Gwynedd Council Stage 2 Complaint - 8 Months Today.

Today marks 8 (eight) calendar months since a stage 2 complaint was raised against Cyngor Gwynedd council on the advice of the Ombudsman for Wales.

Two months were lost due to the original Independent Investigator meeting with an accident and so was unable to continue.

Six months then in a process that should, according to the council's own Statutory Policy, be completed in 25 working days.

#Gwynedd council were handed the Independent Investigator's Report at the end of October.

So where is the Report ?

Snoopers Tut....

The last two days have seen some very unusual activity on my Blogspot and Wordpress accounts so I have temporarily locked them.

The software I am using indicates that only two devices are responsible for the traffic and it also indicates that the signal is being routed through either a Tor browser, VPN or both.

The data log created is huge and will take ages to sift through but it does show that one of the exit node points is in North Wales.

Now who in North Wales is so interested in going through my accounts with a fine tooth comb at this present time?

Complaint Against Gwynedd Council - 6 Of 6.

The customer care and complaints department at Cyngor Gwynedd council continue to remain silent in regard to our complaint first raised in May, last year on the advice of the Ombudsman for Wales.

So this is the sixth and final point of our Stage 2 complaint  -

Despite repeated requests, (complainants) have never been offered a carers assessment by social services.

And our desired outcome -

The complainants seek a Carers Assessment to be undertaken and completed by Gwynedd County Council.

I am reminded that we had to ask Sian Gwenllian, #Plaid_Cymru AM for Arfon for help in getting the Children and Family department to respond to our request for a carer's assessment, last year.
It took Marian Parry Hughes, Department Head of Children and Family services three months to respond to the AM....

"...we had responded to the family's lawyer, by letter from Sharron Carter, Senior Operational Manager, dated March 27th setting out the reasons for not offering a carer's assessment to (Mother)"

The solicitor states this letter was never received.
More detail on this from an earlier post -  https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/gwynedd-department-head-finally.html

This child has a diagnosis of Autism, PDA and the council itself has made reference to the childs 'complex needs'.

Marian Parry Hughes goes on -

"This response was sent following consultation with our legal department. Consideration was given to the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 and the Equality Act 2000 when considering our response...

 ...(childs) needs does not make him eligible to receive a care and support plan, and (...) did not reach the cirteria to be considered as a disabled child/young person under the Equality Act. Therefore, since the Act specifies that a carer's assessment is offered to carers of a disabled adult or child, we were not in a position to assess (mother) as a carer..."
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 Where is the Independent Report ?

 




                                   













 

                                                   

Complaint Against Gwynedd Council - Three Become One.

It is now 12 weeks since Cyngor Gwynedd council received the 'Independent Report' into our Stage 2 complaint first raised in May, 2017, as advised by the Ombudsman for Wales.

The council continue to ignore our requests for a copy of the Report and refuse to say whether our 6 points of complaint have been upheld by the Investigator.

The previous posts have given details of two points - of six - of our complaint and may go someway to explain Gwynedd's Children and Family Support Department's seeming reluctance to share the report with ourselves.

Due to the limitations I have in publicising this case and the way the Independent Investigator has written the complaint it is easier to discuss the next three points as one.

All three points of complaint reference the input of Senior Social Worker, Delyth Davies, who was assigned to carry out a Core Assessment of Needs on a diagnosed Autistic child with PDA and other complex issues.
 
The complaint contends that the Core assessment does not reflect the needs of the child and totally ignores the fact the child has needs relating to independence, socialisation and self-care skills, the child also has S.E.N. It states that all the child's needs are met by parents and education, but with no regard for the future and what the needs and possible limitations may be as the child enters adulthood.

I have been involved in Assessments in the past - assessing the elderly for dementia and related care needs - and in my professional opinion the assessment undertaken by Delyth Davies was 'inadequate' to say the least.

Delyth Davies was questioned by the parents why the assessment considered the child to have no 'disability', she acted surprised and stated that it was a mistake. When asked if she would then put right her 'mistake', she said she could not answer at that time, due to having to speak with her managers first. Those managers are Sharron Carter Williams and Melvin Panther.

Delyth Davies had asked for additional information to be sent electronically to her as she stated she could only add information and amend things on the computer and she couldn't just 'dip in and out of it'.

My wife duly scanned and sent copies to Delyth Davies electronically for this purpose, as she was asked. No changes were made.

Information provided by parents and a Tutor were 'filed' instead of being included in the Core Assessment as promised, nor was a change made to the Core Assessment to state that the child was considered disabled.

