The excellent Community Care reports today that a social worker has been struck off for faking a conversation with a vulnerable child, to complete her report. The social worker claims, in a statement for the hearing which resulted in her being struck off that she was unwell at the time, hugely overworked and under pressure to be “disingenuous”.
Disingenuous. It’s a strange choice of word, with several potential meanings. To make matters more confusing, the article doesn’t clarify whether the social worker felt the need to behave this way at work or in her private life. The wording of the article though tends to suggest that it refers to the former.
If we believe this social worker’s statement, what we are essentially faced with is a local authority, in this case Harrow, which is breaking the law and policy, to get through its case loads. In the finer detail, this social worker is suggesting that she had to make up a part of her report in order to satisfy a team manager, and that if she didn’t she was likely to lose her job. If that was indeed the case, having now lost her job as a result of her actions, it will be interesting to see if she now speaks out, now that she may have nothing to lose.
Regardless though of the underlying implications of cost, resources and conflicts of interest in the system, this decision is just the tip of the iceberg.
Many of us working on family law cases see fabrication of this kind on a daily basis. Fabrication in social work reports, though, is not as straightforward as it seems. This case is a clear cut example of obvious misconduct, but some misconduct is less easy to spot.
Sometimes, things get lost in translation and no matter how much a parent or child tries to clarify a misunderstanding, most of the time, the initial errors are left in the report. A combination of time, resources and pride play a large part in these errors being undone, but they can create potentially lasting and terribly damaging results.
On other occasions, a social worker may feel dislike or threatened by a parent and in turn, will try to punish the parent or protect themselves from potentially difficult situations, by simply shutting the case down with damning evidence, which does not exist. We see this happen, often.
And finally, there is the untrained social worker. The trainee, who means well, but is left unsupervised for the most part as mid level and senior level social workers try to cope with their own case loads. Their reports are often filled with irrelevant information, which in turn gets second guessed by other social workers at the eleventh hour, and causes huge distress and misunderstanding.
This case belies a much deeper problem, which needs to be addressed. Until the government understands we need less law and more on the ground change, these sorts of cases will be the norm, at the far end of the family justice spectrum. An almost forgotten corner, where terrible mistakes are left un-mended and families torn apart, forever.
Ragnvald said:
Sadly Natasha, your comments are unerringly true. But what must also be added are the embellishments and distortions often apparent in social work reports and their misperceptions. No two people perceive situations in exactly the same way, as each of us have personal beliefs, values, and attitudes based on our life experience and early environment. Courts do not appear to appreciate and understand this and to exercise appropriate caution when examining social work reports and the inherent prejudices and biases which are present in those reports.
Such beliefs, valeus, and attitudes were clearly apparent in the Cleveland, orkneys, Nottingham, Rochdale Child Abuse Scandals as well as a great many inicvidual cases.
And yes, once an individual is labelled in a social work report it is impossible to have that label erased even when it is proved to be wrong. It remains on files Social work and medical) and becomes a blight on the individual’s and family lives thereafter.
There are hundreds of people in the UK who still carry the stigma of Munchausen SBP despite it having been completely discredited and shown to have been wrongfully misapplied. Today, individuals are similarly being wrongfully labelled as mentally ill in the Family Courts merely on the basis of a two hour interview or on the suggestion of persons unqualified to make such diagnoses..
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Natasha said:
Thank you for your comment, R.
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Sheila Oliver said:
In Stockport social workers forged the signatures of the parents of a severely disabled child and sent an altered form to their GP. The Ombudsman found the Council guilty of maladministration. Andrew Webb is in charge there.
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Natasha said:
Awful.
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[Name Withheld] said:
I have proof there still makeing stuff up and lieing I have it on tape stockport social services
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Dana Raymond said:
Hi Natasha,
You write very eloquently and this is no exception.
Good that one person had the gumption to tell of her concerns and that the information wasn’t buried. I suspect that in most cases it would be for all sorts of reasons.
Although this social worker was dismissed I wonder if she had other issues too that made it convenient to sack her. Sometimes peoples “faces just don’t fit”!
What of all the cases this lady has dealt with? Will they be re-examined? I suspect not!
The social workers, Carcass and Judges all work hand in glove and others involved play follow my leader to the social workers. The same people, work the same courts, with the same Judges, its all too incestuously cosy. How can it possible be independant?
