Author Archives: Sarah Phillimore

A child’s perspective – Tammy’s story

Thanks to the TaKen UK website for letting us share this. Obviously, we don’t know all the details of what happened to Tammy’s family – the fact that care proceedings lasted from 1989 – 1992 suggests that the case was about more than just one accident in the kitchen.

But whatever happened in this case, her perspective on her pain and hurt about what she believes happened to her and her family emphasises the emotional cost of decisions in the family courts; something we should not lose sight of.

Tammy’s story – told in 2006

“In the best interest of the child” that’s what the professional’s state, but even the professionals and the family courts can be wrong as they were in my case.

Let me explain about my birth family, and myself. I am a young adopted adult; I was taken from my mum nearly 17 years ago on a false allegation, I was seven months old and sitting in my bouncing chair, my mum had gone into the kitchen to make me a night feed. I was happily playing with an activity toy, which I dropped on the floor; I leant forward to reach the toy but the chair followed me arid tipped forward falling on top of me. I sustained a bruise on my cheek. And that’s where my life was changed forever.

My case was heard within the family court in the years 1989 which lasted all the way to 1992. I was placed with a set of foster carers whom I stayed with for 13 months.

Then one-day social services accused the foster carers of suffering from depression and removed me from their care! I was then placed with three lots of emergency foster carers before being placed with my pre adopters, who then became my parents.

While this was happening to me my mum gave birth to my brother Cameron. One minute after his birth social services (a male) walked into the labour suite and tried to hand a place and safety order in writing to my mum who was laid on the bed with no clothes on and she had not even delivered the placenta. Medical staff asked the social worker to leave on three occasions eventually the social worker left the labour suite, leaving my mum very distressed and losing all her dignity.

My mum and Cameron went home to my grandparents where they resided until the 28th of December 1990. My mum then went to the family court as social services were trying for an interim care order to remove my brother from her care. My mum fought and won full parental rights of Cameron and no further action was taken.

All my mum wanted was to fight for me, she attended many family courts, which were held in secret and she was not allowed to talk about our case or me to anyone.

Time passed and Cameron reached the age of 21 months old, when the social services actually reached a date for my freeing order, which was in the year of 1992; there were no concerns to Cameron’s welfare. She was an excellent mother to him.

The judge who heard my case made his decision on the basis that social services had delayed my case for over two and a half years. On reading his decision to my mum (he stated) “Miss Coulter if I return your daughter home to you, you will be a stranger to her” and on that decision I was freed for adoption and my whole future was completely changed.

Finding out that you are adopted is one of the worst feelings in the world because you feel that all your identity you have known of yourself is a lie; for example your whole childhood and personality.

I found out through photos that my brother was still with my mum and is one and a half years younger than me. This was very upsetting and left me wondering why my mum wanted my brother and not me.

Left with these unanswered questions and feeling very confused; like I did not belong anywhere I wanted to find the truth, and the answers to my questions, the only person who could answer them was my mum.

My decision to find my birth family was not supported in the way in which I would have liked from my adoptive parents. I went about looking for my mum by first of all ringing support after adoption that told me I must wait until I am 18 years of age and would not offer me any help or advice. Which left me more confused and very upset?

In January this year on a Thursday night I received a phone call from my best friend. She told me to go over to her house, as it was very important. I had no idea of what I was to be told. Her laptop was placed on her bed and she told me to read the posting. I was ecstatic as I read the information, which confirmed that my mum was looking for me as much as I was looking for her.

My friend who knew as much as I did about my adoption found the posting when secretly putting my name on GENES REUNITED. I found myself emailing her my mobile number as I knew the same information which was written in her posting; which included information that nobody would have known about me.

I waited three and a half hours for the phone call which would change my whole life, and answer all the unanswered questions which had been tormenting me since the age of about 11 when I moved to Comprehensive School where I met many other adopted and fostered children.

Waiting for the phone call was the most exciting and precious time of my life, the hours seemed like weeks. In the next breath I was actually talking to my mum on the phone, we spoke for an hour about everything that we could. We put the phone down and later that evening I rang my mum back and told her I know it was short notice but could we please meet the following morning and she agreed to.

Our meeting was very emotional for the both of us, neither of us spoke we just put our arms around each other and cried together, we held each other very tight and I cant explain how happy I was feeling.

After many secret meetings I decided to tell my adoptive parents about my news, I did not tell them for about two months because I knew what their reaction would be. When I told my mum, as my dad was at work she cried and turned her back on me making me feel very isolated as if I had done something wrong. They never did understand why it was important that I find my birth family nor did they support me at the emotional time. I was keeping in contact via the Internet with my birth family as my mobile phone was confiscated; however they also stopped me from using the Internet to stop any contact, which I was having with my birth family. During this time I was studying for my AS levels which I failed due to all the stress and confusion.

