Section 47 nightmare

[ReadyPlayerDog]

First, a bit of background. We are a family of 5. Three children, son aged 6, daughter aged 3, and newborn boy who is 4 weeks today. My wife and I have been married 10 years. No history of anything with the kids. Nothing from school, GP, neighbours, nothing. We have no criminal records, I've just had one parking ticket my whole life.

Our newborn has had jaundice for longer than our other two, so at 2 weeks we did a blood test. Last week on Thursday, during the hot weather, we noticed a strange mark on his upper forearm. We were worried this was something to do with his jaundice. The following day my wife had her discharge meeting with the midwife. At which she weighted our newborn. She didn't see the mark, handed him back to my wife to dress him, so we showed it to her to see if she knew what it was. She just said she'll check.

Two hours later we had social services at our house. To this day we haven't been specifically told we are under a section 47, but after researching, it seems we are. We were told we had to have someone from outside the household to stay with us until we took him to a hospital assessment the following day, so we called my mum to stay. We were told this was "only advisory". We were told a bruise was "discovered" on him and they had to put safeguards in place. She asked us if we knew where it had come from. We had no idea. She stayed for over two hours until my mum arrived.

Saturday. The phone confirmation of the appointment we got (15 minutes before we had to be there) was from a different social worker. We said we'd leave my mum to watch the other kids and bring our newborn in. She immediately threatened to call the police if my mum wasn't present. We were very shocked and upset. So, we split into two cars, me with the older two, my wife and newborn with my mum.

We were left waiting for an hour until a new social worker arrived. We told her of our stress and worry that they were going to take our baby and we had no idea what was happening. She said nobody was going to take our baby and nobody would call the police. I repeated what we had been told on the phone and she just went quiet.

The pediatrician arrived 2 hours later and immediately started telling us about a two week assessment plan. He'd not even looked at our baby. He then examined him, said it looked like a bruise, and said otherwise he was alert, well cared for and healthy. We had no idea where the mark had come from, i did say it didn't look like a bruise. He then said they were going to do this two week assessment. He said they would sedate him, give him an xray and CT scan. We were in shock and just didn't say anything. We were told the appointment would be 9am Monday morning and that someone would have to be in the house to watch our newborn until it was completed.

After doing some research we came across a report by Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel from 2 years ago about the impact of single bruise cases. Cases that have no other factors other than one small bruise. It gave strong recommendations that the way social services and medical approached these was harmful and should take all circumstances into account before issuing a section 47. That the impact it was having on families unreasonable. It seems nothing has changed and this over reaction and the way we were being treated started to make more sense.

Sunday. I contacted the emergency number (the only contact information we had) to ask if we could delay the appointment a day to give us chance to seek legal advice. I got a phone call back from yet another social worker who said that since we were seeking legal advice then they would proceed with legal action themselves.

Monday. We got a call from our first social worker. She said it was fine and to contact her once we'd talked to someone. It's been like "Good cop bad cop". We talked with a very good solicitor who said we just had to comply at the moment, do what we're asked, but to raise our concerns about sedation and the CT scan and see if any alternatives could be offered. I related this to the social worker.

Tuesday. She phone back and said the hospital had agreed to no sedation and to only do xrays. The appointment is set for tomorrow at 9am

Wednesday. We arrive at hospital at 9am. We left the oldest two to be collected from school by our friends who kids go to the same school and went to hospital with my mum. We were led to a room and just left for 3 hours. A nurse then arrives telling us they are doing a MRI. I thought that was strange due to the noise, but we thought it would be OK because our baby is super good, sleeps and feeds well. An hour later a doctor arrives and tells us they are not sedating but are doing 30 xrays and a CT scan. We were not happy. First we know the dangers of doing a CT scan on a newborn, and second that we are getting told different things every time we see someone new. He made it clear we didn't have a choice, so under duress we consented. It was one of the worst days of my life. The CT scan took 5 minutes, our baby was just sound asleep. The xrays took an hour and a half. They xrayed every single part of him. The xray people were the only ones who treated us with any dignity and respect the entire day though. They seemed very genuine. We were then led back to the ward and left for another 2 hours. The consultants secretary eventually came and just told us we could go home.

Thursday. My mum lives about 40 minutes car journey away and had to return home for medication. So we informed the social worker, via email as that's the only contact info we have besides this emergency number, that my wife, newborn, and my mum would go back to hers for the night. I got a phone call within 2 minutes. I was told we couldn't be left alone with any of the kids, not just our newborn. This was the first we'd been told this. So, we arranged to have my friend stay over the weekend to give my mum a break. We have given details of everyone who is helping us to the social worker. I also contacted the school to let them know what was happening. We think our oldest might be on the spectrum, so for the past year we've been working with the school and his teachers to help him. He's done really well over this school year. Unfortunately, his behaviour has deteriorated over the past week, no doubt picking up on the stress, so I wanted his teachers to be aware of that as well. He has special classes twice a week and it was his teacher from those classes I talked with. She said she was going to call me because they'd received an inquiry that morning from social services. Later that night I get an email telling me that our newborn can't be left alone in a room with my wife at night. He's to sleep in the same room as the person supervising and they have to wake my wife up whenever he needs feeding.