The complaint also asks Delyth Davies, for an explanation of why she thought it appropriate to send an email regarding our complaint to someone not being part of or involved, in any way, with the complaint.

I have sighted the email and I read it as being written for one reason only - to maliciously cause trouble for my wife. Hopefully, the social worker's explanation when finally released will assure me this is not the case.

Censoring Of Personal Information By Cyngor Gwynedd Council.

It is the end of another week and Gwynedd Council continue to remain silent in regards to the Independent Investigator's Report into our Stage 2 complaint raised in May, last year, on the advice of the Ombudsman for Wales and so I am placing the second point of our complaint on to the blog.

It involves censoring of personal information obtained under a SAR (subject access request) and a Data breach. 

Data & Information:  The complainants have been provided with an email by Gwynedd County Council which had been partially censored. They believe that there was no legitimate reason to censor the information as there were no third party information within the email, and they believe that the censored narrative was an attempt to prevent them from reading disparaging comments about them by Mel Panther to a professional in the education department.

The complainants were also given emails which contained information shared between professionals relating to other children, which was their personal information and a clear breach of data protection and confidentiality.
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The complaint says it all really and our desired outcome was -

The complainants seek an explanation for the censoring of their own information, and whether or not it is legal to do so. They seek an explanation from Melvin panther as to how he thought it in any way appropriate or professional to speak about them in such a derogatory manner to another professional working with the family.
In relation to the information containing other children’s details, they wish for this to be dealt with via the Council’s information/Data protection security policy & procedure.

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There are at least four (4) emails that have been censored by a black marker pen.

All of the censored emails were sent by Melvin Panther, a senior manager in Gwynedd Children and Family Support department.

Now I am not suggesting that Mr Panther censored his own emails, which we were the subject of, because everyone who works in the Care sector has to sign the Data Protection Act and it will have been made very clear to them at the time that altering records or other peoples information, in any way, is a criminal offence.

But someone did indeed censor our personal information, we believe, in attempt to cover up the disparaging remarks made by Melvin Panther. So who ?
I have sighted the response by the Education department to Mr Panther and I read it as a polite slap down so my thanks to that Education officer.

Melvin Panther is a Manager of the social worker, Jamie Haydon, named in the point of complaint discussed in the previous post.

The Data breach involves sending us the name(s) of children receiving support from the council and also names the school the child attends.

Cyngor Gwynedd Council - Incompetent Or Malicious ?

So why is Gwynedd council delaying the release of the Independent Investigators Report into our Stage 2 complaint raised with the council as advised by the Ombudsman for Wales in May, 2017 ?

I understand that this will spoil the council's data figures and put an end to the boasting by the Head of the Children and Family Department regarding the lack of complaints being escalated to stage 2, but these are small matters when compared to helping a disabled child obtain the help that is due him.

Aren't they ?

I am also aware that using the web to publicise our story may have entrenched some within the council and social services to deny the child his rights and us the Independent Report.

But it was the council themselves who first took to the web to whitewash and diss our attempts at obtaining services for the child and this blog was started to tell the very different reality of our situation, as the report gave a very one sided view of things.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that  Gwynedd Council's Complaints Department and Procedure is not fit for purpose and that when or if we are finally allowed the 'Independent Report' will it be so censored or sanitised that it bears no resemblance to the original ?

Fearing this, I feel it would be useful to have some record of the complaint available on the web and so I am going to go through each point of our complaint - and our desired outcomes - here. There will obviously be redactions to protect not only the identity of the child but, also, those employees of the council who have acted professionally.

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One point of our complaint was -

 (Child) was on a Child in Need Plan, and as a result of Jamie Hayden (social worker) not attending the CIN Plan Review Meeting on 25^th May 2016, no review was carried out. Complainants wish to know what has happened to (Child's) Child in Need Plan since the last CIN Meeting held in February 2016, and how are social services evidencing that (Child's) needs are being met? (Parents) have never received any correspondence or information informing them that the Child in Need Plan had ended or why.

Our desired outcome to this point of complaint was -

The complainants seek a full and comprehensive explanation from Gwynedd County Council as to why (Child's) Child in Need Plan was not properly reviewed, updated, and minuted, as Gwynedd Social Services department policy and procedure clearly stated..

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Oh dear - now this could be sticky for the council as all Children cases need careful review and updating and accurate records and minutes kept  - not just those on a CIN plan.

