Referral from maternity hospital to social services

[Happydays81]

Slightly long story but I have been suffering with antenatal depression/severe anxiety during my 2nd pregnancy. I didn’t disclose any of my mental health issues until 34 weeks, at which point I was in a panic about the impending birth of our 2nd child. Essentially I wanted to get a birth plan in place to enable me to deliver the baby as soon as possible given it has felt like pregnancy has caused my mental health issues. Unfortunately I had a breakdown in one of the hospital appointments 2 weeks later because quite frankly the hospital seemed to have capacity issues and didn’t actually be able to help in assisting with support at any relevant rate and I felt like a ticking time bomb. They had me in for exposure therapy as it was referred to which started off completely negatively with how the hospital has capacity issues right now and this resulted in an anxiety/panic attack. Nothing happened as such I was very upset & hyperventilating but I didn’t say I was going to harm anyone or myself just that I didn’t want to be pregnant anymore. I cooperated with where they wanted to put me in the hospital whilst I calmed down, at this point they were hoping I could see a psychiatrist to prescribe some relevant medication as I am not on anything but in the end they didn’t have anyone to do that either so I got discharged. The upshot of this was that they stated I had now made the threshold to be referred to social services. At the time I didn’t think much of this until I actually had social services visit yesterday & they now want to assess our family, including watching our child in school who has only just started reception. This was never about our existing child & unfortunately it’s a tiny school with only 7 staff members and every week all parents are invited in, we wanted to help and support this school but now it feels like we’re going to be blacklisted and I’m going to be too ashamed to be part of it. People are going to wonder what the situation is in our family because all they’ll get is a section 17 form or whatever (there is no abuse or anything like that going on but apparently because these issues involve a unborn baby and they’re vulnerable it now triggers the process). I am now 38 weeks and have since switched hospitals to one that could get a plan in place for me to deliver slightly early within 3 days of first attending, so my experience of the original hospital appears to of increased my anxiety vs how I’m now being treated elsewhere. Given I give birth in 6 days there will not be any time to start any assessment before birth. What are our rights here as it seems slightly overblown to of ended up in this situation & now I’ve got anxiety being caused by the impact on the close knit environment of the school with people who may judge us (of course they won’t say anything), which is the whole reason I left things so late to disclose my mental health. It’s literally caused the exact same thing that being open about feelings is apparently supposed to avoid and I can now see how this could actually result in a downward spiral of my mental health after birth too.

I obviously wanted to decline the assessment on the basis of the school intrusion but then they talked about it potentially getting escalated because of a vulnerable newborn. I also said I felt it wasn’t really a good use of resources as this isn’t a family in need in the same way other families might need social support, what I needed was the hospital to support me in other ways quickly which they failed to do hence why I took the action to find an alternative maternity care provider, this isn’t the action of someone completely unhinged.

Just so confused and upset by what has happened and don’t really know how to deal with social services without this having a lasting impact on how I feel about what has happened.

Also just one other thing to add as I don’t think I’m overreacting on the close knit school issue, the main school administrator who will obviously get this letter lives on our street a few doors down, we live approximately 50metres from the school & it really does feel like it will have a lasting impact on how I feel we will be perceived and I cannot believe for one second that only the safeguarding lead (the headteacher who I see every week), will only be the one who sees the form come in with a specific child’s name on it, even if she’s the only one to respond, it’s just such a tiny school so there is no getting away from it. Even the process of letting someone come into the school through reception will mean our neighbour will become aware as she’s the one who gives access to visitors and it’s just so humiliating this has happened.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Happydays81

Thank you for your post and welcome to the discussion board. My name is Suzy, I am an online adviser and will be replying to you today.

You have one child and are currently pregnant with another. You reached out for support when you were feeling mentally unwell, vulnerable and in need of professional advice and support. The hospital provided Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT, exposure therapy) but you did not feel this was carried out correctly and the agreed medical review by a psychiatrist did not take place due to capacity issues. I am very sorry to hear this. The hospital does not appear to have provided adequate support at your time of need.

Given this you may wish to consider making a formal complaint via the PALS system. I have added a link HERE to further information regarding this.

The hospital made a referral to Children’s Services. They said that given your presenting needs, threshold had been met for the referral. You did not think much of it at the time until a social worker visited you to advise of the process they would be following. You are now very concerned about the impact this may have on you and your family in the local community.

Lots of people feel similar to you when Children’s Services become involved in family life. They can have feelings of shame and stigmatisation. Whilst I do not wish to minimise your thoughts and feelings in this regard, I would like to offer some reassurance that all professionals should be working within government guidance and policy in respect of information sharing. That is to say that your information is private and confidential and should only be shared on a need-to-know basis.

I think it might help with your anxiety to ask for a meeting with the safeguarding lead at the school and the social worker, to formulate a plan of action to complete the assessment. This could include a schedule of the meetings and interviews the social worker needs to carry out to complete the assessment and to think of ways to manage the social worker coming to and from the school in the least intrusive way.

It may also help to take at look at our ‘top tips’ guidance when working with social workers. This sets out how to work well with social workers and what you might wish to consider if things are not going so well. HERE is the link.

The Children and Families assessment is voluntary and not mandatory therefor you can decline should you wish to do so. However, as you have said, there is a possibility that Children’s Services may escalate to a child protection enquiry, should you do so.

For Children’s Services to escalate the assessment, threshold of significant harm or likely significant harm would need to have been met. I have added HERE further information on Children and Families assessments and HERE on Section 47 assessments (child protection). Please do take a look. The links will take you to information pages that set out step by step guidance on both assessments. The assessment can take up to 45 working days to complete therefore it may not be completed prior to your child’s birth.

I am pleased to hear that you have now switched hospitals and that they are now supporting you with your birth plan.

I hope you find this information helpful. There are many ways to contact Family Rights Group, please do look at our website for further information about this or post again HERE if you have further questions.

Best wishes, Suzie