A social worker who threatened foster carers with the loss of children in their care if they did not describe him as ‘supportive’ has been struck off the register.
A Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) panel heard the Peterborough social worker believed the foster carers, who cared for the younger two of three siblings, had made a complaint about him.
He also told the birth mother of all three children, cared for by two sets of foster carers, to contact his manager and make a complaint about the foster carers looking after her first child.
Threats
He told her to tell his manager he was a “brilliant social worker”, adding that if she reported him to the police, she would “never see her children again”.
He called the mother on her mobile phone two or three times a week without any professional reason to do so, called her overweight and told her if she lost weight she would “stop having epileptic fits”, the HCPC panel reported.
On a number of occasions the social worker, who worked in a looked-after children team, exaggerated his qualifications and professional background. He told both foster carers and his colleagues in the council that he was a qualified solicitor, a psychologist and that he had set up a clinic in London dealing with Foetal Drug Syndrome.
Lied to colleagues
While he did have a law degree and some experience working with Foetal Drug Syndrome, none of these specific claims was true. He also lied to more than one colleague, telling them he had “only a couple of months to live”.
He acted in a belittling manner to the experienced foster carers, telling them he would “write to them in simple terms”, although the panel did not consider this serious enough to constitute misconduct.
Panel chair Brian Wroe said: “It is clear [he] has no insight as to his past professional failings and he has displayed deep seated attitudinal issues. There has been continued denial on his part and insistence on blaming others along with criticism of the regulatory process.”
The social worker made allegations of a conspiracy on the part of his colleagues and the foster carer he had instructed to praise him to his manager. He described them throughout the fitness to practise process as “the Clan”.
Abuse of power
He also accused the HCPC of “concealing and destroying evidence [and] perverting the course of justice”. When asked to produce a list of documents he felt had been omitted or destroyed so this could be investigated, he did not respond.
The HCPC found his interactions with both foster carers and the birth mother constituted an abuse of power.
As a result of this abuse of trust and power, and his lack of insight, the panel considered it was in the interests of public protection to strike his name from the register.
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Sadly cases like this are the tip of a large iceberg. Occasionally one will get caught, but many are abusing their powers who don’t.
a bad one found out, alas too many are making the lives of children and vulnerable families a living hell………….no-one believes these vulnerable families, what are good social work teams gonna do about it
Hold on!
I hope HCPC didn’t go on hear say, I was expecting to read that a conversation was recorded or that there were witnesses. Just evidence to help prove that on balance of probabilities this could have occured. Can’t just determine a social worker is lying because there is no evidence to say they r telling the truth.
When I was investigated HCPC didn’t require any evidence beyond a service managers report, if I hadn’t actually provided audit evidence such as screen shots and supervision notes to the contrary I might have been in this guy’s position. Where as people such as Lisa Humphreys who lie under oath are still assistant directors (leading the way for social workers) in Lambeth because they have the backing of the local authority.
I am in a similar situation whereby a managers report has been used to take my case to a HCPC FTP hearing despite me having proved in my work disciplinary that not only my manager but others also lied during and throughout the (so called) investigation and hearing. However HCPC aren’t showing any interest in the true facts of the case or that I remain in post having been exonerated.HCPC see and hear only what they want whilst providing a cloak for bullying management to hide behind
but isn’t that exactly what happens in family courts? children are forcibly adopted based on opinions about future emotional abuse. recordings and written evidence presented by parents are ignored by kangaroo court judges. even letters from social workers explaining how they “imagined what you would have said” because the assessment was done after the children were removed without a court order or parental consent. then based only on the fabricated assessment and the fact that they’d “successfully adopted your other children” they will systematically remove any future children for the forced adoption racket.
If this social worker did do this then it is well deserved and long time coming… seems there are too many cases coming out of Peterborough centred on dishonesty over the past 2 to 3 years.
If it wasn’t actually true to begin with then another bits the dust.
Why evidence is so important and crucial.
I read the whole review on the HCPC website, all the details are there. Not surprised it made it to community care and I wonder how he qualified (I believe he was newly qualified).
Sounds like there’s something mentally wrong with him. He lied about his qualifications, he threatened people, he exaggerated, he was narcissistic. Yeah. It seems that kind of behaviour is quite worrying. Why deny it, when it just kept happening? So if he ended up murdering about eight times, it would depend on when they decide to finally accept how dangerous he is, before they lock him away? What the hell is going on? They can’t have been that bothered. That’s the problem when people deny something that is going on. Never ignore bad signs of anything.