The way my adoptive parents were towards my other life caused a huge conflict in the house making life unbearable at home and at school. I was eventually turned away from my home due to arguments other than my birth parents; this is when I phoned my birth mum, as I had nowhere else to turn. It was too late when I was asked to return to the house I did not want to be treated like a child nor did I want to my feelings to be ignored any longer, so I decided to move in with my birth family.

This brings me to why I am here today, I was a child who was wrongfully removed from the care of my mother and most of all I have had the rights taken away from me to have enjoyed the right to a family life with my natural family.

I would like to say I have had a good upbringing by my adoptive parents and I love them very much, however the complication of my adoption also ruined my relationship with my adoptive parents, as I only wanted to find the truth about my life.

I am publicly speaking today on behalf of children and parents who have also been through the secrecy of family courts and the injustices that have taken place and do still take place and the devastation of what one decision that determines the future of a child can cause to a whole family.

Since I have moved in with my birth family I see the relationship between my mother, brother and sister and cannot help feeling like I have missed out no matter how much I fit in now. We have all bonded very well, I now feel as if I fit in somewhere and feel I can be myself as I have found out who I really am and that my mum never did anything wrong. Over the years Yvonne has been fighting to prove her innocence and that an injustice has taken place. I am very angry and also upset that my mum was treated like a criminal and punished for life on something that she never did, and she had the right to a family life taken away.

Let me explain to you how I am feeling:

• Confused
• Hurt
• Stripped of my identity
• I missed out on a relationship with my brothers and sisters, mum and dad and other close relations
• Exhausted through lies

• I know I am not the only person to have gone through the hell of secrecy in family courts and hope to have expressed the way in which they will feel and are feeling at my age.

Changes that I would like to see happen.

1) For medical evidence used in the courts to not be based on probabilities when determining a child’s future, it must be fact.

2) To stop social services making medical diagnoses when not qualified to do so.

3) For social services when conducting assessments to be thorough and not based on self-opinions but facts.

4) For an independent body who is impartial to social services to be brought in when social services are assessing a family and to check they are following all guide lines of social work.

5) More support for families with whatever reason; a low IQ, a mother whom has depression, a parent that has suffered domestic violence and also a parent whom has a disability. More outside agencies should be involved to help put support packages in place to help families stay together and have the right to a family life.

6) Slow integration of a child back with its natural family should be paramount and decisions to take away the child should be the last resort. For example my mum was told she would be a stranger to me if I were returned home to her however my foster parents and my adoptive parents were also strangers.

7) The most important factor of us all being here today is about the secrecy surrounding the family courts and why they should be opened, you have all listened to my story and many of you would have read similar stories to mine in the media. I am of age where I can talk about the detrimental effects that the secrecy of the family courts has caused to me.

Many of the children who have been taken in the past and are still being taken do not have a voice.

The opening of the family courts would make it a fairer, non judgmental and a more impartial system which would help children that are left in the hands of abuser’s and would also work by stopping children from being wrongfully removed and injustices from taking place.

So please when considering the opening of the family courts take into account that we are all human and we have feelings and the way in which the courts have been working up to this day has been inhumane in many cases and human rights have been exploited.

The detrimental emotional effects and the separation, has on children torn apart from their birth families, lasts a life time.

How is the system doing?

Key points from recent discussion from the Guardian Social Care Network about the child protection system and how it is faring. Some examples of what said are below:

Misrepresentation of Social Work

Andrew Webb, president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services: “I agree entirely with the comments about us needing to understand and promote sucess in working with children at risk of harm. But I still get very frustrated by the lack of sustained access for the sector to promote this in the face of all the presumptions about how our systems are failing so many children.”

Building trust between families and the authorities

Cathy Ashley, Chief Executive of the Family Rights Group: “What can make a difference is access to specialist independent advice and advocacy – with advisers who can assist families to navigate the system and consider what is in the child’s interests and what would work, without fear that that the adviser will judge them or has power over them.”

Improving liaison between different organisations

June Thoburn, professor of social work, University of East Anglia: “Working across agencies and professions works best when a ‘team around the family’ approach is used, and that works best when child and family social work teams combine family support and child protection work and are locality based.”

David Niven, of David Niven Associates: “All serious case reviews talk about failures in communication between agencies – this is true but I believe it’s compounded by massive restructuring in most organisations, partly due to the austerity measures, and so the people in different agencies that are meant to liaise with each other now frequently have never met so there is no relationship to built on.”

Carol Long: “Some local authorities already have a multi-agency safeguarding hub or similar which, if they are working effectively, show great promise in identifying cases where children may be at risk. ”

Sue Woolmore, chair, Association of Independent LSCB Chairs: “Local safeguarding children boards have a role to play in creating a culture of information sharing which puts the needs of the child at the centre, rather than allowing workers to feel inhibited by threats of legal action/data protection/confidentiality. This is no easy task and is a real test of how child-centred the system is willing to be.”

Medical Doctors – Basic principles of child protection and reviews of evidence

The British Medical Association Child Protection Tool Kit.

