Problems with social services in how complaints are dealt with.

Lammy

I would like to ask parents & carers if they have complained to their local authority about services, staff members, social workers, or false documenting of case notes, etc., and how well their complaint was handled.

I am interested in writing an article about the difficulties in getting an adequate outcome from councils' statutory complaints procedures. Since legislation was passed enabling access to our own records, I myself discovered many false entries made by a social worker about my family which were documented within days of my complaint against her. 

Although these defamatory entries were eventually removed, they had already been seen by the investigating officer for my complaint. Social services have refused to apologise; the social worker has not even been questioned and my complaint went nowhere. 

I realise this subject is controversial, so I would suggest any replies go to my personal email address anhonestsociety@gmail.com 

I intend that no real names will be used in this article and all contributors will remain anonymous. Here's hoping for some responses. Thanks in advance.

Chloe_Alumni

Hi @Lammy, thank you for bringing this to our attention. May I ask what it is you are after? Is this the basis of a research project?

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Lammy

Hello Chloe, Yes I'm just researching at the moment.  If I don't get enough material I may not be able to write the article at all.  I didn't want to use social media when this subject is such a specialised area.  Any accounts of dealings our families and carers have had with their local authorities on the subject of social care complaints and outcomes will be helpful. 
 

Chloe_Alumni

That sounds really useful. I hope people are able to help.

Jean Eveleigh

@Lammy - is your research based around health needs with social services or care proceedings?

Lammy

Hello Jean, I'm assuming by care proceedings you mean bringing a legal case?  Absolutely not, the cost would be immense for any family dependant on social care.  It is precisely for this reason that I want to write about this subject. I believe that a lot of carers' complaints become impossible to pursue because of the resistance they are met with and eventually are made to go away.  I just want to bring the facts to light.

newborn

I'm  frightened of people with  power.  All power  tends to corrupt.   Social  workers have absolute power, which corrupts absolutely.   

This is only anecdotal of course,  there are countless  horror stories of power abuse.    The  time to make my own blood run coldest  was  the triumphant  glee on open display when a woman  seemed perfectly friendly,   as my new neighbour,. but  then,  as we sat over a cup of tea, she disclosed her  S.S. occupation.  She then  sat cackling and  gloating that the public don't realise that social workers like her have total power.  She boasted they can do anything they like,  say anything, and A L W A Y S get away with it and A L W A Y S get their way, because, as she stated,  all  courts will A L W A Y S believe everything social  workers say.

Lammy

Hi newborn, This is the kind of thing I've found all over the internet.  So many people have suffered at the hands of social services yet they are powerless.  Even if they get to court they stand no chance.  While I've been doing my research I'm finding stories of children being taken away from parents on the risk of possible 'future abuse'.  This is apparently perfectly legal for social services to do, even though nothing has happened to the children 'yet'.  Also, as long as a social worker states 'it is believed that..' in case notes, they are allowed to say anything they like about family members.  In my case, my social worker documented 'it is believed that she is on medication for mental health issues and is seeing a counsellor with First Steps'.  This was completely made up and I have never heard of First Steps.  I think maybe I've stumbled upon a huge can of worms, but I still want to find out as many stories as possible to see how far I can get with this because it is so wrong.

Thanks so much for your response.  It is much appreciated.

April2018mom

Hello 
I recently made a complaint to my local council about a incompetent carer. I’ve spoken to my local council regarding the disgusting inappropriate hypocritical actions of the very unpleasant person. If we get the word out we can prevent unsuitable people like her working with disabled people ever again.  She kicked a autistic user (I witnessed it) distracted me on more than one occasion and was very rude. I want to see her punished. And yes I agree with you. Could not stand her. 

Lammy

Hello April,
Thanks for getting back to me.
How far did your complaint get?  Did the council do anything at all or are you still waiting to find out? Was this carer employed by the council or did she work for a care provider commissioned by the council?

Jean Eveleigh

@Lammy :- "While I've been doing my research I'm finding stories of children being taken away from parents on the risk of possible 'future abuse'.  This is apparently perfectly legal for social services to do, even though nothing has happened to the children 'yet'.  Also, as long as a social worker states 'it is believed that..' in case notes,"

This is what I was meaning when I said about care proceedings as this happened to me with my own child :-(

Jean Eveleigh

regarding adult safeguarding care I have round their treatment of me as a disabled person and providing for my needs to be hit and miss - especially if I have had to make a complaint, there have been times when the only way I could get my issue taken seriously was to write directly it the director of Adult Social Care and get her involved in the problem.

Lammy

Hi Jean,
Can you tell me any more about what happened with your child and social services?  If you'd rather tell me privately, you can email me at [removed by moderator] Also can you tell me any more about your complaint and was it dealt with properly when you went to the Head of Adult social care? Were you satisfied with the outcome?

April2018mom

Lammy said:

Hello April,
Thanks for getting back to me.
How far did your complaint get?  Did the council do anything at all or are you still waiting to find out? Was this carer employed by the council or did she work for a care provider commissioned by the council?

She worked for a care provider not the council. I am going to pursue this as there were multiple incidents. She should never have been hired at all and I made this clear to the company. 

Lammy

Good luck with it April.  Let me know if you can how it goes.