So what has become of the complaint against Cyngor Gwynedd Council Children and Family Department first raised on the 25th May ?
The report by an Independent Investigator was completed and handed to Gwynedd council on the 30th October. Gwynedd council are refusing to say if our complaint was successful and are also refusing us sight of the completed report.
Gwynedd council have also informed me there will be a further delay while they attempt to sanitisereviseredact clarify some aspects of the 'independent' report before we are allowed a copy.
If our complaint had failed the council would have informed us of this by now so I can only assume that the complaint was upheld - for the time being at least !
More - https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.co.uk/
The stage 2 complaint first raised against Cyngor Gwynedd Council, in May, is nearly complete and to be published by October, 2017.
The Ombudsman for Wales has also started their separate investigation into Gwynedd Children and Family Support (!) team for issues arising from 2010.
I have encountered some truly unprofessional and appalling behaviour - from support services through social worker(s) to managers and even a head of department not to mention the misnamed customer care team.
And I wonder...this must have happened to other people in Gwynedd ?
For the next period of time many eyes will be on the Gwynedd Social Services Children and Family Support (!) department but the remit for scrutiny is only for this families case.
So I ask if you feel that you have been let down by Gwynedd council social services in the past, come forward and tell your story now.
To those good service workers in the department and elsewhere in the council - who know of poor management, unprofessional behaviour , bullying, bad practice etc - now is the time to speak out and help change Gwynedd's failing council.
I include this article on the blog to highlight the problems SEND parents face in other areas of England and Wales.
It mirrors some of the problems I have experienced with my dealings with Cyngor Gwynedd Council and the Children and Family Support (?) department.
Recently on SNJ's Facebook page, someone accused us of being too hard
on local authorities who were 'trying their best'. Actually, I know
first hand that many, many people working in LAs really are working
diligently and with very large caseloads. I would encourage parents who
have had a good experience to tell us about it, so we can herald good practice.
However - there's always a however, unfortunately - too often parents
are still being told the wrong information or LAs are not playing by
the rules (i.e, the law). Too many in SEND and in social care
departments are still behaving as if the Children and Families Act was
just a bad dream, best ignored. This is very perplexing to me as the law
is clear to read and to follow, so what's happening to make compliance a
bonus rather than the minimum expected?
Recently, I heard about something happening to a number of families
regarding attempts to get social care help, that needs to be
highlighted. Hopefully those who ARE doing good work in LAs can make
sure it doesn't happen in their departments.
Nathan Davies of solicitors HCB, has written to explain what, in his experience, has been happening.
Threatened with care proceedings after asking for support...
It is common, in my experience, for parents of children with autism
to feel that concerns expressed to local authority professionals are
often discarded, or that there is a distinct lack of understanding of
the condition itself. This leads to disputes and disagreements between
the parties. These issues tend to arise once parents have realised that
they cannot continue without extra support or an alternative placement
be sourced for their son or daughter. The request being made is often
the trigger point for intervention in some form by the authority;
usually via its social services department.
The prevalence of social services intervention has steadily risen in recent times. In practice, the possibility of it being
initiated by the authority remains on the increase, despite this being a
highly controversial, and often inappropriate, tactic.
Your word against theirs
The problem parents in this position face is that it is often their
word against that of school staff or local authority professionals and
that is never a good starting position. The root issue however, is the
aforementioned lack of understanding of the condition itself. Those on
the high-functioning end of spectrum often present very differently
across a variety of settings. The fact that a child presents as very shy
and reserved in school and then explodes into one exhibiting
challenging behaviour at home, is very hard for some professionals to
fathom and can lead to them questioning parenting ability.
Parents struggling to cope and requiring additional support in the
family home, are often deterred by the threat of intense scrutiny and
criticism by social services. The possibility of raising child
protection issues or launching even care proceedings (in extreme cases)
are tools local authorities are increasingly using, especially during
these times of austerity and public sector cuts. But cuts can in no way
be an excuse for such unnecessarily heavy-handed approaches being
employed.
Nathan Davies
Professional guidelines
The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) has guidelines
relating to standards of conduct, performance and ethics each registrant
must uphold (this includes social workers). One of the pillars of
practice is for the professional to ‘work within the limits of their knowledge and skills’.
Given this, it is fundamental to ensure that each professional is
appropriately trained and/or knowledgeable to a reasonable degree in
autism to discharge their duties to the child and family appropriately.
If this is not done, one cannot expect a proper assessment of their
social care needs to be undertaken; thereby polluting the entire
process. Without such understanding of the condition, the HCPC
guidelines specify that the matter should be referred to another
practitioner if what the chid needs would be beyond the scope of their
practice but this is rarely, if ever, done. It cannot be emphasised
enough how important this is, especially when it is a requirement for
each HCPC registrant to ‘promote and protect the interests of service users and carers’.
