Thanks for that Grinch :-) cordial is better both ways
And thanks everyone else for the kind words, nice to hear.
I'll keep the debate going as, on this quite small forum, it's attracted quite a few response and I think it's an indication of interset in this vital issue so just perhaps my musing are of some use!
I wonder if one of the community care editors fancies copying the pasting the whole lot to the GSSC to see what they think?
BUT I'll stick to my guns. Here's why.
a) maybe police officers inform the family they'll notify / inform social care or maybe they don't. Don't forget that there are infinitely more police officers than social workers out there. If it's an office from a specialist DV Unit / or a police child protection team, I would generally expect this to be done well and with sensitivity. In a later night 999 call, it's most unlikely to be a specialist officer in attendance however. Mum might speak little English, everybody in the home is likely to be distressed and in a state of heightened anxiety; they might be told but aren't in a position to hear at this crisis point.
b) more substantively: I was in a reasonable postion. It's better to use the phone in these instances than write. It's a dead common scenario. Yes it's tricky / impossible if the Police haven't recorded a phone number / caller terminates or never answers / no English and languageline aren't funded in your LA (in higher risk cases to me this is a home visit NOT at letter);
c) Grinch - respectfully think this through - " any time in
the future when social care need to contact the family to discuss
concerns -" - as you rightly say - this can't happen by letter. That's not a discussion. It's a potentially dangerous complexity in an already difficult family life. A phone call is a discussion - the worker can assess and support mum / develop an understanding of the children's perspective and involvement in the situation via firm and supportive questioning; keeping the need for a home / office visit in mind if it would help mum or questions are unanswered about safeguarding matters. Any advice can THEN be sent in a letter (Women's Aid helpline numbers etc) Mum (shorthand - forgive me!) then connects this supportive advice with the individual worker.
d) Put yourself in the position of a parent - be they a victim of entrenched and ongoing domestic violence, or just a family who have had a one-off unpleasant argument which ended in police attendance. What will the dreaded letter from social services actually do for them? Does the man read it and think "I'll mend my ways now".
Many of these letters will contain a phrase like "future referrals to this agency may result in an assessment being opened with regard to ..... and ........ (children). To me, that's the unethical bit. The child protection and assessment process is about supporting vulnerable families, not about intimidating them.
At very best, nothing whatsoever. The local council has written to them with intimate details of their lives, which they didn't know they had, just because some social worker wants to "cover their back" and be seen to do something rather than nothing. If I ever find a service user who was ever, in any way, been helped by an unsolicited letter then I'll eat my words, but I haven't yet!
e) Look through case files in your agency. Lots of these cases when a letter was despatched end up being referred anyway. The letter did nothing, and no insight was developed into the case. It might then end up being picked up as CP when the family could previously been helped as CIN in the first instance.
I'm often a critic of the medical profession, by the hippocratic oath, taken by all doctors when they qualify is useful to think about in this one. What's the line?
"First, do no harm".
Please consider this in relation to social work practice in relation to women / mothers who have been assaulted by violent partners.
(sorry, getting a bit rambling towards the end there, but I think a Community Care article (or meaty piece of academic research) on "Appropriate Responses to Police Notifications to Children's Social Care for Domestic Violence" is called for. Any takers?
nighty night!