Section 17 meeting

[Har1Her1]

Hello,

My 15 year old son was admitted to our local CAMHS unit as an inpatient in April. He has Asperger's syndrome and he had developed quite severe anxiety and depression. My son's problems had been building up over a considerable time. For example, despite having a Statement of Special Educational Needs which provides him with 1:1 support in all classes and a quiet place at break times, he was struggling with the additional demands of study at Key Stage 4 in a mainstream school. In addition, he has made no friends and has no real social life. Although his mental health has improved significantly, his stay in the CAMHS unit has been difficult. he has absconded 10 times, committed several hundreds of pounds worth of damage to property on the unit, and he was arrested for breaking a car window after he had run away from the unit again.

Nevertheless, he has had quite a long period without incident so I was expecting some discussion about plans for discharge at his most recent Care Planning Approach meeting. I was, therefore, shocked when half way through the meeting the mental health social worker who has been working with my son said that he had referred my son's case for a core assessment by Social Care and that one of the options Social care may recommend could be temporary fostering.

I was very angry that neither my husband nor I had been consulted about the referral and so I lodged a complaint with the local authority. I considered it a breach of trust and professional protocol to submit a referral without parental knowledge or consent. I was also angry because we have had intervention for Social Services before: once six years ago after the boys (my son and his brother) disclosed that my husband had been violent against them and once, recently, when my son began to obsess about the untidiness of the house and the fact that his younger brother slept in the living room. Both cases were closed. In the first instance, my husband (who is also diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome) admitted that he found it difficult to cope with the boys' challenging behaviour, completed a Positive Parenting course and obtained help from a parents' support group. In the second instance, I tidied up and we are trying to obtain a house with three bedrooms because my eldest son cannot share a room.

I managed to contact the Social Care Team Manager to whom the referral had been made and she told me that the assessment would be a Section 17 Child in Need Core assessment. Furthermore, she informed me that she had already spoken to my son on the unit and that she was concerned about some of the things he had said. I was even more angry because neither my husband nor I had been informed about the visit and no consent had been given for any involvement by social care. I also thought it was extremely remiss of the unit to allow a woman with (as far as I know) no specialist training to interview a teenager with mental health problems and ASC.

A few days later my son phoned my husband and told him that one of the nurses on the unit had taken him into a room on his own and said that my husband was the cause of my son's anxiety. My son alleged that the nurse said my husband had made my son ill because he talked about his own anxieties and personal problems. This was once mentioned in a private and confidential meeting between the medical social worker and psychologist and me as a possible contributing factor to my son's illness. I was, therefore, shocked that this information had been repeated in such a manner to my son. Later, my son told my husband that his key worker had stated that if he absconded from the unit again he risked being fostered out. Again, I was shocked because my son takes things very literally. He was genuinely scared.

My initial reaction was to consider discharging my son from the unit. However, I am afraid that my son may harm himself, run away or commit criminal damage in our care and if we have discharged him against medical advice, he may be forcibly detained (e.g. Sectioned) and perhaps put into care.

So I am left with a bitter feeling of resentment and of being trapped. I do not wish to appear to be an uncooperative or complaining parent (just yet!) so I have e-mailed some ideas about how support may be given to our family for my son to return home without the need for fostering.

We have a meeting tomorrow with the Team Manager from Social Care, the mental health social worker and a consultant psychologist from the CAMHS Unit. I hope to present the ideas that I have for support without fostering, but I am convinced that serious breaches of confidentiality and professional protocol have taken place and this has made me lose faith that any objective decision will be made.

Please can you advise me about any potential next steps

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Har1her1,

Welcome to the parents forum.

I am sorry to hear about your son’s ill health and the difficult time he has had staying in the CAMHs unit. I am glad that his health is improving but can see that you concerned that you had not been consulted about a referral to children’s social care for family support. You have also been worried about your son being interviewed by the social worker without your knowledge. Your son has been told that he may have to go into foster care if he absconds from the unit again and this has worried your son.

A meeting was due to take place and I assume this has happened. You were going to present a case for your son coming home to you and what kind of support you think would be helpful.
I think this would have been a really good starting point and would have no doubt been helpful to the social worker. Were your ideas listened to?

Here is our advice sheet about family support. Pages 12 and 13 have suggestions about the type of general support that might be available. You will also see that foster care can be offered as support for your son.

You lodged a complaint about a referral being made to children’s services for support without your knowledge.
Generally, you should have expected to be been consulted before a referral was made.
However, if your son was assessed as being competent to make his own decisions then they may have gone ahead with his consent only and may not have informed you, if your son had requested this.
Or if they thought that by consulting you first it might increase any risk of harm to your son, then they could have made the referral without speaking to you first. However, given your involvement with your sons care plan-this also seems unlikely.

Hopefully, the meeting you had addressed most of your questions. However, please post back or you could also speak to Young Minds who may also be able to offer further advice.

Best wishes,
Suzie