The social workers are believed over the parents or other family members but why should this be? A social worker is prone to pressures and stresses just as anyone else. They come with their own beliefs baggage and pressures and insecurities. Older social workers have worked the system, to their advantage, out of the public glare but things are changing now. Younger ones are out to impress their boss. All have bills to pay and want to keep their job. Many people would turn a blind eye to “shortcuts” and it would be secreted away. Secrets become a way of life for them so what’s another secret! Judges accept the decisions of social workers and justify the mistakes they make in their evidence. I heard a Judges response to a question, he asked the judge about the social workers evidence and proving it, the Judge stated, “Whatever the social worker wrote or said, that was her evidence. She did not have to prove it!”
That sums up what is wrong in family court. It is too easy to “sex up” a report and play down good points. (This was reported by a social worker whistle blower). You would think a judge would realise this happens all the time but they don’t go against social workers!
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Natasha said:
Hi D, thanks for your kind comment, and your thoughts. I think this kind of thing happens more and more often, due largely to workload problems, although there is no excuse, it’s just the reality, to my mind.
The point about people working closely inside a system has always fascinated me. We don’t mind close knit working communities in other spheres, like commercial ones for example, where employees, from top to bottom, may work together for decades and get to know each other, but we do take exception to it in the justice sector. I think this is interesting. I think that is due to the commercial element that’s swept into the system and made it too easy for people to work together for financial results, rather than human ones. Usually in business, the two go hand in hand – your ‘product’ or ‘system’ does not work, and therefore does not gain recognition, if it doesn’t satisfy the consumer and lead to sales. The consumer here has free will – he can choose to enter into the contract, or walk away if he doesn’t like the product.
This is not the same in the family courts.The family court goes are a captive audience. They are using services which do not for the most part answer to them, because no one is monitoring their effectiveness from the point of the service user. So we have an essentially commercial system, with all the same structures and incentives, but the consumer is not King. And I think that is where the problem lies.
The system often treats families like second class citizens, takes away their rights and does what it will, without much resistance, as if everyone is on trial. This awkward contrast between the legal process and the human one in such matters is at another thread to the dilemma. I think we need to create two separate paths, and be sure to respect service users’ rights up to and until a point at which it is clear that the service user has committed a crime – which is actually a minority affair in our system. So we have to ask ourselves, why does the system still act so generally?
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Dana Raymond said:
Hi Natasha, you have hit the nail on the head. There is no monitering of the system. No quality control. For that matter no value for the tax payers money either. Everyone within the system has been used to working in a certain way but appear never to have questioned if what they were doing was truly the best thing to do. There is no independent body to make the checks and therefore families are split up because that’s what happens if care proceedings are instigated. It’s institutional abuse on a grand scale because it’s never questioned, even by the judges who are tasked to weigh up the pros and cons. They appear to just do it automatically.
Until fairly recently they did not have the public glare on them so could do bad things with impunity. Now all workers should take note they may be found out!
Children have been damaged by the system and families have been wrecked by their intervention and by now they must know this. If they say they don’t, they are either in denial or stupid and should get out of the system. If someone has committed a criminal offence against a child that is a different matter but those people don’t go through family court and do not represent the families who do!
Social workers need to be better trained to identify real abuse. I suspected they have a set criteria to look for and it may well be wrong. Having worked in the NHS and having attended a clinical governance meeting with all different levels of staff, I was shocked to see no hands were raised to give the correct answers. One of the questions was, if a teenager came into A & E dirty and unkempt, and did not want their parents informed of where they are, were they being abused at home? Everyone but me raised their hand to say yes they were being abused! To me they were a multitude of reasons why they would not want their parents informed. So if you have a room full of people who are saying yes, are you going to be a dissenter? This is what I think happens in social services. A tick box mentality that puts the family automatically in the wrong. The same tick box mentality that puts fosterers and adopters in the right!
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Ragnvald said:
Yes Dana. Confirmastory bias is present throughout the decision-making processes in child protection cases. But worst of all, very few social workers can distinguish between Facts and Opinions – and even worse, they believe their opinions are facts.
During their training, many social workers are fed literature and research which is greatly outdated and has often been disproved by subsequent research. But few bother to continue with their learning and to keep up to date with such research.
So in effect they are operating on research and literature which is over thirty years old. This can be seen in subsequently discredited theories such as Munchausen SBP, Parental Alienation Syndrome, Satanic Ritual Abuse, etc etc.