Gwynedd's Social Service's past mistakes and failings in this child's case are clearly documented in an Independent Investigators Report from 2010. Nothing appears to have changed.

Yet Gwynedd Council  literature, policies etc on complaints handling and outcomes assure the public that lessons are learnt and changes made.

Or are they..?

Answers on a postcard postage stamp, please.

More -  https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.co.uk/

So We Emailed Cyngor #Gwynedd Council's Corporate Management Officers....

With Gwynedd council customer care (!) still refusing to respond to our questions regarding the Stage 2 complaint first raised with them on May 25th, last year, we emailed the Corporate Management Team, yesterday, with our concerns - Chief Executive, Dilwyn Williams, Corporate Directors, Iwan T Jones and Morwena Edwards.

FAO Gwynedd Council Corporate Management Team

As you will be aware we have a current Stage 2 complaint ongoing with Gwynedd Council Children and Families Department, first raised on the 25th of May 2017.

The Independent Investigator presented her completed report to the Council at the end of October.

We were then informed that the Council were seeking clarity from the Investigator and questioning the report.

The Council have been in possession of the completed Independent Investigators report for 11 weeks now.

The whole Stage 2 process is as you know to be completed within 25 days, do you find this acceptable ?

We have found the Counci's handling of this complaint and us as complainants to be obstructive, unhelpful and the Council to be utterly lacking in transparency and it is also obvious that Customer Care do not act independently of the Department as they should, which, we contend, leads to complainants being treated unfairly.

We have asked for information regarding the outcome of the Independent Investigation and also the Council's Complaints procedure.

No answers were given, or information provided.

We asked who within the Council we could contact to discuss our issues, we received no answer to this and worse were wrongly advised by Customer Care that we were free to discuss our complaint with the Ombudsman at any time.

We did indeed contact the Ombudsman to discuss the issues surrounding our complaint and were told -

"In relation to your dissatisfaction with the Council’s handling of your Stage 2 investigation, as I explained in my previous email, this matter does not fall within the scope of my investigation and therefore I am unable to consider it....
...If you wish for this matter to be considered by the Ombudsman, you would need to submit a complaint, by completing the online form on our website.  I am unable to speculate whether submitting a complaint to this office would affect the Council’s current Stage 2 investigation"

In light of the ongoing situation and the bad advice from Customer Care, perhaps you would be so kind as to furnish us with the information we require -

1. Were the six points of complaint upheld by the Independent Investigator or not ?

2. What were the questions presented, by the department, to the Independent Investigator regarding the report submitted to the Council in October ?

3. Who is the Adjudicating Officer in this matter?

4. On what date can we expect the Council to provide us with the report ?

5.Please provide us with a link to Gwynedd Council's Policy and Welsh Government guidelines that supports the Council in withholding the outcome of the Independent Investigator's Report and the Report itself.

6. Please advise us of our rights as complainants in relation to our being supplied with the above information, without delay.

7. We ask that if we were to raise a formal complaint into how the Council and the Customer Care department have been dealing with our formal complaint would this, in any way, interfere with or cause any further delay to our formal complaint first raised with the Council on the 25th May, 2017 ?

We also ask that you view the emails between ourselves and Customer Care, as that will give you further insight into our very pertinent concerns.
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Today, we received an email from a Senior Executive Officer on behalf of Morwena Edwards.
It was brief - 3 sentences - thanking me for our email and included the line -

"I can assure you that Gwynedd Council takes all complaints seriously and I will endeavour to respond to the specific questions detailed in your email within 5 working days."

Well.. we are not assured - who would be after being treated so badly for so long ? - and so emailed back with the question we have been asking ever since the Independent report was received by The Council in October, last year.

"Have our 6 points of complaint been upheld by the Independent Investigator ?"

The email was swiftly answered by the council -

"Whilst I understand your frustrations, without having had the opportunity to look into the matter, I am unable today, to answer your question. I will respond to you within 5 working days."

More delay in a process that has taken nearly 8 months now.

Something is so badly wrong within Gwynedd Council.

More -  https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.co.uk/

Cyngor Gwynedd Council Stage 2 Complaint 2018.

Following on from the post, last year, in which the customer care (!) team at Cyngor Gwynedd council advised contacting the Ombudsman for Wales to discuss our concerns regarding our stage 2 complaint, we did indeed contact the Ombudsman.

Their initial response appeared to imply that we could raise a formal complaint into our formal complaint and so, seeking more clarity we sent the email below -

"We were somewhat confused by your response. We have no in depth knowledge of the statutory policy and procedure in such matters and have sought advice from the Council as to our and the Council's rights during the process. So far without success....

