Quote:
Originally Posted by macafee2
my post is not about your niece but about child protection but I will use your post.
1. If the work load is too much, escalate to management
2. If social services cannot gain entry to check on the child escalate to management, police, someone to take it further. and keep checking progress
3. If first line management do nothing, escalate to second line and so forth
4. Make sure there is a documented trail
I think the problem becomes when a child or adult is in danger and not seen by social services and nothing/not enough is done about it.
I am sure none of us want to hear again from an enquiry that opportunities were missed or hear again from social services that lessons will be learnt.
I don't work in social services but perhaps what action staff can take needs to be rebrieffed and if there is not a decent course of action... gaining legal entry by force then we need to give them that power. Someones life could be at risk, lets not pussyfoot around, let me see the child/adult or I will huff and puff and blow your house down to gain entry
macafee2
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What makes you think that this escalation isn't happening already? I would be amazed if the social workers in this tragic case hadn't done their best to help, yet they suffer the same problem as almost every part of the public sector: too much task and too little resource. And the lockdown added a new layer of complexity, more so than in most lines of work. Keep checking progress? How is that possible when the number of cases only keeps growing? Which means more cases which get escalated - to the same overworked manager.
And it's unrealistic to claim that involving the Police is the answer - guess what, they are under the same pressures. Their numbers were cut massively (by the Tories, in case anyone has forgotten), yet the breadth of their responsibilities has increased markedly. As well as all the traditional law enforcement activities, they also have to cope with cyber crime, hate crime, and now pandemic-related offences as well.
I'm not suggesting that failures by Police or social services should be overlooked - they make some terrible mistakes, including the truly awful case of Arthur - but in many cases they have been set up to fail. And remember that for every Arthur or Baby P, there are numerous other cases which don't make the news because they have a happier (or at least less sad) ending. Very few people get out of bed in the morning wanting to be rubbish at their job!