It's now Friday. I've been constantly asking for paperwork or information regarding what's going on. Still nothing. I've asked about the results from the hospital visit. I got an email saying the report hasn't been done yet. They did say the medical teams had no issues or concerns from our visit. Also, the social worker would be coming over tomorrow at 10am

My mum has gone home and my friend is now here. I'm worried what's coming next.

Questions I have are these. Why is the social worker coming over tomorrow before the report has been done? She has talked to my friend over the phone, but is it to meet him in person or for something else? If they have such grave concerns over our baby, why hasn't the report been done as a priority? Or is it this good news? Because if they saw anything they would be straight over? What if she wants to "interview" my other kids? Can I say no until the report is done? I just don't trust them, basically.

And I want to be clear. We have never, and would never harm our kids. Ever. We have no clue how the mark got there. It appeared on Thursday and had completely disappeared by Tuesday. We're scared. We've done nothing wrong. But right now we are guilty until they satisfy themselves otherwise. We have been lied to, threatened, coerced, and gaslighted from the moment this started.

We have to go back to hospital in 2 weeks for another 11 xrays because fractures aren't always apparent on a newborn until 2 weeks later. We've cooperated with everything they have said, but I'm worried this won't be good enough. They seem determined to prove we've done something.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear ReadyPlayerDog

Welcome to our Forum and thank you for sharing your situation with us.

I am sorry to read about the distressing situation and the description you gave of your interaction with children’s services in your area. I will outline some key words in this response which may seem direct, but I think the terminology will be helpful to you.

From what you write the social workers involved with your family are (or may be) 'concerned' about a non-accidental injury to your baby. When a non-mobile child presents with an ‘unknown’ mark of unknown origin and the parents cannot shed light on the situation professionals will take measures to safeguard the child/children in the family.

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 has information which I think will be helpful to you.

• The Chart on page 103, is a good place to start.
• Page 14 (point 18) is the ‘suggested way’ professionals should work with families.
• Pages 73 to 75 describes the roles of the professionals/agencies involved.
• The Chart on page 76 show the options or steps that can be taken.
• Section 47 inquiries are outlined from page 89.

Here for your information are our webpages about the child protection process .

If you would like to speak, in confidence, with one of our advisers here are details of our helpline opening times.

I hope this response will be useful to you and your family.

Best wishes

Suzie

[ReadyPlayerDog]

Hi,
I wanted to post an update and ask for additional advice if possible.

The social worker interviewed both older children at school, under the supervision of their teachers. The teachers reported back that there were no concerns.

We did the second set of xrays, 11 more, and nothing was found.

The social worker informed us that supervision could end and she would write her report recommending the case be closed.

She called today to inform us that her manager disagreed and they will he holding a Child Protection Conference.

I've done some research and it seems they score things on a 0-10 scale.

The only thing they have is what they are saying is an unexplained bruise on a 3 week old. We don't even think it was a bruise as it disappeared after 3 days and we think, as we told them, it came from the belt of his car seat.

So, I'm confused as to how the scoring works? What is a 5, what is a 8? Considering they have no evidence of anything besides this mark, what kind of score do they give?

I'm honestly shocked that this is carrying on.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear ReadyPlayerDog

Thank you for your updating post and for your queries.

It is good to hear that network checks and interviews with your older children raised no concerns. And that your baby boy’s X-rays were fine. I understand how difficult and distressing the whole process is where there is a concern about a possible non-accidental injury to a baby.

You explain that the social worker completed her assessment, advised that you no longer needed to be supervised around your child/ren and that she was recommending that the case be closed. It is unusual for a section 47 enquiry to close with no further action recommended.

When the social worker’s manager reviewed the assessment, she overrode the social worker’s recommendation. She decided that it was necessary to convene an initial child protection conference. As a parent, unfortunately, your consent is not needed for this to happen. However, there can be different decisions made at a child protection conference. If it is decided that the child is not suffering or at risk of suffering significant harm the conference may recommend a child in need plan. Where the conference decides that the child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm, they will make a child protection plan.

It sounds as if your local children’s services may use a particular model of child protection conferencing perhaps a Strengthening Families model where they use a scoring scale system to identify the level of safety and risk. In most cases a score of 1 would signify a child being at very high risk of harm and 10 would indicate that the child is safe and well cared for at home. However, please ask the social worker to provide you with written information about their child protection conference process including any scaling system used.

The following information may be the most helpful to you:
• Initial child protection conferences
• Top tips for preparing for a child protection conference.

I would recommend that you ask the social worker to provide you with a written copy of her report as soon as possible. You can then go through it carefully and prepare your own response, if you wish to. You can also ask the social worker (or other professionals) to provide you with a copy of their written reports in advance too. However, the Chair’s consent (and in some cases the police’s consent) is required for other agency reports to be shared prior to the conference.

If you or your wife have any disabilities or vulnerabilities which mean that you would need the support of an advocate to assist you at the conference, then you can use our template letter (1) here to request this. You can bring a friend or family member to the meeting with you for emotional or practical support.

The conference is likely to happen soon as there are tight timescales about this.

I know that it is daunting and very stressful. I hope that the information provided will help you understand what to expect and how to prepare.

If you have any further queries, please post again. If you would like to discuss your situation with an adviser you can call our freephone advice line on 0808 8010366, the lines are open from Mon to Fri, 9.30 am to 3.00 pm. Or you can use our advice enquiry form or webchat facility.

Best wishes

Suzie