Accessing son's medical records when he is in foster care

[cousinsincare]

Hello

This is a question about my cousin being allowed (or not) to access her son's medical records. He is in foster care and there have been a number of health problems - some have become worse since being in foster care and some seem to be health problems he did not have before.

The relationship with the foster carer and social worker is not good and my cousin struggles to get any proper information about treatment or investigations. At best she is told things like - he is getting help - or he has been seen by the doctor and it is all right. Direct questions are mostly just ignored.

My cousin has to sign to give consent for things (like going on holiday or having a general anaesthetic) but she is not being given enough information even when she asks.

Her son's life long GP was changed to the same one as the foster carer has although they are in the same catchment area as the original GP. The original GP would definitely have been approachable but the new GP won't talk to her at all because her son is with a foster carer.

It is not a good position to be in but my cousin does not trust the social worker or the foster carer to tell her the truth or to keep her adequately informed about the health problems. The details she is given are minimal and incomplete.

I worry in case she insists and is told something like 'the social worker does not think it is in your son's best interests for you to have access to his medical information.' Because he is still (for now anyway) only in temporary care (but it looks as if it is going to be extended) can social workers and/or the foster carer totally block my cousin's request for information?

If her son was at home their own GP would be good and (with the right permission) would let her see the notes but this time it looks more difficult. The old GP discussed everything with her. She has no wrong reason - she just wants to see for herself what the problems are, what investigations are really being done and if there is any treatment etc. She wants to understand and she now (although it was not the case before) wants to be sure that the minimal information she has been given by the social worker and the foster carer is actually true.

My cousin has complained in the past (about something different) and it was a nightmare - she practically became ill over it and still did not get anywhere with the complaint.

I'm not too hopeful and agree with her that social workers will probably use some 'law' to stop her from accessing her son's medical information.

Does anyone have any experience or advice, please?

Thank you. cousinsincare

[cousinsincare]

My cousin is so unhappy with this foster carer that she would like her son to be placed somewhere else. Does anyone know if she can request this? With previous telephone contact problems she was accused (wrongly) of trying to disrupt the placement and she thinks she will be accused of the same again if she asks for her son to go to a more suitable placement. The present foster carer seems to take every opportunity to try to blacken my cousin's name.

She would also like her son to be taken to Sunday School (as his sisters have - although it would not be the same church) and the foster carer (never discussed really and my cousin was never asked about her wishes regarding the faith she wished her son to be brought up in) doesn't show signs of any faith values. There is a Sunday School not far from the foster carer's home. Although her other children go to ordinary state schools they are ones with stated Christian values. She thinks if she has 'too many' requests she will continue to be ignored.

Again any help for my cousin will be very welcome, thank you.

cousinsincare

[ange301126]

Dear cousinsincare,

As a parent with some experience of the same, here is my opinion.The FRG advisor will no doubt give you details of all the correct procedures.

Whilst your cousin's son is in foster-care,he or she at the very least shares parental authority for him with the Local Authority and so should be fully involved and fully informed as to all aspects of his welfare including medical. If he or she isn't, the CS are at fault.

Was your cousin consulted BEFORE the GP was changed?

Once again, before the boy was placed, it was the social worker's clear duty to establish his religion by questioning your cousin. After finding he was a Christian, the CS should have made every effort to place him with a suitable foster family. Did the social worker ask and did he or she make an effort? If not, it is another failure.

Unfortunately, when they skip procedures and fail to come forward with medical facts, it bodes ill for your cousin's son because the family are unable to put relevant facts to doctors and so forth.

Wait for some advice from the FRG or telephone their advice line. Meanwhile consider e-mailing your local Director of Communities and People with objections.

[cousinsincare]

I'm so grateful for your reply, ange301126. Thank you very much. I'll tell my cousin.

My cousin definitely was not consulted about the GP change. She was surprised because the foster carer is in the same catchment area as the original GP but she moved my cousin's son to her own GP Practice. The previous GP had known him (and all the family) since his birth.

He was taken so abruptly and my cousin knew nothing about the foster carer at the time. He went into care on a Friday afternoon and my cousin did not know until the Monday morning that she was not getting him back home. She was too upset with everything to even think about him going to Sunday School at the time. His sisters love Sunday School and my cousin (when she had time to think) remembered that he would be missing it.