The British Medical Association (BMA) have an excellent resource called the Child Protection Toolkit which distills essential principles of child protection practice for doctors. This is now hosted on on Paediatric Care Online – an online decision support tool for all frontline practitioners in contact with infants, children and young people.

The BMA set out the basic Principles on ‘card 2’

Basic Principles of Child Protection for Doctors

In child protection cases, a doctor’s primary responsibility is to the well being of the child or children concerned. Where a child is at risk of serious harm, the interests of the child override those of parents or carers. Never delay taking emergency action (card 7).

All doctors working with children, parents and other adults in contact with children should be able to recognise, and know how to act upon, signs that a child may be at risk of abuse or neglect, both in a home environment and in residential and other institutions (cards 5 and 6).

Any doctor seeing a child who raises concerns must ensure follow-on care. In particular, children must not be discharged from hospital without a full examination (cards 13 and 14).

Efforts should be made to include children and young people in decisions which closely affect them. The views and wishes of children should therefore be listened to and respected according to their competence and the level of their understanding. In some cases translation services suitable for young people may be needed (card 8).

Wherever possible, the involvement and support of those who have parental responsibility for, or regular care of, a child should be encouraged, in so far as this is in keeping with promoting the best interests of the child or children concerned. Older children and young people may have their own views about parental involvement (card 11).

When concerns about deliberate harm to children or young people have been raised, doctors must keep clear, accurate, comprehensive and contemporaneous notes. This must include a future care plan and identify the individual with lead responsibility (card 12).

All doctors working with children, parents and other adults in contact with children must be familiar with relevant local child protection procedures, and must know how to deal promptly and professionally with any child protection concerns raised during their practice (card 7).

All doctors working directly with children should ensure that safeguarding and promoting their welfare forms an integral part of all stages of the care they offer. Where doctors have patients who are parents or carers, they must also consider the potential impact of health conditions in those adults on the children in their care (card 7).

Wherever a doctor sees a child who may be at risk, he or she must ensure that systems are in place to ensure follow-up care (cards 1 and 3).

As full a picture as possible of the circumstances of a child at risk must be drawn up (cards 13 and 14)

Where a child presents at hospital, inquiries must be made about any previous admissions (cards 14 and 15).

Where a child is admitted to hospital, a named consultant must be given overall responsibility for the child protection aspects of the case (cards 14 and 15).

Any child admitted to hospital about whom there are concerns about deliberate harm must receive a thorough examination within 24 hours unless it would compromise the child’s care or wellbeing (cards 14 and 15).

Where a child at risk is to be discharged from hospital, a documented plan for the future care of the child must be drawn up (cards 14 and 15).

A child at risk must not be discharged from hospital without being registered at an identified GP (cards 14 and 15).

All professionals must be clear about their own responsibilities, and which professional has overall responsibility for the child- protection aspects of a child’s care.

Key advice: Royal College of General Practitioners; Safeguarding Children and Young People

Key review findings from systematic reviews

These inform clinical best practice in the Child Protection Companion. All reviews can be downloaded from the Royal College of Paediatrics. As of 2018, 7new studies have been included in this update. Two studies reported on fractures indicative of abuse, two studies described the evidence for radiological dating of fractures in children and three studies discussed which radiological investigations should be performed to identify fractures in suspected child abuse.

Response to Commentators #2

You are apologists for a multi billion pound industry

This is a response by Sarah Phillimore, a family law barrister

I confess that I did not think the post Establishing Good Relationships would provoke much by way of comment either good or bad. But ‘Outraged’ lived up to his or her name.

Outraged said:

This doesn’t mean that either the parent or the social worker has to be 100% well behaved 100% of the time; this probably isn’t possible.” Twaddle…absolute twaddle…a social worker is supposed to be a “professional”, they have standards and codes of practice to adhere to, which includes the social worker being professional, not being “well behaved” completely contravenes that. In that instance any social worker who does not behave well 100% for 100% of the time is in contravention of their professional ethics. Hence they should be hauled in front of the HCPC “fitness to practice” hearing and if serious enough prosecuted for Misconduct or Misfeasance in Public Office. The fact that this is happening, Social workers ARE being struck off and being prosecuted undermines the whole toadying drivel written on this website.

The point of this post was NOT to suggest that we ought to expect social workers to behave badly to the point that they fail to adhere to professional standards and ethical codes. The point being made was that the social work/parent relationship is one between two humans, working in often stressful and difficult situations.

It is not difficult to see how both participants in that relationship might at times be guilty of failing to listen carefully or failing to respond authentically. What is important is that people can recognize when they are behaving in ways that don’t promote healthy working relationships and take active steps to improve the situation.

I accept that I probably need to change the wording of this post because if anyone is reading thinks we advocate anything less than professionalism from social workers, this is not our intent at all and I am sorry if my post was clumsily worded.

The simple point I was trying to make is that social workers are human too. And respect and good working relationships are a two way street. But of course if you think you have been badly treated or a social worker has acted unprofessionally you must complain and take action as this is not acceptable.

