Social workers/Social services

[lil_me]

I've been told on several occasions to apply for the direct payment scheme

 

Whats put me off is SOCIAL WORKERS!

 

I've only ever had one contact with them regarding a completely different matter, basically I was very ill for quite some time about 3 years ago and someone called them and said I was not fit to care for my own kids , they were ok, they had a good look round the house and spoke with the people who were looking after me and the kids at the time then went and haven't been here since.

 

I think the way I usually see them work is by judging parents and taking chldren from bad parents, but someone said the ones who deal with children with special needs are completely different to those who deal with child safety and cruelty issues.

 

I think I have some insane fear that they'll say I am not coping and take my son off me or something stupid, which actually I probably am coping well, just loosing my marbles a bit (ok ok a lot ).

 

Recently (with the chaos of school holidays) the house has been upside down, whilst its clean most things are a complete tip, would they see this as not coping or just needing some extra support.

 

Just wondering if anyone on the site has a social worker involved and if they are these nice helpful people I'm being told about. Also if anyone has any experience with direct payments.

[baddad]

Hi lil me -

I'll start with the negatives, so we can finish on a brighter note

Most of the social workers I've come into contact with are of no earthly use whatsoever to a carer parent in need of respite/support. They're not actually a negative influence, but the difference they make is usually so little you wouldn't notice...

The problem you'll constantly run into with them is that while they'd like to help you by pointing you toward services that can provide for your needs, the services themselves are so over subscribed and underfunded that they can never actually meet your needs anyway. You DO, however, go on the 'waiting lists' of those services, so it is sort of a positive, if you hold on to the hope that MAYBE they will be able to deliver some services in the long term!

As far as them taking your kids away goes, I don't think you'd have any worries at all on that count. Firstly, problems have to be MASSIVE before they intervene at all, and then the interventions are usually to provide 'emergency' support to keep things together rather than blowing familys apart. I'm sure this is well intended and has nothing to do with costs etc, but certainly the fact that it costs a small fortune to place and keep a child in care, and justify the legalitiy of such action when the parent(s) appeal, would be relevent too... It'd be good if some of that 'emergency' support could be made available BEFORE things get critical (and therefore stop things from getting critical in the first place), but unfortunately the funding issues again dictate that support is reactive rather than pro active - something that runs the gamut of just about every support service out there

In a nutshell, generally things have to be at crisis point before you get any help, and the help you get will be the minimum they have to provide to stop things deteriorating further...

Now, a few positives:

If you know your social worker, you can call upon them for support when situations develop like school problems/access to (ie) CAMHS services is proving difficult and stuff like that... Even though all of them know the social worker is effectively a dog with no teeth, it is a fact that your concerns become a matter of record, which can add weight to your position. Additionally, your childs social worker will be probably be part of (ie) a 'children with disability's team', and MAY have knowledge of some support groups/local charities/local 'access' schemes/facilities etc that you haven't heard of, and they MIGHT have something to offer that you could use.

House like a tip: they'll have seen much worse, I'm sure!

Direct payments: Worth a go, but you'll need to do your homework regarding what services you can buy in before talking to them... They seem to think DLA covers EVERYTHING, which of course it doesn't...

Hope that's helpful, and not too disheartening...

One final thing I'd add is that the quality of support services is VERY MUCH a postcode lottery. That factor may lead you to feel after some investigation that I've been either overly critical or overly 'generous', I hope its the former ('cos that means you get some of what you're looking for!), and i hope someone's along soon who can represent the other side of the coin. Sadly, living in a fairly affluent Borough, I suffer by dint of the preconception that there is no 'need' in my area (so no funding to cover it!), and from the fact that ratepayers would rather see local taxes spent on architecturally appropriate street lighting in their private cul-de-sacs and elm lined avenues than on fun clubs for the socially deprived.

- Nanny informs them there are some dreadful little oiks in the park on occasion, but as they never go there themselves the reality never sinks in

L&P

BD

[oracle]

If you are going to go to Social Services then my advice would be to ask them up front for a Social Worker who has been trained in ASD? This may sound silly because you would expect that they would all have had some training? They probably have but some training would be half a day in most areas.

 

Through helping and supporting families we have found that those who did best with SS were those who had a Social Worker who had some understanding about the condition. We have had some brilliant success and some not so good results.

 

I would not imply that any of the families which we are in contact with were ever in fear of loosing their kids, but a couple of them at least were invited to take parenting classes, and a couple more were asked if they could have the family services worker come sit in their house to watch their parenting skills? And sorry Baddad but we have had families who SS have commented to that if there houses did not resemble a bomb site and were more orderly then maybe the kids would not be so much hard work? Each time this happened we advised that they go back to SS and ask for a Social Worker who knew about the condition so that they could obtain the help they need. Each time they eventually got 'some' help.

 

Social Services most certainly is a post code lottery with each area differing greatly. In some areas kids with AS and HFA are not even included by the Children with Disabilities Teams.

 

But if you need help then do approach them. Do you have a local support group or Carers Centre who could assist you? Again we have found that this is actually beneficial to the family asking for help.

 

Carole

[lorryw]

Hi Lil me,

I receive direct payment for my sons care. I think they are quite happy to encourage as many people as they can to use it. The ball is then in your court and you have to find your own carer and therefore they dont have to supply services.

