Suing social services

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1) I may not have the legal right, but it's morally wrong to withold information, unless information from my mother or a social worker is forthcoming, it's going to reach new levels of unpleasantness, and that's something I don't want. It's not that my sister and I want a relationship with our father, but we do want to know basic factual information, and to withold that is quite upsetting.

There are other methods I can take to find out things, but I'd rather not make things more unpleasant than they need to be. It's all well and good to say I don't have a right, but unless you've grown up not knowing a significant part of your identity, and in my case, there is a medical condition involved, it may be hard to understand how upsetting it is to not know who you are, all because some don't feel like sharing the information.

2) I went into a sort of foster family at 16, and had the same social worker as my sibs, I don't know how to describe it, it was a scheme where families would take in teens between the ages of 16-18. I also dealt with the same social worker whilst visiting my siblings for a while.

3) I'm a bit annoyed that I seem to be being criticised for daring to suggest that, in this instance, social services are plain wrong.

4) I don't know, I'm only at the very beginning of a possible lengthy process, so it's another thing to investigate. I did not even know until recently that anything could be done, it was only when a close friend recently suggested there were some serious failings on their part that it occurred to me. I've made it clear it's all speculation at this point, I don't expect to be made to feel as if I'm doing something wrong by entertaining the idea.

Bossyboots

thesaint wrote:

The Solicitor's file will not contain a lot of the information that Social services hold. Social Services will forward information that the solicitor requests.

If the solicitor and children's guardian did their jobs properly they would have asked to see all documents held by social services. All documents relating to the case have to be filed at court and served on every party. If anything is required to be withheld the court will have to be asked to make a decision on whether this is appropriate. It is rare for anything to be withheld from any party right to the end of a case although there may be reasons not to reveal things to one or both parents at some stage while it is running. However, that information is normally imparted to the guardian so should appear on the children's legal records. The children's guardian will have read the social services file and asked for anything not already served.

The papers available on the solicitors's file should include:-

Any Form 78s (reports from police to social services)
Case Conference minutes
Looked After Child Review documents
Applications to Court
Statements of all the parties including the social workers whose case will be set out in those.
Care plans
Contact records
Threshold documents (the document which sets out what the local authority claims are its grounds for believing the children should be placed away from home)
The parents' responses to the threshold document
All Court Orders
Correspondence between the parties
Psychiatric/psychological reports.
Possibly court transcripts of final judgement
Document setting out agreed facts.
Case summary
Chronology


These documents should give a full history of the matter and a paper trail of how the case was conducted.

vastsarah_2

hi i was fostered at 8 and then adopted by the family at 16(kicked out at 17 another story)
I would like to find more about my childhood but wont be able to untill my grand parents die as they would needed to be imformed that i was after the information and i dont want to upset them(both 80)
Untill about 4 years ago i wouldnt trust the social services,my s/worker would repeat every thing we told her to the foster family.
Who then would turn on us the minute the door was closed.
But and it is a big but since having ds3 who has aspergers ,adhd,dislexia,flat feet and managing for many years
we asked for help and have got all that we asked for.2 days each week every hoilday (7 hours each day)Harrys social worker phones and email imformation about special meeds events /help/money.Would help with carers allowance and dla,school,(a big problem in primary)even dentisy
Good luck with what you decide to do,some time life deal a !!!!!! hand
in my case i walked away from it all had my own family and tried my hardness .

thesaint

Having worked for the children's section of social services, I would again tell you to ask your siblings to request to look at their files. If you are confident that the solicitor and the children's guardian did their jobs properly then take the choice not to bother.

I am sorry you feel like people are attacking you.


Good luck.

Morglin

"And that's just it, it's hard to conclusively prove anything when I don't have access to all the relevant information.

It just incenses me that, in our case, social services have caused a great deal of psychological upset with the result that our family is rather fragmented. No, things were not ideal beforehand, but my mother has seriously derailed after social services intervened with the last three children. They do not always know what is best, and it worries me that similar things may have happened to others. And the worst is that some will simply accept it because the authorities allegedly know what they are doing, and are therefore not to be challenged."



Social Services tend to be like doctors - they cover each other's backs, even when it is apparant a foul up has been made.

That's why (usually) when there is a public enquiry over a death of a child, supposedly under the care of social services, the end result amounts to nothing more than "lessons have been learnt and procedures have been changed".

It is very rare for anyone to be sacked - they are usually moved sideways.

At the first hint of any possible disciplinary action, they get the unions involved who (obviously) are only interested in their member/s not getting into bother - which also hinders any real answers being given.

To be fair, many social workers do TRY to act in the best interests of the child - but practices change and there are too many life-inexperienced and/or arrogant social workers around.

In an ideal world, we wouldn't need social workers, but sadly, many kids do need protecting from their own families.

I don't think you've got much chance of anyone being held to account in your case, but as I said, it would be best if you consulted a solicitor more experienced in all this, and who would have full knowledge of your circumstances.

Lin