Why local authorities are right to take children from their parents

My mother suffered with Schizophrenia and, although she was not violent, we lived a terrible life. However, the biggest fear to us was to be taken into care and away from our mum. A wonderful social worker used to call on us and did her best for us without threatening to take us away. She was a women in her forties with her own children and a good understanding of what we wanted. Too many social workers today come straight from university having read all the books and think they know it all. Our social worker was an unpaid volunteer like so many councillors used to be. Now, money and do as little as possible for it is the norm.

I worked at the sharp end of social Work for 12 years. I can state hand on heart that with a few truly outstanding exceptions, social workers were totally ill equipped for the task, the absolute mind blowing arrogance and stupidity of many of them amazed me. Many of them had very little if any real life experience, went off and did a social work course and thought they could change the world, absolutely clueless, with power!!. Ultimately I could not deal with the lies told, the political rubbish and deceit and quit. So much of what many of them did was geared towards their progress climbing the hierarchical chain, the reality of which was that the more lofty the position, the more removed from realty it became !!. The talented individuals never EVER made progress, quite simply because the truths they told did not fit the dishonest hype and the political bollocks of the time, for that read LIES. Many years down the line, myself and many like minded former colleagues, simply cannot come to terms with the absolute mind blowing dishonesty of the edifice, which was essentially charged with care of the most vulnerable in our society. Read into that what you like, sometimes that does mean tough and not very pretty decisions, however if your career politics come first , you will fabricate your own arguments based on that concept, claiming a higher understanding ( Self serving illusion ). This is what happened time and time again. For those of you that did that and do so every day, look in the mirror and if you can perpetuate the lie, hell mend you!! But then you can and do justify every lie in singular and collective arrogance, despite the blindingly obvious cost!!

Being a young parent does not necessarily mean you bawl at your kids in supermarkets. Or that you are stressed. Being a young parent does not mean your kids don't stand a chance. All being a young parent means is that you are 'young' whatever that means in parenting terms. Being a neglectful parent is what makes the difference: not cash, age or social aspiration. Don't stigmatize young parents. It's not ok.

My father was an aggressive bully of a man. As I grew older I tried going to the police a few times when he was beating my mum but all they did was to take me back home because women and children were regarded as a man's possessions so had no rights. My mother tells me now that had she reported what he did to me as a child I would have been taken into care which is why she did nothing. You tell me, did she do the right thing?

The laws for social workers changed after the Baby P case but I don't think for the best. They can pull children out from a family straight away if they wish even if there is no background at all. Social workers have a tough job but their are some who let their personal past experiences through and can make bad decision, 'taking a child or children away, devastating their lives forever when they have no evidence and just presuming. It happened to me and my two children. I was a single Mum, I loved and cared for children extremely well and we were very happy. I had never smacked them..A story to tell. It has been 2 and half yrs ago and that social worker destroyed our lives.
' I had a dinner party, children in bed after the usual bedtime routine and three friends came round for a civilised quiet dinner. One of my friends had phoned earlier and asked if they could bring a friend if theirs who had come to stay with them for the weekend, of course I said that was fine...We all had dinner and my friends left just before 12 o'clock..The stupid mistake I had made was I smoked a joint after dinner which I hadn't smoked marajuana actually since I was at University. I am forty now.. I went to bed shortly after my friends left, fell asleep and woke up about four o'clock, incredibly thirsty so drunk lots and lots of water..By the way I had not consumed any alcohol at the dinner... I then threw up an awful lot and my heart felt very very slow. Panicking and consciously decided to call an ambulance. I knew something was very wrong but had no idea that the friend of my friend at the dinner party had put heroin in the joint smoked... The ambulance came, I was actually ok when they arrived, they had a duty to call the police..Next thing I know my two children are taken away......The ambulance crew even tried to tell the police that I was not an addict..If I was I wouldn't of called them because I would of known. I asked the police to check me, my arms, body, for evidence that I had never been a user. They didn't, treated me like I was a drug addict and woke my children and led them away,,,,,,,

try taking children into care that are being abused instead of chasing working class families because they smoke, slap the odd bottom or because their a little overweight.

Baby P was an OBVIOUS case! If they had bothered to check the child, same with all these other obvious cases that they miss for whatever reason. But you smoke, you swear, you DARE to discipline, and they are all over you like a rash. And its interesting reading the comments about how the graduates come out with the academic knowledge but not a clue about how the job actually works or how people work. Scary.

Of course in many instances the only safe thing to do is remove a child from its parents, but it is an amazing fact that even the most abused children still want and need attention from their real parents. It can never be assumed that it is OK to swoop in, remove the child and deny it all access to its parents. Contact, under supervision, is still needed for the child's sake. There is also another prevalent sort of child abuse happening in which parents over-love and over-fuss their children to the extent that when they are able to think and decide for themselves they become truly monstrous and out of control. It is almost as deadly as physical abuse.