My cousin took the bull by the horns today and asked for social services to find a more suitable placement for her son if he can't be returned home. She's desperate to hear from them.

As nothing to do with this request today my cousin has an appointment late this week to see the two social workers so maybe they'll say something then.

Thank you again, ange301126. I hope things are all right for you just now.

cousinsincare

[ange301126]

Dear cousinincare,

Some more advice which I hope will help you to help not only your cousin but her son who appears already to have suffered harmful effects by being removed into care.
I am very concerned for the little one. It is the poor,innocent babies who are the ones most traumatised by bad social work practice and, whilst the FRG and indeed myself, will not want to upset or distress you nor heighten your fears for the child , the social worker has already failed him to the extent of walking over his Human Rights to his cultural and religious heritage.

At the time the child was taken , it was not your cousins job to think about religion and Sunday school: it was the social worker's ( sw's) duty.

Very often sw's will exploit vulnerable mothers and don't always act according to the spirit of the Children's Act. None of the parents on this forum or the professional advisor will want to prejudge your cousin's sw; we always advise cooperation but the very facts that medical details are not being revealed and that human rights have been ignored cannot be excused. No-one on here will try to justify it if a sw flouts the Law.

Most particularly,on my own experience,I am worried that between Friday night and Monday morning, somebody at the CS appears to have decided arbitrarily not to return the child home and I am wondering if all due procedures were adhered to strictly or not?

You see the department is supposed to consider all alternative courses of action such as extended family placements and support prgrammes and so on; it is their duty to work towards keeping children with natural family where possible. Everybody within the system acknowledges that foster care is second best and causes much emotional disturbance. How can it all have been done in one short weekend? Was the wider family consulted? Did they offer your cousin support?

Most importantly, what lead to the child's removal in the first place? Did the CS arrive with a court order?

You are obviously supporting your cousin, do you know if the CS advised her from the start of her right to advocacy?

Suzie,the FRG advisor will tell you of all the guidelines the CS should follow soon and your cousin should read all the FRG advice sheets carefully. If you can, it will help if you manage to attend meetings,assessments etc.with her.

Keep posting on the forum and buy a large notebook and keep records of everything said.

[cousinsincare]

Oh, ange301126, this is really frightening because, honestly, my cousin, from what you are saying, was seriously let down. She says she has made misakes in the past but she really does not deserve this - and her son has definitely done nothing wrong.

She was told (and encouraged) to let her son 'go' for temporary respite on a Friday afternoon at no notice. She was exhausted and was glad of the rest but had no idea at all what was coming. There was definitely not any court order and she willingly signed a consent form for what she thought was temporary respite. She said it was a long form with a lot of boxes and she did not read it all - she just signed for what she thought was temporary respite.

I can tell you for certain that my cousin did not know anything at all about getting an advocate. She protested and told the social worker that she had no money and could not get a solicitor to get her son back but no one ever said anything about her getting an advocate. About 3 to 4 weeks later, at a Hearing when it was formally decided that she could not get her son home, she was told he was not thriving and there had been neglect.

If she had known that she was not going to get him back on the first Friday she would never have signed for the temporary respite - especially as she has no money and would not be able to get a solicitor. She is now getting help to try to get Legal Aid and has filled forms in about her benefits etc. although she still has no solicitor yet.

She has lost the place a bit, more than once, with social services and they have said she is unco-operative. I told her I would lose the place and would be unco-operative if they took my son under false pretenses and did not give him back. There is not anyone in the family who could take her son but I don't think they have asked anyone. Not many relative know how bad things are.

My cousin does not go to church but her children love the Sunday School (just round the corner from where they live) and the people there really like the children and are good to them. They never look down on them because they are poor. The children come home and sing the choruses happily afterwards. One Sunday when my niece had a terrible migraine and could not get the children organized in time for Sunday School they were really disappointed they could not go.

Your reply is really scary, ange301126, but I am keeping my cousin up to date. Even now I think it is very hard for her to 'think straight.' I hope Legal Aid let her get a solicitor.

Thank you again.

cousinsincare

[ange301126]

Dear cousinsincare,

Please don't be over alarmed by what I tell you, it isn't too late yet and Suzie will put you in touch with advocacy services and other sources of support as soon as she comes on line.

