The State to manage Mums finances?

[Eddgreen]

I had a financal assessment for mum this week
My mums and my wellbeing. No comment from him
He was there there to take every penny from mum
Had he has
They want 2yrs bank statments
Bank wants £5 for this
He seemed diss appointed not to get the house
It's mine he wanted all the paperwork on that also
They come with a mission to get every penny and th800Dey have
I found it stressful

 

[NeverGiveUp]

Eddgreen

Did it leave you with a feeling of disbelief? Maybe asking yourself, why?

We felt as though we had been physically molested, wanted to wash and clean our home after several of the SW spoke to us about financial assessments. There is something unclean about the process, it seems to us that some who are entrusted with this task go beyond what is needed.

There is a feeling of being suspected of being a criminal when in fact we were only acting in a selfless way. We still wonder why we were treated in a way that made us feel criminals, we didn't want anything except information.

 

[Justice2012]

classact72

Having read your post I want you to know that in my researches I have noted that there are many others who have had similar experiences to you with SW's and their departments. A common element seems to be that it is those who complain or have any dispute regarding the 'care' of their loved one that seems to trigger an attitude towards us bordering on the dangerous to us and our loved one.



Mental Capacity Assessments for more substantial issues are best done by a geriatrician or psychogeriatrician- not by a social worker and I would advise if you can you seek this, although your mother being in a care home makes this complicated unless you can afford private fees.

I have made formal complaints twice now to SS. I can assure you that they will make up a story about you twisting everything that they have on and off record to make you the one at fault- putting a false safeguarding issue onto you is quite normal because they can do this to get 'control'. They NEVER NEVER admit that they have done anything wrong- a social work lawyer told me that as an organisation the local authority will not admit to fault with the obvious legal implications to them. You will never see an apology.

I also would not advise the Ombudsman as my experience is that in your situation they will entirely take what the SS officers say as the gospel truth, your evidence is effectively ignored. Even when you can show SW's have lied, as I was able to evidence, they do not criticise the decisions of SWs- although they noted maladministration because it was clear the SW's had no idea what they should do or why. There have been recent public severe criticisms of the biased work of the Government Ombudsman- I would not suggest anyone bother, it is emotionally soul destroying as well as time consuming for no result.

What I am disappointed in is that organisation like Alzheimer's / Age Concern/ Carers UK are not picking up a trend now picked up by journalists about how SWs do worrying safeguarding work on no evidence of actual harm in cases of child protection- with families being destroyed. The parallel is happening in adult care to carers. The most public case was the Steven Neary vs Hillingdon Council, he was lucky he got his son back against all odds from SS- but it seems their attitude has worsened towards him. Supporting carers? I do not think so.

It is time to think about a class legal action by carers challenging harmful safeguarding work because more and more find themselves at the end of retaliatory and false accusations when in dispute or raising alarm about care services with SS or NHS. But where are the organisations who would be ready to take this on with some research?

Anyone who thinks 'there is no smoke without a fire' clearly does not accept miscarriages of justice occur. In the case of safeguarding of adults nearly 2/3 are unsubstantiated or undetermined. This is not safeguarding anyone. The real perpetrators, such as in Winterborne, go unoticed save for the BBC's intervention.

 

[NeverGiveUp]

Hear, hear, Justice 2012.

The problem with being an innocent party is not knowing how to defend yourself because you don't know what the accusations are all about.

Anyone who hasn't been in this situation would never understand that these happenings could be possible. When it does happen, the feeling is like the sky falling on your head, all of the stresses that you are dealing with everyday pale into insignificance. My dad and i were erroneously accused of a safeguarding offence, not only did we have to fight it all the way on our own but no-one would admit to how the injuries had happened. Any safeguarding accusations apparently stay on file forever. When mum was injured in a situation where it was vey clear that an outside party could not be blamed, the enquiry was held without informing us that it was taking place (we had been told that we would be fully informed), without my evidence and we were not even told that it had been concluded. To add insult to injury, when I did start to make enquiries about why things were taking so long, I got a letter which gave me the feeling that i was deemed a liar, I am most certainly not, if I had been given the opportunity to present my evidence then they would have had name, dates and incidents.

We are now terrified that we will have to go near the hospital again where it all happened.

 

[NeverGiveUp]

I hope the moderators leave your posts insitu as you have said very many true things here, there is a serious worry which you have highlighted.

I would suspect that very many people would be shocked at the contents of their files, even if it was just on accuracy/spelling. I got the first hint of something amiss by being told something out of the blue by a shocked person who found something unethical, I have never found where this is recorded, the person had obviously been to a meeting somewhere, he put his career on the line by telling me.