The general social view is to work together with the parents and extended family so the children remain in family care rather than in the care of social work. The view is that this is better for the kids than to separate them from their parents. In some cases it can be understood why social work are trying to support the family this way. However, where you know a child is not the parents' top priority, I don't think keeping the child with the parent is the best option. A child who has to sit in the house listening to their mother talk about buying drugs, or going to work on the street to get money to buy drink / drugs....how is that helpful to the child's development? Clearly some parents need to be separated from their child whilst they sort out their issue. In France, the social work take the child off you temporarily mostly whilst you sort out your difficulties. Only the judge court will decide when you are a fit parent to have the kid returned to your care. If you have still got a drug problem, the judge will not return the child to you because chances are you will not be able to feed your child well, ensure they are clean and cared for, and get them to school daily. I think foster parents and adoptive processes should not be sped up because you need to be sure that these guardians are properly vetted as you don't want kids to go from one bad situation to another. Care homes are not the answer as too many stories have come to light where wrongs against vulnerable kids have been covered up.

The archetype of a social worker usually pertrays an enthusiastic young idealist not long out of university, who is about as far removed from the idea of "been round the block a few times" as it's possible to imagine. However, I imagine they grow up very quickly, though to do so in such a bubbling cauldron of a job must leave it's mark.
Is this archetype wrong?
If so I apologise.
But I just wish we could have a little more faith in the worldly wisdom (as opposed to the undoubted intelligence) of many of the professionals charged with making these decisions.

I didnt play up in the shops when I was a kid coz I knew I would get a sharp slap on my backside if I did. Now Social Services would be taking me into care for cruelty. Damn nonsense. Some of the comments below mirror my experience of social workers, unqualified, out of their depth, personal axes to grind and the most politically correct animals on the planet.
I see this is another who wrote it piece. Why Wade and Brookman ?

It is a great pity that Joe Wade doesn't stick to subjects that he probably knows more about?? such as inventing celebrity 'dramas', because he is obviously absolutely clueless about the subject of vulnerable children. Or was it just something that the editor wanted a quick spiel on??

Quote "Poor parenting often leads to maladjusted, confused adults, prone to continuing this vicious cycle." This is exactly what happened to my wife when she was placed in so-called care 1946 and later placed for adoption by a middle class earning family who were clearly themselves maladjusted, the adoptive mother being an alcoholic and violent. The biological mother (still alive and nearing her century and in robust health) was and is a very disturbed woman who has been fleecing the State benefit system for years and is financially well provided which is a poor reflection on the selection of government employees to do the job competently. It is a case of damned if you do and damned if you don't.

When I was a foster parent many years ago I was told by a social worker that their view was " A bad mother is better than no mother at all. " They preferred to monitor a poor parent than put her children in care. Sadly not enough monitoring is done in some cases and the result is cases such as Baby P.

The reason more kids are being 'referred' is because of targets... Bad parenting is a big problem, but... The only thing worse than bad parents, is bad 'care'... good grief, care for the elderly is constantly criticised because it fails them, how the hell can anyone think the same system is better for kids? The state is rubbish at this stuff, even though there are many who try very hard... Mr Wade has obviously spent more time arriving at conclusions from the rhetoric of those who have an interest in advancing their own ends than studying the actual problem... More kids in care are abused than kids in their home... however #$%$ it is, home is almost always safer than the world of 'care' - however sad that fact is... back to the study group, Mr Wade, in this you are wrong, wrong, wrong... Encourage young women NOT to have kids until they have the means & support (yes, why not have a stable relationship with a reasonable income first?) to look after their offspring...

Hard to write a comment when youve been through the social system and you feel very strong emotions about it. but i will say that social services of the mid to late 1990s had some of the most wicked people working for them.......yes yes im sure people on here knew some good ones and that there surely couldnt have been many bad ones but its no consolation.
lets just say they do make"mistakes" and for the most part are held totally unaccountable,they quite literally are above the law.
I can only hope that there is a special place reserved in Hell for what some of them have done.

My only experience of social workers are fools full of their own importance who seem to believe a degree on its own is a suitable substitute for experience and preferably that of raising children. No one under the age of say forty should even be considered for a role of this nature. There is no substitute for life experience. It's not understaffing it's wrong staff

It's a sad fact that immigrants have more kids than the indigenous population, perhaps if less benefit was paid this would cease. What other country in the world would pay bebnefits to increase the population, when the country in overpopulated already.

Social workers can't win - take a child into care needlessly and they're blamed. A terrible case like Baby P and it's "Why didn't they act?" My son was taken into care the day before his 6th birthday because he had Aspergers Syndrome and they blamed bad parenting for his behaviour! He was eventually returned to his grandmother's care and now at 27 is still living at home, but the damage to his relationships with his family can never be undone.

A herd stampede to put children in homes, where, if you check the homeless hostels and prisons you will find; a great percentage of people from "care." This needs a total rethink, not just a knee jerk reaction. If these kids are not cared for properly we have another generation of people on drugs, alcohol and despair. Those who escaped the care homes and built their lives, as functioning people are saints.