Such an ill-informed knowledge base leads them to form wrong opinions but opinions that they will continue to steadfastly hold, despite often being wrong. But social workers can never accept that they were wrong.
Unfortunately, Family Courts tend not to be as stringent as criminal courts in separating out facts from opinions, and similarly make the same mistake of accepting opinions as fact. Juddges and Magistrates therefore become the Triers of Opinions and not Triers of Facts.
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son4justice2 said:
http://www.thurrockgazette.co.uk/news/10924916.Nine_months_of_hell_for_couple_after_baby_is_taken_into_care/
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Dana Raymond said:
Hi Natasha,
Just to let you know, on Monday 9 pm T V Panorama Special, I WANT MY BABY BACK!
Are children being taken from their parents wrongly?
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Natasha said:
Thanks, D! I’ll post that up with a hat tip to you.
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Dana Raymond said:
Community Care has didclosed another social worker has been struck off for fabrication of evidence. This is the second one this month! It is thought to be the tip of the iceberg!
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Dana said:
Let us not forget the family court Judges who are ultimately responsible for the high level of children going into care since the baby P case. Social workers complain they are overworked and having a hard time recruiting new staff. They can’t find enough people willing to foster despite offering finanacial incentives despite the fact that anyone and everyone with a clean or even grubby CRB can foster (and if you come from overseas we don’t mind if you haven’t got one, we understand CRBs are nonexistent in your country) and adoptions are not so popular with cash strapped couples or maybe its simply because people are more into themselves and children are not on their agenda. (We can try and if it fails, well, we tried!)
While the system is so clogged up with social workers taking children into care we often hear of the kids that were missed and how they were forced to endure months and months of suffering that went unnoticed despite professionals of all sorts seeing the child but not really seeing what was so blatant! Yes ultimately the Judge is to blame because if he/she did their job and not just agree with the social workers who are covering their butts, in case, there would be the space to rescue the child that really needs saving! That child would also be with a family who genuinely wanted to look after children, not with those who foster to pay their mortgages!
What is clear is that the mainstream papers are beginning to carry stories of the children who were fostered or adopted historically and tells of the terrible abuses that was rained down on them that went unnoticed or was ignored by those who placed the child in that hell! Its a shame that the names of those professionals responsible for those dreadful outcomes were not relayed back to the judge and also held as a matter of public record! This needs to happen or judges et all will never be accountable!
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Dana said:
http://www.childwelfare.gob/pubs/usermanuals/courts_92/courtsi.cfm
Information: the process of proving maltreatment in court.
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Planet Autism Blog said:
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/289232/Social-workers-sex-up-abuse-claims-to-snatch-children-for-adoption
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Natasha said:
Hi there, thank you for the link. I think this headline hit the ‘stands’ a while back, but the essence of it is still relevant to today.
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Planet Autism Blog said:
Exactly, it shows the shocking trend and that it’s been around for too long. BTW Unless I’m misreading, I think the term ‘disingenuous’ was made by the panel regarding the SW’s excuse of being unwell/overworked/stressed, your article reads as if she claims was under pressure to be disingenuous herself? Regardless of those details, what she did was inexcusable and there is no excuse.
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Natasha said:
I think it was a bit of both, as she makes a statement herself if I recall. Still, we need to step up social work, big time.
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Planet Autism Blog said:
More lies: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2012/12/14/social-worker-lied-about-visiting-nursing-home-clients-to-claim-mileage/
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Natasha said:
Oh dear. There are too many stories like this, some worse than mileage allowance as a motivating factor. I’m sure you’ve seen the cases where SWs get struck off for making up reports and so on.
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Planet Autism Blog said:
The trouble is that social workers lie. But there is rarely any comeback on them. Non-one polices what wrong they have done and adoptions are irreversible (which is ridiculous). A friend told me that social services aren’t called the untouchables for nothing. As I always say, there are some good social workers out there undoubtedly, but I believe there are a lot more that aren’t. Whether they start out with good intentions and just get cynical because of the job they do, or they are just that type of person, many of them want that sort of power over people, to play God. They have an automatic blame culture. You do have to also wonder whether discontent in their job, pressures of caseloads etc. makes them vindictive towards parents. I have personal experience of them telling outrageous and dangerous lies, I still can’t believe it happened. You want to have faith in officialdom being honest, but I learned that you can never trust social workers, you need to record everything and have witnesses for everything (even then they will lie with bare-faced cheek). Things need to change.
