My family has had intrusion, coercion and enforcement from social services for 40 years!!
All of it has been negative.
There are laws and systems in place that allow government agencies to exert control over the families they target and to then interfere in their lives. Often a small matter, easily resolved, will turn into something else. Judgement!!
In the UK and most other places i have looked, the make up of social services staff is liberal left leaning and often female. Often their political leanings inform their judgement of the family in question.
As i look around the estate i live on there are patriotic flags flying, it's a staunchly conservative (with a small c) in nature and nationalistic. Surely an anathema to most of the staff and management of social services!
On my estate most people have strong family values and views on the place of gendered roles in the home. Most are christian and are concerned about the encroachment of Islam into their communities and the problems that is bringing.
These things go against the liberal lefts ideology.
Social Services have their own methods to coerce families, keep them unaware of their rights and ignorant to the real reason they are intruding into their lives. from the moment a child, vulnerable adult or family are referred to social services by one of the many agencies tasked with this job (police, doctors, teachers etc) if they think from preliminary investigation that there is a problem, then a "Section 47 investigation is opened. Its here that families need to employ a good solicitor.
In my experience and from the many stories i hear as a survivor, it's here that social services start to manipulate, coerce and lie. They will often inform families that the problem is small and a solicitor isn't needed. Once that first "core meeting" is held the families enter a tangled web of manipulation. This is made far worse by the fact that private firms often now provide the frontline care and report back to social services and recommend what care is needed and where any dangers may lay. This is an obvious conflict of interest. these people will often portray themselves as friends of the family and social services the enemy. But their main focus is obvious when you see their methods....Money!!
Social services have a statutory obligation to safeguard and promote the welfare of vulnerable children and adults and can provide a wide range of services to children and their parents, usually within the own home environment and co-ordinated by a social worker. Families often feel anxious at the prospect of social services’ involvement because of experiences they may have heard from others, or just because they are frightened that social workers will remove their children from the family home.
These fears are natural but a child will only be removed if there is very clear evidence that they are at risk of significant harm, and there is a court order in place too. If they consider that your child is in immediate danger, the police can take a child into ‘police protection’, but they have to return your child to your care within the next 48 hours unless the court makes an Emergency Protection Order (EPO).
There are different departments in social services to support varying needs. There is an adult social services department, which provides services to the elderly and working age adults who have learning difficulties, physical or mental health problems, or addictions. If a child is looking after a parent with a disability, they might be referred to as a ‘young carer’ and there may be special provisions in place to help if this is the situation. Often, social care services for adults who have a mental illness or an addiction are provided by a mental health trust.
It is common for these different departments to work together if a family or individual needs this. The aim is to coordinate their services in the interests of the family as a whole. If there are concerns that a child may be suffering, or is at risk of harm, the work with the family will be led by a social worker from the children’s services department (sometimes referred to as Children’s Social Care).
What this doesn't explain of course is that most of these tasks are handed down to, and informed by private firms who's first concern is profit. Social workers themselves said they were concerned this would happen when they were partly privatized.
Between a social services that is detached from the everyday reality of life for the working class and private firms circling like sharks looking for profit, most of the families targeted by social services don't stand a chance.
Maybe i'm a bit biased as i went through the care system and my mother was conned by a social services, that once interested in me ruined my life. But i see the same thing happening today. Using fear to manipulate families into ever more intrusive forms of what can only be called "re-education".
My advice? Get a good solicitor as soon as possible. All the people involved in these processes use ignorance of the law as a really powerful weapon. they get families between a Rock and a hard place and take advantage of parents situation and desperation..
Once they have entered into your life and you and your children become a commodity they will lie, manipulate and coerce to keep their profit at our expense..
Working class communities need to organize a national network of good solicitors and support staff to defend working class communities and families. They need them at the earliest stage of this process, not just if it comes to court. perhaps there are solicitors who could be approached to do this work pro bono? What is clear is that working class families need more support and defense at this early stage, before the intrusion begins.
Thank you as always to 'family protection for their great work and for giving us a voice and some hope...
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