No justice for fathers and grandparents

The social worker seems to always side with the mother's side of the family and writes down all the lies the mother tells her in a report and the father is never asked by a social worker if the allegations are true.

If a child or children are taken into care because of fighting, arguments, getting drunk and taking drugs and the parents get themselves arrested and Social Services become involved and put the children in care, why don't the Social Services phone up a member of the family, or the grandparents, to look after the child or children and not put the children with people they don't know? Then the grandparents are told the children are playing up with the foster parents. What do Social Services expect – a child to act as if nothing has happened to them?

The children need to be with people they love, not strangers.

Then the parent, father or grandparents are told that if they want to see their children/grandchildren they have to go to a contact centre for one or two hours a week and when they get there there is a social worker with a pad and pen writing down everything said and what the child or children are saying, when you have never harmed or hurt a child in any way, as if you are some kind of criminal.

Do they know how humiliating that is for the grandparents who have had the child for overnight stays?

Why don't Social Services do like they do in Australia and New Zealand (and other parts of the world) and work with the parents for two or three years so the parents can rehabilitate themselves so they can be a family again and have the children back, not send them away for fostering or to be adopted?

On no, they don't help the parents in any way in Guernsey. It's meeting after meeting and it can go on for months and if you are not happy with the outcome or verdict it's 'get an advocate and take the case to court' and that can go on for months. And then you have to wait another few weeks for the judge to read all the paperwork from HSSD, mostly all false and untrue. And then you get a 20- to 30-page letter from the judge with his/her decision and if you are not happy with the verdict you can apply to go back to court again and appeal and that can go on for months.

When you think how many social workers have worked for HSSD in the last 20 years, well over 3-500. They come and go like flies, the ones that work with children. I wonder why.

I was told some don't stay more than one to three years and they leave as they don't like the way things are being run in Guernsey with children and old people.

You do get the odd social worker that is honest but they are few and far between. A lot of social workers put things on a report that have never happened and are untrue. I think people that get a report from a social worker with things in that are untrue should take it to the police and get themselves an advocate and take the social worker to court and the person that gave the social worker the information to court for false and damaging statements, in other words slander.

If a person is told you cannot have your children or child back because of things that have happened two or three years ago and the person has turned their life around, has stopped fighting, drinking or taking drugs and has done everything a social worker has told that person to do and has a nice home and the judge sends a report in the post to say you cannot have your children back in case you relapse and go back into your old ways, you just as well give them a gun to shoot themselves. They may have been fighting or taking drugs but have never harmed or hurt their children in any way and their child or children have been taken off them as they were involved with the law at that time and maybe been to prison.

It's time the social workers work with people like this for two or three years and visit their homes two or three times a week to see how the children are (not take them away).

People can change – give them a chance and work with them, don't take the children away.

P.S. Years ago there was none of this going to court if a family member said they would look after the brothers or sisters, child, or if a grandparent offered to look after their grandchildren or child as long as they had no conviction against them to do with children.

A social worker was happy for a family member to look after the children or child.

Today, social worker services make a mountain out of a mole hill in some cases. Things are added on to a report from the other party that are untrue and the social worker believes the other party – unbelievable.

I have never been to court and I have never been involved with social services when my children were growing up and have never been involved with the police for anything.

Name and address withheld.

Editor's footnote: Malcolm Nutley, acting chief officer of the HSSD, responds: 'In order to keep this reply brief, I will not respond in detail to the views put forward by the writer of the letter. I will say only that the allegations are unfair and demoralising for committed professionals working in a particularly difficult area.

The Children (Guernsey and Alderney) Law 2008 provides that the child's welfare is the paramount consideration. The Health and Social Services Department and staff take this responsibility extremely seriously. The welfare of the child is the touchstone for everything the department does when working with children and families.

On occasions that will involve outcomes that, although best for that child, are naturally a source of sadness or distress for family members.

In circumstances where someone feels that they have not been treated fairly or appropriately, the Health and Social Services Department would encourage them to make direct contact so that their particular concerns can be addressed through the department's formal complaints channels. More information is provided at www.gov.gg/userinvolvement or by calling tel. 725241 and asking for the Service User Advice Officer, Governance & Assurance Team.'