We do know however that the handling of our complaint and us as complainants by the Senior Management Team and Customer Care is just plain wrong.

Your office has repeatedly stated that the Ombudsman is independent of both complainants and public bodies and from your own email the other day - 'He is not an advocate for either party and his function is to investigate complaints put to him, reaching a view on the evidence presented, in an impartial manner'.

May we remind you that the Ombudsman has made decisions on our case purely on 'new information' - not evidence based - provided to them by the council in the past without allowing us sight of said information or allowing us to comment and rebuff such 'information'.

We also remind you that the Ombudsman's office has given us assurances in the past which have transpired to be false and we have challenged the Ombudsman's past decisions in this case as inadequate and nonsensical.

Indeed we feel that had the Ombudsman's original decision been adhered to, that the Council were to undertake the Original Stage 2 complaint, then some of the current situation may well have been avoided.

We contend that the Ombudsman's methods do not allow for fairness and transparency when only one side is allowed free and unfettered access to his office and can present information that the complainant is told nothing about and so cannot counter argue. How on earth is this fair or acting in 'an impartial manner' ?

This whole process of dealing with the Ombudsman and the Council is exhausting and is causing considerable upset and anguish. We are reasonably intelligent and due to the life we lead have learnt to be mentally resilient,yet we are suffering - we know that so many others in similar situations give up in despair, worse is the fact that both the Ombudsman and the Council appear to have forgotten completely the needs of the child in all this...."

...We are at present pondering on whether to make another complaint with the Ombudsman or put in a formal complaint with the Council in regard to their handling of our current Stage 2 complaint. But our experiences tells us that this whole process is flawed to the extent of not being fit for purpose.

Please inform us whether submitting another Stage 2 to the Council, or raising a complaint with the Ombudsman's office will in any way further delay or interfere with our current Stage 2 complaint."
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They replied -

"...If you wish for this matter to be considered by the Ombudsman, you would need to submit a complaint, by completing the online form on our website.  I am unable to speculate whether submitting a complaint to this office would affect the Council’s current Stage 2 investigation. The decision whether or not to approach the Ombudsman at this stage is yours and I am unable to advise you in that regard.  However, please be aware that we normally expect you to exhaust the Council’s complaints procedure before approaching us."

Now the Ombudsman's use of the word 'speculate' caused my spider senses to tingle.

So we contacted the Gwynedd customer care (!) and asked the question -

"... if we were to raise a formal complaint into how the council and the customer care department have been dealing with our formal complaint would this, in any way, interfere with or cause any further delay to our formal complaint first raised with you on the 25th May, 2017 ?"

Such a convoluted and insane question to ask a county council, but eh.

The council has fallen silent.

More -  https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.co.uk/

#Gwynedd Council - Independent Investigation - Stage 2 Complaint.

It is the week before Christmas and Cyngor Gwynedd customer care(!) send me an email in connection with the Independent report which they have had in their possession for over 7 weeks now.

They tell me the report has - finally - been sent back to the Investigator for questions to be asked and seeking the clarity they said was to be sought weeks ago -

"....I will arrange a meeting the first week in January for the Senior Managers to discuss the report.  

This is the situation as it currently stands, if something does change I will let you know."

We have repeatedly asked for a copy of the report, who the adjudicating officer is in this matter and whether or not the Independent Investigator has upheld our 6 points of complaint.

The council have refused to answer us and when asked who we may contact in order to discuss our concerns in the interest of fairness and transparency, we received the following -

"If you wish to discuss your concerns regarding the Stage 2 investigation, you are welcome to contact the Ombudsman at any point."

 We obviously wanted to discuss our concerns with council officers actually dealing with our complaint and not the Ombudsman - that may come later.

But as the council are aware it was the Ombudsman who first 'suggested' to me to raise the complaint way back in May.

The Ombudsman wrote -

" I have also informed the Council of your intention to submit a complaint and that I expect it to provide you with a full response to your concerns."
 
That was 7 MONTHS ago....

More -  https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.co.uk/

#Google

Gwynedd Council - Clarity Or Cover Up ?

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 sanitise revise redact 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/






#google
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Shout Out In #Gwynedd

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.


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Do Gwynedd Council Play The Blame Game Too ?

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 21^st 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.

Nathan Davies, Education Law Solicitor

 https://www.specialneedsjungle.com/social-care-tactics-send-problem-parents/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork

Cyngor Gwynedd Council - Smoke and Mirrors.

