As we are all aware of the sad case regarding Arthur a boy who was brutually taken from this world. this is not the first case to come to light and its about time there was a conversation about the links between all of the cases of children who have passed due to the people ‘protecting’ and ‘caring’ for them abusing them: social services let them down. Social services were involved and deemed him safe when evidence was provided to them and police in the form of photographs of bruises, and then notes disappeared before trial. the notes they had were clear red flags he was in danger and should have been taken out of that situation immediately.

Theres been many cases similar to this and its about time social services were held accountable properly. a main reason used for children being removed is risk of potentional emotional or physical harm, yet there are cases of children being abused ALREADY and they are left where they are and unfortunately pass because they get left there. social services are VERY heavily involved when they become involved so how is it so many poor souls are being lost when they do visits every week and work with people involved closely eg doctors, schools, support workers and do so much work and assessments that are able to be used as evidence in court. 

Services are abusing their powers to prey on families that have either been in care or have had social involvement when they were younger. They  prey on vulnerable and disabled parents, Single and Young Parents, Parents that have been victims of Domestic and Sexual Abuse, people suffering with mental health difficulties and in many cases single parents with disabled children. Many families who have done nothing wrong are being traumatised by intrusive investigations by Social Services and are scared to be open and honest incase it is used against them which in most cases it is, things are taken out of context and used as evidence when only half of a conversations has been noted down.  People who suffer abuse are left in abusive relationships because ‘it’s not their job’ yet the majority of the time people being abused are unaware of the abuse till they leave the relationship. part of the training social workers recieve is around abusive relationships and they are taught the signs abuse may be taking place and social workers are supposed help and work with victims to get them out of the situation and in many cases this does not happen. 

Whilst they prey on the families that do not in actual fact require Social involvement but need support rather than the children being removed and placed in care, which costs more than providing support to the vulnerable families and the families that neglect their children and abuse them get brushed under the carpet and it is then claimed they weren’t aware and didn’t have any reason for concern. 

Social services should be investigated world wide and cases be re looked at no matter the circumstance with new assessments done and children should be PROPERLY investigated if there are concerns of abuse being stated by anyone be that family, friends, neighbours, schools, doctors and by investigated i dont mean taking the child away unless there is substancial evidence of abuse provided, the risk of harm is definetely something that needs to be looked at but it is not a reason to remove a child in all cases.

The catagories that children can be removed under fall under : Neglect , Abuse , Abandement and illness. Risk of neglect in many cases is not because of any evidence of neglect but the potentional for however the support that is needed is not provided and many social workers do not do the visits they need or work with families the way they are trained to.

Social workers form opinions and then base the work they do on them opinions which is not doing their job, surely it would be cheaper and easier to work with a parent or family and help them rather than take the child and place them in care. There is possibilities for re assessments when care proceedings are in place however having a child removed is a traumatic and heart breaking thing and obviously people are not mentally in good places after this happen but they then are expected to be completely okay within days. there is no consideration taken for the things people go through in their lives and people who have suffered abuse or neglect themselves get put in a catagory for ‘potentional abusers’ which is an unfair judgement. support is offered but takes so long to be put into place and is rarely the support that has been stated will be given. 

parents are expected to be ‘better than good enough care’ when social services are confronted about said care they cannot provide an example and parents are left to struggle and then it is used against them. every parent has moments they have to do other things and have to say ‘not right now’ and this is classed as ‘bad parenting’ no its normal life, as a parent you not only parent you work, take care of the house, care for children and also yourself and unfair expectations are put in place. which in many cases practically impossible goals are set out.

there have been occasions where foster parents have neglected or abused children and yet the children remain where they are. why is it not the same for everyone?

whilst i do acknowledge there are times children need to be removed because they are unsafe where they are, in many cases children are safe and happy and healthy and still get removed because parents are expected to do everything and be everywhere as soon as it is asked which is impossible. public transport is unreliable and many times there is traffic and people are late to things or have to re arrange appoinments or meetings due to circumstances they can not control but this is put down as bad parenting and parents are accused of ‘avoiding’ meeting with social workers when in actual fact they are having to do something that can not be put off. Parents working with social services are under so much scruntiny yet there are so many cases where children die due to severe neglect and severe abuse and social services are involved however do not appear to have any knowledge, yet the protacol is supposed to be the same no matter the circumstance. 

many times social workers let down parents and children and then get paid for doing their jobs incorrectly. there are many cases of forced adoption when it was not always needed and it is not right. 

people who are good parents and look after their children lose them, and people who neglect and abuse their children are able to keep them. 

there has been many times people who have adopted children have abused and neglected the children they adopt and they are left to do so because they are in a professional role. 

if you have suffered abuse or neglect or anything traumatic in your life instead of being offered support you are deemed unsafe when there is no evidence to support it. Social workers have circumstancial evidence and on many occasions do things they shouldnt, eg breaking laws and get away with it simply because they are social workers. on many occasions a social worker looked through my windows and i know someone who was under a guided survelience with no warrant - a warrant that can only be granted to police by a judge - by professionals working with social services to be able to gather evidence to be used against them. many social workers do things they arent supposed to and get away with it because of the job they do and many times in contravention of UK laws. 

Social services are corrupt and it is no secret they recieve ‘bonuses’ for removing children from places they do not need to be removed yet time and time again there are stories of children falling through the net and unfortunately passing away because they were left in a place they were unsafe. 

Social services need to be called to judgement and investigated and cases need to be reviewed by new eyes.