a child's life speak to each other.

To the OP - if you're unhappy with being referred, send a letter of your concerns to the Children's Services department at your local council. Even if the centre isn't directly run by them (many are commissioned out to private agencies), they are still responsible for them.

If social services start giving you grief, just move 10 miles down the road to a new county. They will never find you.

Not that I'm growing jaded and bitter...

ali-t

AnnaLicious wrote: »

I work in children's services also, and there is no joining up of information. If you're going to a children's centre and have been referred to Social Services, your details will be on eStart, CareFirst and maybe more Capita produced software. But one Local Authority won't talk to another, and records won't follow children. They barely follow around a local authority, much less connect up police and NHS records.

I am glad I don't work where you work! Where I am there is continuous contact between childrens services, police, health etc and multi-agency teams who ensure that information is shared and concerns are followed up jointly where necessary.

jenhug

my in laws were investigated when my hubby was about 2. he was constantly cutting his head open etc and visiting A&E. One day SS turned up unannounced, and were probing his many injuries, while they were there he fell off aq step and cut his head open, needing a trip to A&E and more stitches! He is, and always has been a clumsy sod!

bestpud

Nicki wrote: »

So because THIS poster can explain how and why her child is bruised quickly and easily means in your opinion that NO parent of a child at the doddery stage of walking should ever be questioned as to how the bruises occured? There will in that case be a lot of badly abused and neglected children falling through the net until they reach the age of about 3 and can be expected to be more steady.

As many of us have said, IF social services get in touch at all, it is likely to be a quick call to check out the story and if the bruises are consistent with the explanation, that will be the end of it. Sadly though there are kids who are not as lucky as OP's who will first come onto the radar because someone has picked up that they have bumps and bruises more often than is to be expected.

Unless there is a fail safe way to pick up all these unfortunate children just by looking at them in a play setting, then there has to be a protocol and policy to make sure they don't slip through the net. And that is likely to mean that many more completely innocent and benign parents are briefly contacted and screened, than guilty ones. For me, as a parent, having had the report made against myself, that is a price worth paying.

You're missing the point.

In an ideal world, everything would be checked out and no children would fall through the net because they'd have enough social workers to deal with stuff like this AND deal with the more serious cases.

Unfortunately, there is not enough social workers and there is not enough finance for them to deal with the caseloads they already have!

Also, as I said, the more serious cases will not take their children to play centres, so social workers need to get out and see them elsewhere. How can they do that when they must have goodness knows how many of these common injuries to follow up?

rinabean

bestpud wrote: »

You're missing the point.

In an ideal world, everything would be checked out and no children would fall through the net because they'd have enough social workers to deal with stuff like this AND deal with the more serious cases.

Unfortunately, there is not enough social workers and there is not enough finance for them to deal with the caseloads they already have!

Also, as I said, the more serious cases will not take their children to play centres, so social workers need to get out and see them elsewhere. How can they do that when they must have goodness knows how many of these common injuries to follow up?

So you think they shouldn't look into children who people have seen having a suspicious number/severity of bruises, because you think there's not enough money to just log information when received, because they are understaffed. But social workers should be methodically knocking on the doors of every house to find the kids who aren't taken to places where people will report suspicious injuries? This is the method that uses the least staff, because social workers themselves are only involved at the very last step.