I have just come across this report authored by Marian Parry Hughes and dated the 18th July, 2017.

It is the annual report on the handling of complaints by the Children and Family Support Department of Gwynedd Council for 2016/17.

https://democracy.cyngor.gwynedd.gov.uk/documents/s13016/Item%206%20-%20Appendix%203%20-%20Report%20on%20the%20Councils%20Complaints%20and%20Service.pdf

Unlike the report last year authored by Margaret Kenealy Jones, this report has not been used to revise history nor used as a vehicle to whitewash unprofessional behaviour and systemic failings within the children's department of Cyngor Gwynedd and this is to be welcomed.

Saying that the report does appear to have some glaring ommissions and anoma-lies -

"Over the years, the Customer Care Officer have successfully managed to establish close working links with the teams, managers and the legal section as a means of discussing and resolving issues. This is reflected in the low number of complaints reaching Stage 2 of the Complaints Procedure.

It is fair to say that there has been a clear trend over the past 3 years, that theChildren and Family Support Department have not had a complaint escalate toStage 2. This is down to the professionalism the Team Managers and SeniorManagers show when dealing with complainants; they understand theimportance of a local resolution and by discussing directly with the complainant they are able to address matters as soon as possible..."


Er...but Mrs Hughes there is a stage 2 complaint ongoing against Children and Family Support Department raised on the 25th May and due for completion any day now. Why has the complaint not been included in your report figures ?
I notice the Adult services acknowledge there is an ongoing stage 2 investigation and though not completed is included in their figures.

Marian Parry Hughes also crows that the department have had no complaint escalate to stage 2 over the past three years.

But that is down to one senior manager, Aled Gibbard, closing a complaint - without informing the complainant and your department refusing to escalate another complaint to the second stage, hence the intervention of the Ombudsman.

And knowing that to then go on and write -

"In comparison with other Local Authorities in North Wales, it is understood that Gwynedd have been successful in managing complaints at Stage 1 whereas other Local Authorities have a higher proportion of complaints progress to Stage 2".

and diss the conduct of other LA's in Wales is...distasteful to say the least.

From Bad To Worse - Cyngor Gwynedd Council.

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I notice Cyngor Gwynedd appear not to have updated their website and still make no mention that one of the cases that they reference has been ongoing for years.

Earlier post here - https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/gwynedd-council-services-scrutiny-needs.html

First contact with the Gwynedd Children and Supporting Families Team was in 2007/8 and was appalling.

The family had to endure missed appointments, staff that were untrained and abusive comments from those involved in the child's care.

MSBP and poor parenting were all thrown at the family.

One so called professional, Dawn Wimpory, failed to diagnose the child and so many years have been wasted because of it.

Perhaps you should have tried engaging him with music therapy, Dawn.

That would have taken longer than the 20 minute consultation you gave the child.

A comment from one of the service managers in a review meeting "If he was my child....." led to the manager going off sick when the Independent Investigators tried to interview him for an explanation.

An illness that lasted for months and so the report was published without him being interviewed.

The report does mention Llyr Ap Rhisiart's absence and the fact that when he does finally return from illness he would not be in the same job.

But the question remains, Mr Ap Rhisiart.

What would you have done with the child who has Autism, PDA and other complex issues if he was yours ?

Someone even suggested clearing the child's bedroom and locking them in.
The child was 7 years old.

The Investigators found 16 points of complaint and bad practise - including lost correspondence and files - all upheld.

That was in 2010 and nothing has changed. In fact, the situation is far worse.

So I say again to Cyngor Gwynedd raising a complaint does not make people unreasonable - it simply means that unprofessional standards and bad behaviour should always be challenged.

Gwynedd Department Head Finally Responds To AM.

The Assembly Member for Arfon, Sian Gwenllian, emailed me on the 5th July and sent me a copy of the long overdue response from Marian Parry Hughes, Head of Children and Families at Gwynedd Council.

See my post of the 4th July for more detail -

 https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/arfon-am-ignored-by-gwynedd-head-of.html 

Mrs Hughes begins by apologising for not responding to the AM and states  -

"It certainly wasn't deliberate on my part."

So what was the reason for ignoring the AM for three months then ?

Mrs Hughes goes on to explain that Sharron Carter, Senior Operational Manager, had responded to the solicitor by letter and answered all relevant questions - in March.

The solicitor - after searching their files - state they have not received a letter from Sharron Williams Carter, from the date in question.