When another, very good, professional changed her attitude to me totally, i obtained notes and found a letter included, i cried when i saw what was written, i would hazard a guess that was the reason the person stopped being so helpful. I made a complaint, got a verbal unreserved apology from the manager who blamed his older members of staff as not properly trained , got more notes, the apology wasn't recorded.

So many things have happened to us, either we are seriously horrible people/totally over imaginative or there is something wrong and other people have things written about them which could influence future input by professionals.

Life as a carer is tough and soul destroying enough without having to deal with all of this additional stuff.

 

[classact72]

Owing to the obvious ‘let’s stick together’ stance SS have taken on this, I requested an independent investigation into my complaints.
Yesterday I was offered to meet with an ‘Independent person’ appointed by the Council next Monday. As I work full-time this was way too short notice so I responded and asked for a date w/c 10th Sept. I also asked who this ‘independent person’ was employed by, his role and title. The reply I got was he did not work for the Council, does not live in our town, is very experienced and carries out complaints investigation and mediation meetings for other Local Authorities. I asked again etc etc and received an reply saying this person is not employed by anyone, is self employed and carries out ad hoc work for many different local authorities. I was also informed that he is on annual leave after 5th September. So why on earth did they choose a person who could only be available for 5 days??
I decided to do a bit of delving and found two articles involving this person. On both occasions when investigating complaints, he found in favour of the LA.
On one occasion he entered a flat using a master pass key, without the permission of the 97 yr old deaf and blind resident. Apparently he did this in order to comply with the LGO’s advice to “satisfy himself that she was willing to meet with him”.
On the other occasion he found in favour of the LA after a residents association raised complaints about the provider supporting of vulnerable people in their area. Not only did he dismiss their 4 complaints but in his report questioned the actions and integrity of the association and slated the chairwoman.
The fact that local authorities use this person so much concerns me. If he gets so much work from them, isn’t he going to be biased? Let’s be honest, he’s not likely to blow a good deal is he? I wonder if my LA have appointed this person so that he doesn’t actually investigate my complaint but finds fault with my actions.
Any suggestions?
Believe me, I will not give up on this. If I have to involve the media or go all the way to Human Rights Commission, I will! No professional should be allowed to get away with lying and making false allegations against me or my siblings. Two of us work in a smilar capacity alongside SW's and such accusations could seriously jeopardise our professional standing. Any member of adult social care not following correct procedure with the client's best interests at the core should be held accountable.

 

[Justice2012]

classact72

The case of the LGO you mention is reported in a damning report from a recent government inquiry into the LGO, see the website of Hpuse of Commons- UK government- publications.

There is a campaign website against the LGO too.



It is clear people find it difficult to know the difference between a suspicion of something and actual information, where evidence could be obtained to confirm, suggesting an abuse/ neglect has occurred. The fact is people are having to install secret cameras in care homes- see today's Guardian newspaper online. Yet it is obvious something was wrong before this happened- why was it left to family to raise alert?

 

[classact72]

classact72
Re: 'the damage done could well jeopardise future employment. I am saying this from experience'.

I haven't got many working years left but belong to a Union. If I were to lose my job over it I would gladly spend my free time getting a case together and suing the pants off the LA and then take up campaigning against bodies who are supposed to monitor their performance, investigate complaints and should not be colluding to cover up the misgivings of Adult Services, Care homes and incompetent staff.

 

[NeverGiveUp]

Unfortunately you need lots of money to sue that pants off people...

 

[classact72]

Unfortunately you need lots of money to sue that pants off people...

Legal aid?

 

[NeverGiveUp]

Not sure that this sort of thing qualifies, be interested to know if it does.

Justice2012 - got any idea on whether there is legal aid for suing the pants off the LA?

 

[FifiMo]

Check your insurance policies - eg home insurance, most of them nowadays have provision in them for legal services. If I recall it is something in the region of £50,000 if your action falls within the provisions of the insurance policy.

Fiona

 

[Justice2012]

Not sure that this sort of thing qualifies, be interested to know if it does.

Justice2012 - got any idea on whether there is legal aid for suing the pants off the LA?

No legal aid does not apply.

Without a high profile campaign by carers, those who start to understand seriously the issues and media /journalists to raise the issue of problematic safeguarding policies, procedures and (in)actions, things will be skewed.

The vulnerable are not being protected in the situations where increasing abuses are being shown up- The Guardian report yesterday of the care home secret video case showed this yet again.

A focus on some unclear suspicion of often common behaviours, not abnormal or intentionally harmful under the circumstances of challenging behaviours, is resulting in a wrong emphasis with scarce resources being deployed poorly because SW's do not always understand what is going on e.g. when a client with dementia accuses family carer when there is no evidence and there is a history of such outbursts, common in dementia. The same applies to bad care agency / care home staff maliciously and falsely reporting when issues are raised about care services.