The issue of standards of professional conduct and proper routes of complaint is an important one and hopefully we will soon be able to provide more detailed information about this in another post. [Edit – this has now been done, see our post on making a complaint]

For now I will edit the Relationships post to reflect Outrage’s concern.

Anyone who thinks this site is ‘toadying drivel’ either hasn’t read it or has a very different definition of ‘toadying drivel’ than most.

This site should be taken down instantly, you are disinformation agents, there is a mass of evidence out there for the abuse of parents and children by the social services of this country, illegal actions by social workers, solicitors, the courts. There are no conspiracy theories here, the Social Services are stealing children, it is a multi-billion pound industry that cares little for child protection and is focused on profits.

Again, a comment that refers to the ‘mass of evidence out there’ but strangely, refers or links to none of it. We would particularly like to see evidence that the child protection system is a ‘multi billion pound industry’ that is ‘focused on profits’. The evidence we have found – see our Mythbusters section – does not support this assertion.

What I feel is irrelevant, as clearly shown in your response, what would be interesting is for you to actually respond to the points raised…do you seriously believe it is ok for Social workers not to be “well-behaved” 100% of the time?

I think I have answered that point above. Of course professonals with professional training should reflect that in their behavior and dealings with others. But it is also important to recognize that social workers are still humans and if their clients are persistently rude or aggressive, then it may be that the social worker responds in a less than patient and calm manner

Do you deny that the Child protection fiction is a multi-billion pound industry?

I am not sure what is meant by this. Do I agree that vast sums of money are spent in investigating harm done to children? In trying to work to keep families together? To pay for experts and foster care and lawyers at final hearings? Well yes of course.

But do I agree that it is an ‘industry’ make ‘mulit-billion’ pounds worth of profits? Absolutely not. I would like to see some evidence about this. I have been asking for a number of years now and I am still waiting. But of course it is easier to make astonishing claims than it is to prove them.

Have no social workers been struck off, prosecuted or had their fitness to practice questioned? How does your line “This doesn’t mean that either the parent or the social worker has to be 100% well behaved 100% of the time; this probably isn’t possible.” fit in with the codes of conduct and professionalism social workers have to adhere to?

Yes social workers have been struck off for misconduct. So too have barristers, doctors, solicitors – in fact any professional body that operates according to a code of conduct will have had to act against some of its members some of the time.

If you are genuinely anything other than a disinformation agent would you have not entered into the debate rather than simply telling me to take my leave? I don’t wish to take my leave as I would happily enjoy commenting on every aspect of the disinformation you have all over this site and provide evidence that contradicts your fairy tale of social services in this country. Of course I know that would not happen as you “moderate” ie censor comments and replies to your site, not something that an objective, balanced and genuinely “resource” site would have to do. The site reads like propaganda, and clearly comes from an “authority” perspective. It’s not a resource site, it is a poorly hidden agent for the child stealers.

I hope that by entering into the debate I can reassure ‘Outraged’ that we are not ‘disinformation agents’ and nor do we censor or moderate with a heavy hand.

But to enter into and continue a debate requires that the participants are prepared to treat each other and their arguments with a basic level of courtesy and respect and to keep the number of sensationalized and unsupported allegations to a minimum.

If Outraged truly believes we are a ‘poorly hidden agent for child stealers’ then by this comment alone he/she puts himself very firmly in the Conspiracy Theory camp and I doubt that any further engagement is going to produce anything positive.

But as ever, I will be delighted to be proved wrong.

Lawyers need to see it through the parents’ eyes

This is a guest post from Jacque Courtnage founder of the TaKen UK website. She has the perspective of not only being a parent who went through the system but she is also a lay advisor to other parents in family proceedings.

Here she describes some of the frustrations and difficulties she has encountered concerning the parent/lawyer relationship. We agree that it is important for professionals to always be aware of how confusing proceedings can seem to their lay clients and just how anxious and afraid their clients can be.

The importance of clear explanations

One of the problems we are finding is that some of the legal aid solicitors appear to only be going through the motions and tend to forget they are dealing with people who do not know their rights, the legal system or the practices and expectations of social care. I have taken on cases where some of the basics of the legal process is little, if not at all understood. From many of those whom I have assisted, they have often come back saying to me “why did my lawyer not tell me that” or “if only someone had explained that to me”. Whilst an explanation of lack of time, high case loads and resources can often be blamed, an excuse already used by social care, it is but yet just another nail in the coffin of the family facing forced permanent separation.

Some of the lawyers I have spoken to about this have admitted they tend to forget they are dealing with laymen not to mention most of these families are traumatised and can barely see the wood for the trees.

So how do you fix this? I do not know, but what I can say is the role I often fulfil in these cases, is acting as an intermediate between client and solicitor. Whilst this is unique and I do not know how many do what I do, it works and alleviates the solicitor having to deal with incessant queries. To make the relationship work, there has to be a good understanding and working relationship between myself and the solicitor. We each know each other’s boundaries and we keep each other in check whilst the client benefits knowing that all areas are covered and their best interests are always put first. Whether this can be allowed as an extension of the role of a Mackenzie Friend is something only the relevant law firm and courts can consider.

