Section 47 Assessments.
You Do Not Have To Answer The Door, And If You Do Remember Section 17, Of The Children Act 1989.
Remember you do not have answer the front door to children services or to even acknowledge that they are there, and if you do answer the door you do not have to let them in if they turn up unannounced you can give them your number and ask them to contact you to arrange an appointment that suits your convenience.
Section 17 of the children act 1989, you do not have to let them in to your home. Legally they have no rights whatsoever to push for entry in to your home they need your full consent. They also need your full permission to carry out an assessment, to speak to, or see your children. You can allow them to see and view your home from the doorstep or living room window, this allows them to see that your home is clean and tidy and also allows them to view your children via a window or door to see that your children are not in danger and that they are clean and happy and they are not in any immediate risk of harm.
Remember Do Not Allow Them To Just Enter Your Property Not Without Checking The Register.
They will usually turn up with a colleague. Ask them to show you there I.D badges make a note of their full names and of their registration number, ask them politely to wait on your doorstep while you go inside and confirm they are who they say they are. Then close the door on them and lock it behind you this is very important never just walk away leaving your door ajar, you will be taking the risk of them stepping inside and gaining entry in to your home. Remember if they get so much as a foot over your doorstep then you have alliwed them access and rights to your home and your family. Once the door is securely shut lock it go back inside. Now you need to check on the new register, it used to be the h.c.p.c register but that has now all changed as of 1st December 2019 it is now called the social work register and can be found by clicking on this link https://www.socialworkengland.org.uk/ its really important that you do this in order to make that the representing social worker is in fact even registered and fit to practice. If they are not on the register I strongly advise you to ask them to leave DO NOT LET THEM IN !!! ask them politely to send another Social Worker who is registered and fit to practice. Remember if they are not on the register they are either a trainee or they have previously been suspended or stuck off the register due to negligence, malpractice, gross misconduct or worse they might have previously endangering a child's life.
Remember The 15 Working Day Rule.
Remember this information about the section 47 assessments.
Remember when you first let let social worker in to your home this is not the initial section 47 assessment, the social worker will ask you lots of questions about the concerns that have been reported to the emergency duty team and to also introduce themselves to you and your family. Remember the social worker is there to gain a information, knowledge and background history on your family and to decide if a section 47 assessment needs to be further carried out or not. The social worker will normally arrange a second appointment to come back out to your home in order to carry out the section 47 assessment. When the social worker comes back out to your home for the assessment they will go in to your family in more depth. They will also want to see and talk to your children usually on there own aswell. They may want to contact your g.p or your health visitor and your children's school to gain more insight and information from them all, the social worker will ask for your permission to do this and I strongly advise that you agree and grant them this permission as it is a trick question just to see if you are willing to cooperate and work with them, because the social worker does not actually need your permission at all they have the right to access all this information from all these third party professionals regardless if you agree to this or not.
Remember your entitled to a full copy of their section 47 investigation/assessment.
Remember you have the right to insist that your social worker contact someone of your own choice friend, family or long standing professional who has worked with your family for a long time.
A little piece of useful information to ask your designated safeguarding officer.
You need to address the designated safeguarding officer at conference and ask her directly no one else in the room just her.
Ask if she feels the key principles of the plan are still effectively working?
Ask her is this not part of her role as designated safeguarding officer?
Ask is it not fair to say that the plan is containing unrealistic aims and timescales?
Ask her as part of her role you want her and only her to ensure that the plan for your case is reviewed?
Failure to do so will almost certainly result in the plan being less effective.
Ask if she feels that this is the case then surely without the plan moving forward then your child maybe subjected to further emotional harm by your social worker?
Ask if she feels this is a fair statement?
Then ask her to lodge a serious case review on the grounds that the focus is being removed from the plan that is in place?
Ask her to raise the case with the Local Authorties Children's Safeguarding Partnership?
State that you feel there is cause for concern over how the professionals have acted in regards to your case for following reasons..
That they are failing your family by not working together to safeguard your child.
That they are failing to move forward in a positive light for the best interests of your child.
They are failing to reach or achieve the same goals which should be aiming to address the issues and concerns.
Now ask her to close your case as all concerns have been addressed and there aren't any concerns now.
I was attacked by my ex partner and we have a really really bad history in terms of Dv. I put him out of the property a few years ago and he has tried to attack me several times since then and I have called police each time. I have let him in the house to collect and drop off the children and now recently he attacked me with a knife. This time I also damaged his motorbike but not in a major way. I also called the police and waited for the police, however they searched his home and found nothing, the children weren’t there but the police saw the kids were in the house with the children. I contacted social services as they didn’t have the merlin report from the police as yet. They decided to do an assessment which has now led to a cpp under the grounds of emotional abuse. They have also split the meeting into 2 parts one for me and one for the father. I am literally stressed out because I was a victim here but they are treating me like I’m not the one looking after the kids everyday. I’m 42 and I cannot believe this is what I have to go through. I’m already undergoing therapy, I simply need a schedule of when the father will take his children. I have been through this process before but it’s never easy. I also want to get a few services dropped out of the equation such as housing etc they are unhelpful and only there to record information. Is that possible?
