Social workers should be investigated says judge

"A family court judge has named a social worker and her two managers, recommending their work and actions be investigated by their employers, Ofsted and the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)."

"Judge Mark Horton, at Portsmouth Family Court, said he was concerned social worker Sarah Walker Smart, her manager at the time, Kim Goode, and senior manager Lisa Humphreys were all still working and had, in fact, been promoted. This was despite a previous judgement in December outlining serious failings on the part of all three."

"They had illegally taken children into care, breached a family’s human rights, altered the report of another social worker, lied under oath and withheld evidence from the court."

"Walker Smart is now a team leader at Hampshire, Goode is a district manager for the Isle of Wight and Humphreys has become assistant director of children’s social care at Lambeth Borough Council."

http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2015/11/23/judge-names-social-workers-recommends-disciplinary-investigation/

Judge Horton has said it was an exceptional case but many people would say he is mistaken about that.

For instance, Jean Robinson, President of the Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services (AIMS) states:

Social workers lying to Family Courts is no news to us, or to many parent support groups. Many clients have told us that minutes of case conferences or review meetings are invariably inaccurate, and we found this ourselves when we were there too, This suggests not just individual, but institutional dishonesty.

One bright spot for me was the refusal of the Housing Officer to be involved in the dishonest process. So often we have seen social workers set up a network of local officialdom to support their view and continue to harass and monitor parents. A toxic fog is spread around them locally, including local groups receiving grants.

We await with interest the reaction of the Health Care Professions Council; if this behaviour is unpunished. Social workers do not deserve to be called a profession.

See http://suesspiciousminds.com/2015/11/23/social-workers-slammed-for-lying-on-oath/

This is one of the reasons I am not in favour of the joined-up GIRFEC approach, so admired by the Scottish Government. It actually encourages collusive relationships. But the easy flow of data is more important to the government than having checks and balances.