Advice on Parenting Assessments

[AGirlHasNoName]

Back in June my daughter who's 13 developed some mental health problems where she ended up trying to jump off a balcony, and was putting herself into dangerous situations. Because of how she was taken into hospital (police) they had to do one of those MASH referrals. A social worker was assigned to us who undertook her assessment and decided she would only be involved with my daughter and not my other children, my daughter is on a CIN plan, is getting better now she's getting the right treatment and we haven't had anymore dangerous episodes or hospital admissions, she attends all appointments, I got her into a new school that she goes to regularly, and I am working well with our Social Worker.

She has now asked if she can do a parenting assessment on me, she has briefly explained what this entails and I have initially said yes to one, but I wanted to be sure on what they were actually for, and after reading up on them I'm not 100% sure I want to do it. My question is, if I refuse this parenting assessment will this impact on her CIN plan? will they decide to do a CP plan instead? will they think I'm hiding something?

The assessment will be very in depth about my past etc and it's not something I want to have to explain to anyone. My daughters mental health problems have been diagnosed and I am assured by her CAMHS psychiatrist it's nothing to do with how I have brought her up, so I'm wondering why I would need one.

T

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear AGirlHasNoName,

Welcome to the parents forum.

I am sorry to hear about your daughters mental health problems. It must have been very frightening for you and your family when she had her crisis. She is now receiving the support she needs, which she engages with and appears to be recovering well.

You and your family were assessed by children services who were happy that your younger children did not need any intervention from them. But understandably, they made your daughter a child in need .

Now the social worker wants to do a further parenting assessment which you feel worried about as she has advised you that she will want to go into your past-which you do not want to happen.
However, you are worried that if you do not cooperate with a new assessment, then things will escalate to child protection.

I suggest you ask for a copy of the original children services assessment. It will cast light on children services decision making.

You should also write and ask why the social worker wants to do a further parenting assessment? What it will entail? What professionals will be involved with the assessment? Has something come up that has suggested you might need more support in parenting? Is this in relation to your daughter or does it affect all your children?
You could also ask what will happen if you decide against a further assessment given how your daughter is recovering.

You need to be mindful that if an assessment is going into your background and unpleasant memories will be brought to the fore, then you might need support yourself such as counselling to help you deal with this.

Children services can only take things up to a child protection level if they suspect that your children have suffered significant harm or are likely to suffer significant harm. For a child protection plan to be made, there has to be an “ongoing” risk of harm.

Given how well your daughter is doing, there is nothing in your post to suggest that this is the case.

I hope this helps but if you have any questions or need further advice, please post again.


Best wishes,

Suzie