Seeking advice regarding visits from support workers

[HJH34]

Hello,

We’ve found ourselves in a situation where safeguarding measures were triggered for our toddler a number of weeks ago. As part of the process, a 2nd skeletal scan was requested by Social. We were discharged from the hospital with strict interim agreement till the report comes back.

Part of the agreement was 3 initial visits from a support worker, with one the night we were discharged from hospital. (It’s never been explained to us what the purpose of these visits are or what the support workers are supposed to do when in our home.) The report is taking longer than expected, we were told it would have come back 2 weeks ago – however, we’re still waiting on it despite me sending almost daily update requests to the social worker. Alas, nothing.

The social worker told us we received a glowing report and that they have no concerns but they still have to follow the process.
We received a further 3 visits. Following that nothing till the social worker asked us if we had any more visits. Should the social worker know who's coming to our home?
As we were a few days without – the SW had to arrange more visits. This time, an initial 5 (back to back) and a further visit. In total we’ve had 12 visits, 3 of which were unannounced – this is over a period of 16 days.

On the last visit – the support worker told us ‘we have a wonderful family’ & prior to that, another one hugged us goodbye.

We understand the visits need to take place, but it’s starting to feel invasive with no respite. We’re still healing from what happened which hasn’t been taken into consideration.
We’ve complied with everything out of fear as the SW initially wanted to put our child into emergency foster care.

In short, how many visits are too many? Especially in a case where we’ve received positive reports & a SW who claims they have ‘no concerns’. If we refuse a visit, how badly does that go against you?

Thank you

[KatKat10]

Speaking from own personal experience, I do not trust any professionals now. Seeing as how they twist and lie on reports. Never let your guard down with Social Workers, they are not your friends. Work with them not against them and cooperate, but do not be fooled by them. All these professionals work together and exchange information, including health visitors, police etc and doctors. You may have a good experience with them, but once you are on their radar it never stops.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear HJH34,

Welcome to the parents’ forum and thank you for your post. I am sorry to hear about the difficult time your family is going through and I hope that the following advice is of some help to you.

You say that ‘safeguarding measures’ were triggered a few weeks ago. I will assume that this means that a Section 47 investigation (also known as ‘child protection enquiries’) is being carried out. Under Section 47 of the Children Act 1989 children’s services have a legal duty to make enquiries if they receive information that a child might be at risk of significant harm.

You are unsure what the purpose of the visits from the support workers is. As children’s services are carrying out child protection enquiries one of the purposes of the visits will be for them to gather information and evidence about the home environment and whether there are any safeguarding concerns for your child. The support workers should provide written reports to the social worker so that they can take into consideration what strengths or concerns about the family the support workers have identified. Unannounced visits are used so that the support worker/social worker can get a good idea of what the situation is like in the family home. It may also be the case that the support workers have been asked to provide your family with some specific support, however you would need to ask them for clarity on this if this is the case. For more information about the child protection process you can read the child protection pages on our website HERE.

I hope this provides some clarity but it may also be helpful for you to speak with the social worker and/or the support workers to ask them if there are any other more specific reasons for them attending your home.

In answer to your question about how many visits are ‘too many’ there is not a standard answer. The frequency and number of visits will depend on the exact situation of your family and what information children’s services feel they need to gather in order to complete their enquiries. You ask whether you could ‘refuse’ a visit; I would suggest that at this stage it would not be advisable to refuse professionals to attend your home. Although the process can feel invasive children’s services do have a duty to complete their enquiries and if you decide to refuse entry to your home this is likely to result in delays to the process. You may find it helpful to read our guide to working with a social worker which you can find HERE.

I hope that this is of some help. Please post again if you have any further queries or you can call our free, confidential adviceline on 0808 801 0366 (Monday to Friday, 9:30am – 3pm). We also have a webchat which is currently open on Monday and Wednesday afternoons.

Best wishes,
Suzie