And if they had I would not have asked the AM - in April - for help in getting a response now - would I ?

I include a link to my post where Cyngor Gwynedd lost another important letter - one that had been placed in their secure letterbox in the Caernarfon office addressed to Aled Gibbard.

https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/gwynedd-councils-secure-letterbox-not.html

How many letters do Gwynedd Council lose every year ? 
 

Sian, I am very grateful for your help in eliciting a response, finally, from the Department Head.

I am also very concerned that you were ignored by a council employee for three months.

Cyngor Gwynedd Data Breach.

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.

Oh dear.

Arfon AM Ignored By Gwynedd Head Of Department.

I had an email from the office of Sian Gwenllian, Assembly Member for Arfon, this morning.

Marian Parry Hughes, Head of Children and Supporting Families at Cyngor Gwynedd has still not replied to the AM's letter sent in April.

How is it that a council employee can refuse to acknowledge and reply to a democratically elected Assembly Member for Wales ?

 http://gov.wales/topics/health/socialcare/act/?lang=en

Where is the accountability ?

How many other local and national politicians are ignored when they raise issues on behalf of their constituents ?

Or is it just in Gwynedd and Anglesey ?


 

A Missing Letter, An MP And A Support Team(!). Gwynedd.

And a quick recap....

A stage 2 complaint from 2010 showing serious failings in the Children and Families Department at Cyngor Gwynedd was upheld by Independent Investigators.

From 2014, meetings and decisions made concerning a child's future were being held behind closed doors by managers and a social worker without the knowledge of the parents or professionals involved in the case.
Worse was the fact that a social worker and other professionals were being ignored....as they did not feel the child's needs were being met,

A social worker who acted without thought for the code of ethics that he has agreed to uphold.
Or worse - a social worker who has been instructed by managers to behave so....inappropriately and against the interests of a vulnerable child - the client.
The jury is still out.

A failure of the children and families department to deliver the services granted by Gwynedd social services and when they finally appeared - after having their arm twisted by a solicitor - were shockingly bad.

So bad that a complaint was raised and which Aled Gibbard closed  - against statutory policy - and also without informing anyone !?!?

Kenealy Jones - you said a search was made for the letter to Mr Gibbard he claims he never received. Did you look in the bins ?

I have sighted your email to your colleague, Aled, voicing your concern about where this case could go.

The service(!) provided involved the support worker - yes him of the grunts and no feedback - leaving the client alone in a car when he attended to his own bits and pieces.
You did read the risk assessment, Iolo - yes ?
Is it council policy to leave clients alone when in their care ?

All of this even before I asked the #Plaid_Cymru MP, Liz Saville Roberts for support.
Liz, who shook my hand, looked me in the eye and said "vote for me... and contact me if you ever need help".

MP's tut - some of them will say anything to get your vote.

Cyngor Gwynedd - Problem With Management.

So where were we ?

Ah yes - I cancelled the meeting with the social worker.

The partner had become ill with the stress and nastiness of it all and my daughter had just suffered a miscarriage - all this and dealing with the light and dark side of PDA - it was a relief to use the time to calm down and think...

The social worker turned up anyway.

Lowri Williams, customer care(!) wrote later "...the Service felt that cancelling the meeting was not appropriate,"

Mr Haydon also wrote a report to his managers describing the meeting with me.

Jamie, I have seen a copy of your report and I hardly recognise your version of events.
Will the report be updated to include how you foot shuffled and spent most of our exchange staring at the floor like a scoolboy , mumbling -
"You haven't made a complaint about me, have you ?"

Will you update the report to include the fact that your managers, Melvin Panther and Sharron Williams Carter sent you to my house knowing that I had raised issues with your bad behaviour and the meeting cancelled - without informing you ?

Do you think that is "appropriate" behaviour from your managers, Jamie ?

Jamie, in your report you call me 'agitated' when I answered the door - that was a mixture of horror and anger at your presence until I realised that you had been set up.

What manager would send an employee out to visit someone who was upset and not even advise them ?
Were they hoping for confrontation ?

http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2014/09/16/violence-social-workers-just-part-job-70-incidents-investigated/

Have you raised an issue with #Unison that your managers put you in an impossible situation with little regard for your safety ?

I remember saying to you "Jamie, contact your managers. Something weird is going on."

You whispered that you have to wait for them to get in touch.

#Shocking -  from you, Jamie, and your managers.

Cyngor Gwynedd have refused my right to make an official complaint about the incident.