I presume your cousin was provided with a copy of the consent form she signed.Look through it and see if they kept to all the conditions.For example did she give written consent for the change of GP?

Did she consent to anything other than routine health examinations?

Please note it is not unusual for children to deteriorate healthwise in care; when they switch GP's and deny parents access to the true facts, the CS is able to obscure medical issues and claim a child is 'thriving'.

Plus ,of course, the information given to the new GP by the foster_mother and social worker is often based on guesswork.

Do you happen to know if the original GP had complained the boy was neglected before the CS got involved ?

[cousinsincare]

Thank you again, ange301126. It's late but I wanted to reply because I really appreciate the information you have given.

Things are now in hand to get help from a charity we found for her on line who think they can help - this is a great relief as they are experienced in helping with Social Services.

My cousin did receive a copy but she can hardly understand it and I have not seen it. She says it is a big yellow form with lots of small boxes in it. She understood and was told that it was for temporary respite (voluntary as she had to give permission) - but nothing more.

I know she did not give consent for the GP to be changed because she only knew about it after it had been done. (Unless it was buried in detail she did not know she was agreeing to.)She was upset because the original GP also covers the area where the foster carer lives and he has known my cousin's son since his birth - but it was probably done because the new one is from the foster carer's own GP Practice.

My cousin is very stressed and she has signed lots of things but nothing which would have caused her any alarm. She really thought her son was having a short break to give her some rest - respite but it all went wrong. She does not think she signed for anything out of the ordinary.

She says she still can't believe all this is happening and she's also worried about her other children.

Thank you, again ange301126.

cousinsincare

[ange301126]

Dear cousinsincare, okay then, glad you've found help.Good luck to you and your cousin.
Tell her to cooperate with the two social workers when she sees them this week and see whether they reciprocate by changing the foster carer. Tell her to ask them (in a pleasant way) if they will reregister her child at his original GP as he can give more reliable opinions as to neglect.

With a bit of luck and a change of heart on their part, they will begin to act more positively now the charity are involved, acknowledge it was out of order to trick her into signing the consent on false pretences and start to carry out bona-fide assessments forthwith. I do hope so. If she lives in the London area,might I suggest she ask the Local Authority concerned if they will agree to fund the FRG advocacy service into her case?

Once again, best of luck!

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Hello cousinsincare

Welcome to the discussion boards. My name is Suzie and I am an adviser at Family Rights Group.

I can see you have had some lovely support from Ange already and I am glad that you have found that helpful.

I will try to pick up on a few main points,

Status of Placement
It seems clear that, initially, your cousin's child was accomodaetd under section 20 of the Children Act. This means that she gave consent to her son being placed out of her care.
Section 20 is a voluntary agreement and does not give parental responsibility (PR) to the local authority. A parent with PR can withdraw their consent to section 20 at any time and the local authority cannot continue to accomodate a child without this consent.

You mention that there was a hearing a few weeks later where it was agreed that your cousin's child had suffered neglect and could not come home. Can I just confirm that this was a court hearing? Is there now a care order in place for the child?

If a care order has been made, the local authority now share PR for the child with your cousin and there will be ongoing care proceedings underway. In this case, your cousin should have a solicitor representing her as she is automatically entitled to legal aid throughout the proceedings.

If this is not the case, was the "hearing" in fact a child protection conference and is the child subject to a child protection plan? In this situation, Children's Services do not have parental responsibility and the child is still accomodated under section 20. This has significant implications because your cousin remains the only person with PR and must give consent for the placement to continue and for all other major decisions including registering with a new GP etc.

Family/ Friends Care
Whether or not there is a care order in place, Children's Services should consider placing a child within their family/ connected network rather than with stranger foster carers. If there is anyone in the family who might be in a position to care for the child, your cousin may wish this to be considered as a matter of urgency. A Family Group Conference might be a useful way to explore this.

I would advise that you have a look at our advice sheets on Child Protection, Care proceedings, The Responsibilities of Children's Services when a child is in care and Placements within the Family.

Please do keep posting and clarify your cousin's situation so that I can offer more specific advice. You are also welcome to call our free and confidential advice line 0808 801 0366 if you would like to discuss the situation in more detail.

Best Wishes

Suzie
FRG Adviser