Child in need

[Lemon1]

Can someone please clarify if social care can turn up unannounced when on a child in need plan , my social worker has turned up twice now. The last time I was at college which he new I was because I made it clear every single week . He rang me and asked where I was and that he was at my front door and said he would like to see the kids ,they was at home with my mother in law. I told him no and to leave . He said he called in because he was in the area . Now to my understanding they can’t just call in when they please only if your children are on a CPP which mine are not . I’m sick of these people , how do I make a complaint ?

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Lemon1
Welcome to the parents’ discussion board and thank you for your post. My name is Suzie and I am Family Rights Group’s online adviser. I am sorry to hear of the difficulties that you have experienced.

Children’s services can become involved with families in different ways. Some types of involvement are voluntary. This means that children’s services provide help if the parent agrees. You are right to understand that a child in need plan is a form of voluntary involvement from children’s services. The aim of a child in need plan is to make sure the right services are put in place for a family, to prevent any needs or difficulties escalating .It sounds like in continuing to make unannounced visits to your home, the social worker has not listened to you about what is manageable in terms of meetings. I can understand that this must be frustrating, and I agree that you should raise this concern. In doing so, you might want to remember or highlight some of the following points:

Firstly, children’s services should be working in partnership with you, and this is clear in government guidance called Working Together 2018. In Working in partnership means that children’s services, and the social worker should:

Listen to what families think may help them
 Involve children and families in assessments
 Listen to the views of the child before making decisions and plans
 Make decisions with children and families wherever possible.

By continuing to make unannounced visits that do not work for you, the social worker may not be working properly in partnership with you.

I would suggest that, first of all, you try to talk through your concerns with the social worker directly. It would be helpful to explain that you are happy to continue to work with the social worker under the child in need plan, but that you need this to be on terms that work for you, as well as the social worker. Practically speaking, they need to make sure that you can fit in meetings with them alongside other important matters in your life – including college and childcare arrangements. It can be helpful to think of practical solutions to suggest – for example offering 3-4 timeslots in the week when you are available to meet.

I would suggest writing down notes from any telephone calls or meetings you have with the social worker about this. It might be helpful if you have sent any text messages or emails to the social worker about the timing of visits to the home and where you have made clear your availability, to remind them of these.

What if you do not engage with a child in need plan, including visits from the social worker?

As noted above, unlike a child protection plan, child in need services are voluntary and you do not need to accept the services offered. For example, where you don’t think they will be helpful. But if you decide to not accept the help or services offered, the social worker may worry about whether you and your family might struggle, and things may get worse. So, where possible, it is better to find a way of working with the social worker (as suggested above), rather than not engaging with them. It may be that if you do not continue working with children’s services, the social worker may become more worried or concerned that you and your child may not get the help you need. These concerns can lead children’s services to look at whether they will need to start child protection enquiries or hold a child protection conference. This is simply something to keep in mind, though if you make some of the suggestions noted above about working together with the social worker, you should be able to continue working with the social work team under the child in need framework.

Complaints

I understand that you are unhappy with the social worker’s conduct around unannounced visits, and would suggest that in the first instance, you try to raise these concerns with them directly, based on the points noted above. You could also speak to their team manager, if you feel that the social worker does not deal with your concerns about this adequately.
However, if you feel that you have exhausted these options and do end up wanting to take this further, to a complaint stage, then you may wish to look at our website. Our complaints page provides detailed information on how to make a complaint and what to expect from the process.
If you would like to discuss your situation with an adviser please call our freephone advice line 0808 8010366, the opening times are Mon to Fri, 9.30 am to 3.00 pm. Or please post back on this forum if we can help further.

Best wishes

Suzie