Below are some anonymised case examples which show how these strategies are being used by local authorities throughout the UK:
Case Study 1:
This concerned parents in England of a child with high-functioning
ASD. Given her high-achievements at school, the child had attended
mainstream school well into her teenage life (without an EHCP). Even
when concerns were raised over challenging behaviour in the home as a
result of her inability to cope at school, these were immediately
treated as the parents over-exaggerating the child’s difficulties, even
after they had secured a diagnosis for her from a multi-disciplinary
team in the private sector.
The local authority, when requested to assess her additional learning
needs, took action; they proceeded with social services intervention, a
flawed and malicious assessment and subsequently placed the child on
the Child Protection Register. After seeking legal advice, the family
challenged the authority, ultimately leading to a retraction. The child
has now been issued with an EHCP with the SEN Tribunal agreeing that a
specialist ASD placement be named.
Case Study 2:
This related to a family in South Wales, who again experienced great
difficulties with their local authority. The child had a diagnosis of
Pathological Demand Avoidance but the parents had been unsuccessful in
securing a specialist placement for their son via the Tribunal process,
with the assistance of an advocate.
Given the extreme levels of aggressive behaviour in the home
environment (and his inability access a school at all), it was
imperative for the authority to accommodate the child, pursuant to
section 20 of the Children Act 1989. The authority did so, but
thereafter sought to target the family with a variety of unfounded
allegations, unlawful s.47 investigations and blame for the child’s
behaviour was attributed to perceived ‘bad parenting’, a manifestly
unreasonable position to hold.
These issues were appropriately resolved in the parents' favour, who
were issued with a comprehensive and unreserved apology from the
director of social services. The child now attends a suitable local
provision and is thriving.
We need to be aware...
Unfortunately, scenarios such as the above are becoming more common
and intimidation of parents who are simply trying to get help for their
child is often difficult for many to comprehend. Parents being penalised
or vilified for seeking support for their disabled child is not right
in any society, yet it appears that in 21st century Britain
this is perfectly acceptable in some LAs. Awareness of this issue being
made known to the public can only help parents in similar situations.
Preparing paperwork for the meeting with the independent invesigators dealing with my stage 2 complaint against Gwynedd council, I was astonished by the council's use of a black marker to censor comments made by managers to other agencies involved with the family.
The investigators were more shocked than I and told me there was no need or reason for council staff to censor and it should not have happened.
Then I discovered Gwynedd council had also sent me the personal information of another person.
Its slightly long winded so I will not reproduce it here in its entirety but I would like to comment on some of it as it seems so...well...personal to me.
This is an excerpt from a Cyngor Gwynedd Council report written by Margaret Kenealy Jones.
10.3b
Complainants
–
During this year we have recieved(sic) numerous complaints from the same individuals.
The individuals in questions will recieve(sic) a response and will return within a couple of weeks with a slightly different issue they would like to be addressed. They will also contact through different channels, for example
Solicitor or the Local Member of Parliament.
Example
–
A parent has been in contact herself regarding the hours of support work her son recieves(sic). As she is unhappy with the response,she contacted her Solicitor and her Local MP. In this case, as the Service had only recently recieved(sic) Access to the child in question they had not been able to produce a comprehensive assessment of need and therefore the hours agreed during the summer period was based on the information provided by the parent directly.
The Service are in the process of working with the family to complete a comprehensive assessment of the child’s needs in order to ascertain the amount of support needed. This has been closed as a complaint, and is now an operational matter being monitored by Senior Managers.
Does the new regulation allow for such a whitewash of the facts in this case ?
No mention in the report that this particular case has been ongoing for years.
No mention that in 2010 an Independent Investigation upheld an official complaint against the Council in this case.
No mention of the person being so ignored and denied access to services by the Council and so, in desperation, contacted a solicitor - and only then - strangely - were services granted.
No mention of the Ombudsman for Wales agreeing with the parent that a stage 2 investigation should be allowed.
No mention that the Ombudsman for Wales was then mis-informed in this case and superceded their original decision only after Gwynedd council supplied said 'extra' information.
No mention that Liz Saville-Roberts, MP, was contacted, as advised by the Autism Champion for Gwynedd, Elin Walker Jones.
Please, Kenealy, you are required by Statute to produce a yearly report.
I understand it is your job to paint the council and yourself in as good a light as possible but official reports presented to the public should always be used to give some modicum of accuracy and fairness.
Will you be updating the public on how this case has progressed in your next report ?