The benefits of working with a lay advisor

There are many benefits in pursuing this course of action. Just some pluses is that not only does the MF learn more about the system the correct way to help those who cannot afford representation, but the solicitor gets a different set of eyes as well as the benefit of having someone help weed out the irrelevant and highlight pertinent stuff that may otherwise be missed or dismissed by the carer.

Whilst many solicitors will cringe at the very thought of the aforementioned suggestion, it must be remembered that whilst solicitors have long fought for individuals in court, the majority will never have had the experience of being the subject to care proceedings and all that that entails, whilst many MF on the other hand have and can be considered experts in their own rights. Please do not mistake this for plugging MF’s but would it not be beneficial to gain access to ALL experts in the field to help your client case? I am by no means challenging the role of solicitors, what I am challenging is the very real perception of an invisible insurmountable wall between client and their family law solicitors.

Simple things like, open communication, access to information or at least be informed that there is information and support out there and where to find it.

The biggest of them all is building a trusting relationship with their client because let’s face it, whilst many consider this as just their job and yet another case, for the client it is their worst nightmare come true and they are terrified.

Access to counselling

All I can further add is that it would be very helpful to families who are the subjects of care proceedings to ensure they have access to counselling as PTSD is very seldom considered, if at all. All we are asking from solicitors is for just a few minutes to consider what they would want if they found themselves in unfamiliar surrounding fighting for their and their families lives and then use that list to help their clients.

Recording interactions between social worker and parents

Is this becoming the norm? And if so, what are the consequences?

What is the impact of this practice on the working relationship between parents and social workers? Is this a good thing or do you find it concerning?

You may also be interested in this blog post by suesspiciousminds on the subject.

Section 36 Data Protection Act

The Data Protection Act makes it clear that individuals do not need the consent of professionals to record meetings/visits, as the information being discussed in that situation is personal to them and therefore exempt from the data protection principles. There may be problems if the meeting is going to deal with issues relating to a third party.

Update – Louise Tickle writes in the Guardian on 17th June 2015.

Louise Tickle, who attended the Child Protection Conference on 1st June, organised by the Transparency Project, was interested to hear comments from the parents about recording their meetings with social workers. This prompted comments from the lawyers present that they could see no objections to this practice. You can read her article here.

Recording and more specifically covertly recording

This is a guest post by Jacque Courtnage who runs the TaKen UK website which campaigns against the wrongful removal of children by the State. She has experience of the system both as a parent and a lay advisor to other parents in the family court. Here are her views about what appears to be the growing practice of parents recording their interactions with social workers.

is becoming the norm and in some cases is being accepted as evidence by the courts. This is matter that does need further consideration and exploration by more of the courts.

I say this for a number of reasons as I have been present on many occasions where professionals, and in particular – social workers, have relayed pertinent information to the parents/carers and have then denied all knowledge of having said these things whilst giving evidence. I refer to conversations where either social workers have given the carers reassurance that no action will be taken or they have no concerns, and then when their witness statement has been produced, the complete opposite is stated. Because many of these parents all come before the courts disadvantaged, they are considered to be lying.

On the opposite side, we have also had social workers being aggressive and intimidating to carers and indeed some of the children involved, and when complaints are lodged, the parent is considered to only be doing so for vindictive reasons. Again the same with telephone calls. A lot of misinformation is being populated to parents by some social workers to ensure they either miss contacts or behave in certain ways that can then later be used against the parents in court.

I have attended many meetings as a mediator where communications have broken down between parents and LA. I have challenged where things were stated as fact but the professional would not go on record with their statement. I have challenged some of these individuals when they were giving evidence and their uncanny manner to feign amnesia is laughable. Had some of these things been recorded, many cases would perhaps be less detrimental to families involved.

Having said all of that, many parents also do lie. If recordings became the accepted norm, it would ensure there is no miscommunication or fabrication of events and that everyone involved will be forced to take responsibility for their actions and accountability will be able to become part of the transparency needed. If the individuals have nothing to hide and are behaving in a manner they would consider to be lawful, then there should not be any problem. The UK is full of CCTV that records everyone’s movements without the public going on a full riot, so why can this not then be rolled out to include public law areas?

Simply put, it protects everyone from unsavoury behaviour and starts to help making the system work the way it was meant to. There is just too much suppositions, speculations and individual personal perspectives involved in family law. Taking this to the next level, recordings will also help diffuse a problem as emotions are always heightened at times of intervention, and much is either misunderstood or misinterpreted. The recordings will allow for the individual who is aggrieved at the time, the opportunity to review the recording and see if they had perhaps initially overreacted.

