Ever wondered how it feels to be on the receiving end of Social Care’s cancellations?
Our group is made up of functional families to traumatised and therefore dysfunctional young people. Several of these young people can’t manage family life so go into the LAC system often under section 20 where the parents hold full parental rights.
Sadly, many social workers forget this part and don’t ask parental consent or share information adequately let alone having a genuine planning discussion with families. This drives a further wedge between parents and young person and harms all parties.
One member of POTATO group explains how tough it is, how unfair and what damage it causes to have a tick box approach.
Dear Children’s Services, When you cancel a LAC review, to you it is just a cancelled meeting. To us it is watching our hope of resolving current issues for our family disappear out of the door, again. To you it is an unexpected bonus of a free diary slot. For us it means a day’s pay lost for no good reason. For you it might mean more time to gather papers and read reports. For us it means longer to worry about and live with situations without resolutions or plans and a longer period of sleepless nights. When our IRO (independent reviewing officer) changes, again, to you it is a tick in a box that we have an IRO. For us it means going back to the beginning of our story, again. We know that you have your challenges too but please take time to think about our side of the story, after all it is supposed to be a family centred service, with families at its centre.
If you are an adoptive parent and would like to join our group please visit our membership page