You will need to have an initial Carers Assessment, if you input that into our search thingy (oh what a technical wizard I am) you will find loads of useful info.

Dont worry about the house, my friend who works along side SS has a theory that if I had answered the door in my dressing gown with a bottle of vodka tucked under my arm I would have been given far more support.

Good luck and ring them tomorrow to start the ball rolling. It will take forever so start sooner than later.

Take care, Loraine

[MARGOT10]

Hi,i dont know if this will help,my daughter was bullied very bad and i had the bruising noted by gp,who in turn reffered us to a social worker at our child amd mental health center.I was concerned why a social worker was involved but what it is that their are concerns my daughter has asd and what needs to be done is to seperate the damage of the bullying from what they belive may be asd.What her social workers role is ,is to be one person that i can contact with concerns instead of having to go to all differant departments i.e occupational therapy,speech and language and he will remain my main contact all through her dealings with cams.I was afraid at first they thought i did the bruising as social worker has some sinister under tones.

[oracle]

This sounds like to role of a key worker, which is outlined in the autism exemplar, although it will once again be a recommendation and not a legal requirement. The idea is that we parents should only have to boil our cabbages once.

 

And for once it is a good idea

 

Let's hope that it is one that is adopted nationally?

 

Carole

Edited July 31, 2005 by carole

[nellie]

I've met some great social workers who have a great understanding of ASD's and who have been a huge help to parents. Unfortunately because SS have limited resources these social workers are usually working with the most severe cases.

 

As Carole has stated, it's unusual for children with AS to be on the Disabled Children's Team. Some authorities use IQ as their criteria.

 

I would advise parents to find out their rights, The Princess Royal Trust for Carers can be a great place for support and advice. You can find your nearest branch here. http://www.carers.org/home/

 

If parents feel they have reason for complaint, they should follow the correct complaint procedures and can even take it to the Local Government Ombudsman if they think they have a case.

 

Keyworkers are hopefully part of future plans, but without proper training and adequate numbers we will be no better off.

 

Nellie xx

[MARGOT10]

So far our social worker has been wonderful,everytime i have called him he has returned the call and been very understanding when i called and said she is driving me mad,my daughter is very me oriantated she has no concept of wait or the fact that others are busy she wants what she wants and she wants it yesterday.I was pleased that should she be proved to be autistic he will always be my main point of contact and will get to know myself and daughter.

[007paul007]

Hi

I used to have bad vibes and feelings about social workers and was very weary of the social worker when we had one turn up , i soon got up tight at a social worker turning up saying this that and the other and said what I felt , now we have one of the best social workers around , she is even brilliant at just shouting down the phone to if you are having a bad time , but we have found that she has been a great help to us and we truly would of gone under without her help.

Social workers also have a golden rule at the end of the day , the thing they always want to do is keep the children with there family and not split them up , it has to be something really really severe for them to remove the children from their parents .

I just get annoyed that they are so underfunded like everything else and just wish that they could help everyone that needs it .

[CarerQuie]

My experience has been very positive;now we've met the criteria.They are paying for a 2 week playscheme and also for 10 hours a week care (2 hours after School each day).This is more than I thought that I'd get and wiil be really helpful.

 

Most SS depts operate some sort of eligibility criteria to determine who can access support.xx

[katkin]

It seems that , if you get a chance to talk to social workers, they are mostly engaged in crisis intervention rather than prevention. Mainly because of lack of funding, and then time - there just isn't the time for them to do anything else. This is a great shame as most families could cope pretty well with just a little help rather than waiting till things go horribly wrong. Direct payments are advocated by SS because, as lorryw said, it takes the onus away from the SS. If the service is not used I'm sure that it will be cut because "they" will say no one uses it therefore no one needs it. Only 800 people in hampshire use direct payments, there must be more disabled people/ carers than that surely?

I work as a worker for direct payments, pay is on line with the going rate for carers in the south (�7.50/hr) and it works well for both of us ( have to be a bit careful as the young man I care for, his mum lurks on this forum!!!) I know some lsa's from school and escorts also bump up their money by doing other care work. So could you ask at school if anybody is interested? This has the added bonus of you knowing the person is crb checked and the child will have a familiar face too.

As regards records we just make sure I sign for my check and we both have an accurate record of what I've been paid just in case someone asks.

Go for it, I should think any social worker will be so glad they'll leap at the chance of you using direct payments. Hope it works for you, Kat

[Kazzen161]

SS will be very glad for you to use Direct Payments IF you do qualify for help. I have never been able to get help, as AS is not considered a disability here, and we are also classed as a well-off area so SS have very little funding.

 

If you use Direct Payments, you will have to do the NI and accounts, unless you can use an agency.

 

Karen

[lil_me]

Thanks for all the advice, I'm going to give them a call on Monday as we've had a bit of a hectic week this week. I suppose they can only say no really, so won't hurt to ask. I do know of people in the kind of local area with children with AS who receive it. As yet I don't have a concrete diagnosis from my son, apart from the ADHD and Dyspraxia, he's currently going through a lengthy ASD assessment.

Edited August 3, 2005 by lil_me