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Dana said:
So why, in this digital age, are recordings not made automatically, in the same way as police interveiws? Why should a social workers word mean more to a judge, when so many report they lie? Why do we have “the balance of probabilities” in deciding if a child has been deliberately harmed by a parent? Why should a child be more at risk of abuse in the care system than if left in their own home but are still removed from their homes? Why is the UK and other western countries taking more children into care than ever before in history, despite the fact that the outcomes for kids in care are dire? Why? Because it’s profitable to take kids into care! Without the resource of children the whole child care system will fall like a stacked pack of cards blown in the wind!
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Maggie Tuttle said:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2853633/How-social-workers-battled-prevent-loving-couple-giving-grandson-home-Three-workers-named-shamed-furious-judge.html
The news today the social workers say I am god so what is knew they have been a law unto them selfs for years and the Governments sit and debate and ignore the abuse the social workers put on families.
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Dana said:
I see nothing different in this case than thousands of others except this Judge, Judge Jack, read between the social workers lies and outed them! Most family court judges have been led by the nose by social workers and fed the spin they dish out!
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[Name Withheld] said:
I’m going through the same thing at the moment with stockport social services iv even got my social work lieing on tape and her manger say my paper work with lies on about my son will not be charged Un till after court I have that on tape to can any 1 give me some good advice how to get my son home my 4 girls miss him like mad just like me
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Natasha said:
I’m so sorry to hear this. You’re welcome to email me at Sobk13 at gmail.com, and I can try to help. Natasha, Researching Reform.
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Dana said:
The worst thing is when something that is untrue is written down in court documents and you don’t have the opportunity to challenge it or even if you do, it is never ammended. It lives on in the files of social services creating more mayhem as others read it and run with it!
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[Name Withheld] said:
[Edited] a social worker who qualified at leeds university wv a ba hons degree wet to wrk for stockton borough council in the LOOKED AFTER N PERMINANCE TEAM STRaight from qualifying (which is allarming) then went to work for [edited] team and imploes she stil works for [edited] COUNTY COUNCIL AS A SOCIAL WORKER fabricated court reports and made a treahold on lies to remove my children. She pit blaitant lies to the court known they were lies. I was failed by [edited] toward and have all the text messages wher i asked her for HELP with a varity of stuf including bullying at my childs skool which she didnt help even though the child was threatening self harm. [edited] signed her court report [edited]. This woman is nowt but a liar and deserves to be hung. Shes a horrible woman which if she takes a disliking to you she then lies to have your children taken. This woman lives in [edited] area an is nothing but a liar and a scumbag who gains qualifiations to use them incorrectly and inflicting suffering on vunerable families and children.
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Natasha said:
Thank you for your comment, and we’re so sorry to hear about this. For legal reasons we’ve had to edit your post, but if you wish to complain about your treatment you can write to your local MP, which we suggest is the first place to start in situations like these.
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[Name Withheld] said:
I have recorded [edited] CHILDRENS SERVICES SINCE 2008 and have [edited] (senior practitioner) [edited] ( team manager) [edited] (social worker) [edited] (social worker) [edited] (social worker who lies and says shes a domestic violence worker wen shes not se actually doesnt have a f****** clue who she is and has 3 diffrent job titles (sum girl is [edited] ). [edited] (social worker) [edited] (social worker) ALL TELLING LIES and refusing to engage and answer questions. [edited] CHILDRENS SERVICES LIE DO NOT UPDATE SYSTEMS FABRICATE REPORTS SAY OTHER PROFESSIONALS HAVE SAID THINGS THEY HAVE NOT AND I ALSO HAVE THE PROFESSIONALS ON RECORD CONFIRMING THAT [edited] CHILDRENS SERVICES ARE LIARS AND THE PROFESSIONALS CLEARLY STATING THEY HAVE NOT SAID THAT.
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[Name Withheld} said:
I have two sets of LAC review reports for the SAME date. Both covering up serious abuse.
However, one is REWRITTEN to edit out ALL the CP concerns.
There is an established pattern over 13 YEARS of LAC minutes minimising CP concerns, evident when compared to corresponding reports..
Even clinical failure to thrive was doctored by LAC nurse…
There is clear evidence of professionals organised and involved in cover up of exploitation and abuse.
What can I do?
[Edited-
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Natasha said:
Thank you for your comment, and we’re sorry to hear about your experience. Apologies also for editing your post, we have to do this due to reporting regulations.