The other matter is the recording of hearings and judgments. Whilst there must be legislation as to the use and availability of the recordings, the issue of getting transcripts is a rather problematic. Despite Munby’s PD on judgment transcripts, these are still not being produced many weeks and months later. Many families involved in care cases do not have the finances to afford the exorbitant costs of transcribing 3 to 5 days Fact Finding hearings let alone a judgment. Recordings of hearings can be used to help progress cases for the Court of Appeal or indeed when they carer acts as as litigant in person because they do not qualify for funding.

A view from a family barrister

For discussions about the pros and cons of recording interactions from the family bar, please see this useful post on Pink Tape. There are serious concerns about recording children and a warning that this can often back fire on the person responsible for the recording, particularly if the child is distressed. But with regard to recording interactions between parents and professionals, this has the potential to be helpful:

There are lots of reasons why a parent’s understanding, experience or perspective of a meeting might be very different from the professional – they may well not be a “reliable” historian in any forensic sense simply by virtue of the fact that emotions are high and the stakes are high also. But the truth of the matter is that sometimes social workers are also less than reliable – sometimes even untruthful.

I know that many parents would suggest that social workers are routinely and regularly untruthful, such is their desire to meet their targets to have children removed and secure their adoption bonus. Leaving that aside for one minute (I don’t think that is really what happens) I have met plenty of social workers who are just not great with detail, who don’t recognise their own emotional involvement and how it alters their own perspective and responses to a situation, and who are see, record and retell the history in an overly negative light. I have met social workers who seem to be prepared to gloss over the specifics of a particular conversation for the “greater good”, which is to secure the outcome that they genuinely think is best for the child.

I have sometimes suspected dishonesty on the part of a social worker but have rarely proved it. There are cases in which social workers have been caught out lying, but they are infrequent. Here is a notorious example of a case where the honesty of a social worker became a really big issue : Bath & North East Somerset Council v A Mother & Ors [2008] EWHC B10 (Fam) (22 December 2008). Here is one recent example of where a recording was crucial : Man Wins Compensation After Recording Saves Him From Prison.

The view from CAFCASS

See para 2.27 from the Cafcass Operating Framework

We should have nothing to fear from covert recording. Our attitude should be, “I am doing my job and I have nothing to hide. I can explain why I said what I said or why I did what I did”. This is within the spirit of transparency in the family courts. We should always be transparent in our work, to meet contemporary expectations, including being able to defend whatever we say or write in a court under cross-examination, because we are working to a professional standard on behalf of a child. In this sense, we should expect that everything we say or write could become public knowledge

Some service users ask in advance of an interview whether it can be recorded. Advice on handling advance requests from service users to record interviews is available on the Cafcass Legal intranet page. In cases where no advance request has been made and the practitioner subsequently becomes aware that they have been recorded without their knowledge, they should tell the court. In some cases, however, the practitioner may not become aware of the recording until the service user presents the recording, or a transcript of it, at court. In such situations, the practitioner should make clear to the court that the recording was made without their knowledge. The practitioner may ask for the opportunity to listen to the recording or read the transcript before it is admitted into evidence, if the court is minded to take this step. It is a matter for the court to decide whether the recording or transcript can be included in evidence.

‘Working Together’ – Serious Case Reviews and Local Safeguarding Children Boards

We are grateful to this contribution from Philiip Measures, a Social Worker. He is concerned about the current operation of Serious Case Reviews and the potentially damaging impact this may have on their integrity and focus.

Serious Case Reviews are conducted when something has gone very badly wrong – for example a child has died. Here is an example of a Serious Case Review, carried out to investigate the death of Daniel Pelka when in the care of his mother and step father.

Individual Management Reviews in Serious Case Reviews.

Under the new ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children (2013)’ multi-agency Guidance many people may be as surprised and amazed as I am to discover that the requirement for organisations to undertake Individual Management Reviews (IMR’s) in Serious Case Reviews (SCR’s) has been removed. IMR’s were the individual Agency Reports submitted to the SCR Independent Chair who could then pull them together and report from a, hopefully, informed and detailed basis and also seek further clarification on any matters arising.

See the summary of working together to safeguard children and http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/w/working%20together.pdf

SO, how do we ascertain and have faith in the integrity, independence and correct focus of Serious Case Reviews if so much detailed information does not now have to be provided?

My starting point had to be the Guidance- so I saw at Paras. 37 and 38 that:

37) Each child who has been referred into local authority children’s social care

should have an individual assessment to respond to their needs and to

understand the impact of any parental behaviour on them as an individual.

Local authorities have to give due regard to a child’s age and understanding

when determining what (if any) services to provide under section 17 of the

Children Act 1989, and before making decisions about action to be taken to

protect individual children under section 47 of the Children Act 1989.

38) Every assessment must be informed by the views of the child as well as the

family. Children should, wherever possible, be seen alone and local authority

children’s social care has a duty to ascertain the child’s wishes and feelings

regarding the provision of services to be delivered.

It is important to understand the resilience of the individual child when planning appropriate services.

Communication with the Department of Education

I sent 2 emails to the Department of Education of a more general nature and received their responses:

Dear Mr Measures

Thank you for your emails of 9 December and 23 December, regarding serious case reviews (SCRs) and local safeguarding children boards (LSCBs). I am providing a single response as there are areas which cross over between the two emails, and I trust this is acceptable. I also apologise for the delay in replying.The government is clear that professionals and organisations protecting children need to reflect on the quality of their services and learn from their own practice and that of others. When things go wrong there needs to be a rigorous, objective and transparent analysis of what happened and why, so that important lessons can be learnt and services improved to reduce the risk of future harm to children.Our statutory guidance, ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ (2013), is clear that the final decision on whether to conduct a SCR rests with the Chair of the LSCB, who should be independent from any local agency in order to hold them to account.Where a decision is made not to initiate a SCR, information should be provided to the national panel of independent experts on SCRs to enable them to scrutinise the decision. Where a SCR is initiated, the LSCB should appoint one or more suitable individuals to lead the SCR who are independent of the LSCB and the organisations involved in the case.’Working Together to Safeguard Children’ (2013) has removed the requirement for individual agencies to provide independent management reviews, and gives LSCBs increased freedom to use a range of learning models. This includes methodologies which are designed to get professionals thinking about the systems that they work within, and to challenge those systems and identify where weaknesses exist.

The involvement of front line professionals, and family members, in the review process is the key to drawing out clear understanding of how things seemed at that time and why decisions were made. Those who have taken part in this type of SCR are clear that the learning begins as the review unfolds, which is quite different to the historical method of conducting SCRs.(redacted)

LSCBs make a vital contribution to our safeguarding agenda, and play an important role in keeping children safe. ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ (2013) sets out the legislation which underpins LSCBs and their statutory objectives and functions. It makes it clear that each local authority (LA) is required to establish a LSCB for their area, and specifies the organisations and individuals that should be represented on LSCBs. It is also clear that LSCBs should be independent in order to provide effective scrutiny, and should not be subordinate to, nor subsumed within, other local structures. The accountability of LSCBs has been strengthened by requiring the Chief Executive of the LA to be responsible for the appointment of the Chair, rather than the Director of Children’s Services as was previously the case. The Chief Executive, drawing on other LSCB partners and, where appropriate, the Lead Member, will also hold the Chair to account for the effective working of the LSCB.

I can confirm that LSCBs are not public authorities for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. LSCBs aremade up of many agencies and information requests should therefore be directed to the LA or relevant partner agency.

From November 2013, Ofsted has been carrying out reviews of LSCBs, alongside their inspection of services for children in need of help or protection, children looked after and care leavers. This is an important development and is the first time that there has been an evaluation of this kind. This will provide increased rigour to the knowledge and understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in the overall system.

Thank you again for writing and I hope this is helpful.

Well, it was informative and rather an eye-opener:

a) LSCB’s are no longer Public Bodies

b) Their Chairs are now appointed by Local Authority Chief Execs.

c) OFSTED inspect them.

I also asked about the Independent Panel and the Department of Education DoE) responded as follows:

The Independent Panel

Dear Mr Measures

Thank you for your further email of 9 January, regarding the role of the serious case review (SCR) panel and individual agency reports.The government announced in ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children (2013)’ that a national panel of independent experts would be established to advise local safeguarding children boards (LSCBs) about the initiation and publication of SCRs. The panel has been fully operational since July 2013. Each panel member draws on their own area of expertise when considering the decisions made by LSCBs.Panel members are:

Peter Wanless, Chief Executive of the NSPCC
Nicholas Dann, Head of International Development at the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB)
Elizabeth Clarke, practicing barrister and specialist in family law
Jenni Russell, journalist

In addition to the panel, the department is funding the NSPCC to run training courses for independent authors of SCRs and LSCB chairs and members. The training concentrates on the need to keep asking ‘why’ when carrying out SCRs, in order to delve beneath the surface and establish what, if anything, went wrong within organisations. ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children (2013)’ states that, as part of the review process, LSCBs may decide to ask each relevant organisation to provide information in writing about its involvement with the child who is the subject of the review. However, it is for LSCBs to decide whether such an approach is appropriate and proportionate to the scale and level of complexity of the issues being examined.

Thank you again for writing and I hope this is helpful.

Concerns about the nature of the available expertise

Well, frankly, NO I didn’t find it helpful – informative, yes, but helpful? No. An Air Accident investigator and a journalist – as ‘experts’? – come on DoE, whose leg are you pulling? Where are the ‘experts’ from Health, Education and the Police? These are 3 of the main agencies involved in Child Protection.

So does this new methodology represent a positive way forward? I absolutely believe that it doesn’t for the simple reasons that without access to a clear, and forensically detailed Chronology, how can it be possible to really tell the child’s story?

We need to be able to make sense of the full family background

Unless we can clearly make sense of the full family background (Social History) and see that important / significant events have been properly evaluated and assessed how can it be possible to even question on any authoritative basis the Conclusions of SCR’s because absolutely vital information may be absent – either my omission or commission? Agencies may provide reports which, if open to more detailed scrutiny, may require further investigation.