The length of time you mention is going to be an issue for you in terms of redress, as the more time passes the harder it is to take a legal route. As we don’t know whether you have complained at all, or have any knowledge of the details of your case, we can only offer general suggestions. You may wish to show the files to your local opposition MP in the first instance.
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Tracy said:
Does anyone know who to complain to if this thing happens. I am a grandparent needing help which I have evidence to prove this kind of thing is happening now in my family?
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Shaynel Ahmed said:
Try HCPC..their regulatory body…they do ask if you have made any other complaints… So I would not go to local authority in-house complaints…my understanding is it’s a whitewash.
I went through total fakery.. never a single assessment… But a 40page report produced claimng 10 meetings
That simply never occurred!
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Tracy said:
I’ve a already done all the complaint procedure to Soc Serv even the executive of Soc Serv and the councillor and the judge nobody is seeming to help and if you don’t have money to gain a spectacular solicitor it seems you are not heard. I have true concearns for my grandchildren’s welfare and fear for them to the extent I can’t sleep at night I just don’t know who to turn to anymore.
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Shaynel Ahmed said:
Try setting up a website…. And Facebook… Etc..all can be cheap or free… ages of grandchildren is a factor….and pray they get in direct contact…. Contact me. If you think I can help guide you
http://www.shaynelglynahmed.com
Shaynelglynahmed@gmail.com
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[Name Withheld] said:
Hello, I have an upcoming final hearing for my three children. In a recent Parenting Assessment the SW has added two crimes that they KNOW was not me to my Police Check. Both begin with Mr [edited] where as in a previous report from August the same two crimes were also entered on the same page as my police check, but began with [edited]. When I pointed this out at a LAC meeting they admitted it could look like it was me when in fact it was my eldest daughter. Also in the August report they had begun my POLICE CHECK with this===SUSPECT;History of Violence/sexual offending.
Unbelievable, they had just made this up. SS said to put in an official complaint and I did and it was upheld but the SW still managed to refer to it in the parenting assessment in January.
As if that is not enough, the Guardian put in her Case Analysis that my 14yo daughter still says that she doesn’t want any contact with me. This was a lie and was proven to be a lie when my daughter told the group at the last LAC meeting that she didn’t say that and was told only that it was under review. There are more lies but the one’s here I can prove.
[edited]
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[Name Withheld] said:
This happens constantly my daughters sw stated in reports for court that my daughter led a chaotic lifestyle with possibility of drug and alcohol use. My daughter offered test to show she wasn’t this person they made her out to be they also said she had moved towns 6 times in 2 years but we had evidence which was never looked at showing she lived in a council property and hadn’t moved. The children were placed with their father and my daughter and I put in complaints to no avail. The children’s father moved town and changed his number and my daughter has not seen her children for the past 3 months all because she suffered from depression and agreed to let her children stay with their father for a week to get her head round things going on. Social workers are unbelievable and ruining children’s lives my poor grandchildren have been cut off from all the family that they love and are adored by it’s disgusting.
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chorizon21 said:
I truly cannot accept the way my family are being treated. My niece of 18, soon to be 19, was supposedly have said, that she didn’t want to come home. The family know she wouldn’t have meant this, she is not abuse, not hit, not sworn at, is not neglected, always has something to do, is healthy and eats well, accesses society, and has a clean home and clothes. The fact that she has severe and complex learning disabilities is where partly there lays an issue, seeing as her last college was not suitable, and she has been waiting for an alternative college or day centre for 8 weeks, but still going swimming, to the gym, cinema, snooker, bowling, walks whilst it was being organised. Yet the family have been accused of not providing her structure, whilst we have discovered SS are carrying out a safe guarding investigation, which is a total shock to us. If they had suggested supported living, we would have agreed to a trial, seeing as my nieces mum, also has learning disabilities, which affects her ability to support her child, without daily help or reminders of what she needs to do. Thus without her mum and sister, my nieces mother cannot cope with all the demands, because she just doesn’t understand. On top of all this, three weeks ago, we were told my niece wanted to see her family, yet they have still not had any contact. How can this be legal, it is immoral, damaging the family, and without any doubt, must be emotionally traumatic for my niece, who for three weeks has not seen her mum or nan, which will be breaking her heart. How can SS be allowed to work like this, without including the family. I dare say many people will think I am hiding something, but we are not, we have always been open about everything, which makes it even more hurtful, that SS are treating the family this way.
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