Also, in order to learn lessons we need the fullest information:

a) What significant events took place?

b) Did any meet the Threshold Criteria for intervention by any of the agencies who were aware? (to include legal intervention, calling a multi-disciplinary Child Protection Conference; referral to MARAC etc.)

c) What responses, if any, ensued? (to include further information gathering and sharing / clarification with other agencies)

d) Were those responses (either positive or negative) relevant, targeted; monitored / reviewed and re-evaluated?

e) Who was ‘holding’ / co-ordinating the Case?

f) Who had management oversight and was offering support?

g) Was there evidence of effective multi-agency involvement?

h) Were there clearly defined Aims and Objectives and ‘markers’ as to how progress / levels of improved safety were to be judged as being achieved or not?

i) Also, was there evidence of appropriate training / learning from any previous SCR’s?

Conclusions

I would finally make a call for the routine involvement in SCR’s of experienced practitioners who are independent of the Case and the Local Authorities / agencies concerned and also for their inclusion of Overview / Expert Panels.

Unless and until it can be clearly demonstrated that SCR’s are completely open and truly independent there can neither be professional, and even more importantly, public confidence in their integrity.

Philip J Measures,

Registered Social Worker; C.Q.S.W; Cert. in Social Work (Probation & Child Care); Advanced Cert. in Working with Child Abuse; Graduate Award in Management & Leadership in Social Care

Contact him

Philip Measures is happy to be contacted directly if you have any queries

Ph*************@***il.com

It’s Not Always Easy

We are grateful for the following contribution from an adoptive parent. We know that adoption can be a hard and difficult option and it is best for everyone to go in with their eyes open and with genuine communication about the potential problems. We hope to increase the information available here about post adoption support and attachment difficulties.

The Bubble Wrapped Child by Helen Oakwater contains a good discussion about some of the emotional difficulties adopted children can have. Her website is here.

We are adoptive parents. We have birth children who are older than our adopted daughter. We are probably a bit conventional.

We adopted our daughter aged 6. That should have flagged up a lot of signals but we were optimists, believing that love and care would be enough. It wasn’t.

We were not told the truth about our daughter when she arrived, and we gradually found it out over the next 7 years. We were naive, in spite of our professional experiences. Do not expect to be told the full truth – some of it will be confidential, and even though it would help to know it, you may not be told.

Things got worse with puberty, and our daughter started demonstrating the fight or flight symptoms (we learnt later that she had Reactive Attachment Disorder and this was natural), but it was very stressful and we didn’t understand it.

There were problems, when we adopted her we were told that one day she may “revert to type”. We found this awful at the time, but later it came back to haunt us. Beware though, you may be blamed for the problems, even though it may not be you that have caused them.

Advice for parents with mental health issues

I’m a parent and I have mental health problems and/or a personality disorder. What can I do to help myself?

You may also be interested in our post on parents with mental health difficulties in the ‘Mythbusting’ section.

Most people would agree that there is not an adequate amount of help available to parents with mental health challenges or a diagnosis of or the difficulties associated with personality disorder. Many parents feel very isolated, and often frightened. With feelings of isolation and fear can often come a sense of hopelessness or disempowerment. However, as a parent struggling alone with mental health issues, there is a great deal that you can do to help yourself;

Try not to panic about the involvement of Children’s Services. As the rest of this website explains, their main aim is simply to support you in looking after your children.

If you have difficulty understanding or following what is happening, ask your social worker, solicitor or advocate to explain.

Find out what support is available in your area and for people with your difficulties or diagnosis. Your GP, advocacy services, mental health charities and internet searches can be a good starting point. Do not assume that your doctor or social worker has already referred you to everything available – you may have found something they don’t know about.

Do not underestimate the value of family networks, informal support or social media. Think about what your family and friends can do to help. Try and get involved in your local community, perhaps by volunteering at your child’s school or by joining a local gardening club, or simply by looking for friends online through Mumsnet or Twitter.

Look after your health. Smoking, alcohol, illegal drugs and too much coffee and chocolate are bad for both physical and mental health. Exercise and plenty of water and veg and fresh air and friendship are good.

Look after your finances. Many families and particularly parents with mental health issues and other disabilities are seeing their incomes fall and outgoing rise due to benefit cuts, inflation and the bedroom tax. Citizens Advice and the Money Advice Service can provide excellent free advice. For those who are having trouble feeding their families, foodbanks can provide emergency parcels.

Learn to relax. Stress-management techniques can be beneficial to everyone, and people with mental health challenges have more stress factors than many. Mindfulness, self-hypnosis and other forms of relaxation can be learned from classes or from YouTube.

Enjoy your children. Certainly, parenting can be messy and stressful and tiring – but it can also be hugely fun and rewarding. Make time and save energy for trips to the park, finger paint and bedtime stories.

Stay positive. Trite and twee as it sounds, you have to believe that you will cope.