The World of PC Madness

Policy made up on the hoof...I dont think thats National Richard. My own lad at his last school only few years ago had a total opposite policy..They didnt want kids brought in if local, encouraged walk to school for fitness and also dangerous parking around the school area. Think its a case by case thing.

 

The whole thing struck me as some what a little on the side of wrap them up in cotton wool and protect them. Which if this was across the board could result in well a bunch of softies.

Any how I'm done with this one as I must do battle again with my council over a on going issue again.

 

Policy was her word but I suspect its more of a request.

Totally agree with you urgh.

 

I imagine it's 'their' policy, surely it is up to parents to decide whether they feel safe sending their kids in alone or whatever. I walked my brother to school from a fairly early age in a fairly rough part of London, didn't do any real harm.

 

I think all schools now are run by the policy of the head teacher...Under govt guidelines of course...some dont even have governers anymore...The head can replace them under govt legislation....especially if it has a history f bad ofsted reports and is going towards failing school...

Going to and from school is a free for all, no one can tell you how to do it....the head though will have a policy filed away or on the schools website these days....they tend to mix up the word policy with as you say request...Thats the language of business today though isnt it? Make out its policy and you dont argue or think.

Same in all countries I shouldn't wander.

 

I think all schools now are run by the policy of the head teacher...Under govt guidelines of course...some dont even have governers anymore...The head can replace them under govt legislation....especially if it has a history f bad ofsted reports and is going towards failing school...

Going to and from school is a free for all, no one can tell you how to do it....the head though will have a policy filed away or on the schools website these days....they tend to mix up the word policy with as you say request...Thats the language of business today though isnt it? Make out its policy and you dont argue or think.

Same in all countries I shouldn't wander.

 

Bankers and old market values.

AD 1125, In this year, sent the king Henry, before Chistmas, from Normandy to England and bade that all the mint men that were in England should be mutilated in their limbs, that was that they should lose each of them, the right hand and their....ahem....beneath.
This was because the man that had a pound could not lay out a penny at the market.
And the Bishop, Roger of Salisbury sent over all England and bade them all, that they should come to Winchester at Christmas.
When they came thiter, then they were taken one by one, and deprived each of their right hand, and the.....ahem...beneath.
All this was done within the twelth night, and that was all in perfect justice because that they had undone all the land with the great quantity of base coin that they all bought.

According to the Anglo Saxon Chronicle of the time...

Bring back old time values I say...

 

Bankers and old market values.

AD 1125, In this year, sent the king Henry, before Chistmas, from Normandy to England and bade that all the mint men that were in England should be mutilated in their limbs, that was that they should lose each of them, the right hand and their....ahem....beneath.
This was because the man that had a pound could not lay out a penny at the market.
And the Bishop, Roger of Salisbury sent over all England and bade them all, that they should come to Winchester at Christmas.
When they came thiter, then they were taken one by one, and deprived each of their right hand, and the.....ahem...beneath.
All this was done within the twelth night, and that was all in perfect justice because that they had undone all the land with the great quantity of base coin that they all bought.

According to the Anglo Saxon Chronicle of the time...

Bring back old time values I say...

 

The phantom double poster is back, run for the hills.

 

You've missed this Richard.

Dont know the ins and outs...but surely all avenues of convering, face to face, lesser options than a sledgehammer to crack a nut should be explored and the initial daughters concerns looked at before sending in the SAS.

From ITN News.

A woman who removed her elderly mother from a care home amid worries over her health was shocked to see police and social workers on her doorstep with a battering ram ready to snatch her back. Skip related content
Related photos / videos Social workers snatch elderly mother Rosalind Figg was concerned about the treatment her elderly mother was receiving and took her home to look after her personally.

But social workers in Coventry disagreed with her actions and used a little-known power to take her back.

They obtained an emergency warrant from magistrates under the Mental Health Act on the grounds that a "person believed to be suffering from a mental disorder is being ill treated and neglected".

Two days later they turned up at Mrs Figg's Keresley home with police in tow as back up.

Mrs Figg was forced to hand over her distraught 86-year-old mother Betty who was wheeled to a car with a blanket over her head and returned to Butts Croft House.

A police spokesman said: "Police were asked to assist social services to remove an elderly woman to a place of safety.

"A warrant was granted and an enforcer was taken in order to gain access to the property if needed. The enforcer was not used."

 

Saw it on the news urgh, talk about going OTT.

 

Was there any background to it? My father is a social worker and has had to use this power on several occasions in order to prevent neglect or mistreatment that could cost a life. It'd be interesting to see the circumstances explained

 

Plymouth Argyle- Coventry 4-0 ??

The Magpies are scrapping to stay in the prem, and I'm just looking for an excuse to vent the frustration...

 

No Stefan I admited that in my post, dont know the whole story...But my point is that surely some better contact than turning up at door with a warrant, police and an enforcer to break down the door if necessary is not the first point of contact when things go awry.

If she was taken away under the mental health act, then why put her back in the same place she was originally? Did she go mental in two days in daughters house?

Who knows, but it smells of we know best get out of our way we have the power.

 

The only in depth report I can see is from your fave newspaper Stefan, the newswires are carrying it but in no great detail

The costs of the care home are being paid by the daughter it seems, 2000 pounds a month.

I dont get the blanket over the head routine....if this is supposed to protect her dignity from cameras then the social workers need to get some common sense. I'm sorry Stefan but I dispare, if the photo's are anything to go by then the social workers need to retrain on how to handle human beings before worrying about photographers.
The pics themselves tell their own story.

The moment social workers snatched a dementia patient from daughter's home and forced her back to a care home | Mail Online

 

Urgh
Obviously the daughter only abducted her mother in the first place to use her as a remote controlled suicide bomb (oh sorry I been watching NCIS too much).

Way over the top is this some belated over reaction generated by criticism of the Baby P Case, "hand over the old lady or we will storm the house" brilliant.

~Steve

 

Urqh, I agree that does seem pretty mental, it'd be interesting to see the social workers side to the story (though quite what the photographers were doing waiting for social services to turn up I'm not sure) but if the descriptions of what was going on in the care home and the preparations made by the daughter are true then yeah, more investigation would certainly be important.

That said, as I understand it this MHA provision can only be made if there is evidence of abuse/neglect (enough to persuade the court) and it certainly isn't the first choice of courses of action. Still, it sounds pretty rediculous unless there is more to it than we are seeing.

Of course the news will use it to suggest that actually it is a secret power the government have if they want to cart you away in the night etc and try to get it removed, which will put a whole lot of people in danger. And of course it'll lead to knee-jerk reactions by councils etc and everyone damning social workers who for the most part do a pretty good job for naff all pay and with very few resources. Steve, you probably aren't far off with the Baby P thing, I know my father was saying that now people are so nervous about any 'abuse' that they will tend to shoot first and ask questions later. Better to have the client somewhere relatively safe than to risk another Baby P is basically the theory.

 

Yep, as you both say, its probably now due to the Baby P case and others similar.

The photo was taken by local newspaper, I can only summise that when the family realised what was happening they did what most of us would do in that situation, no not call the police, they were already there..but the local press... I shall be availing them myself this coming monday...I'll hopefully get my own free speach out in much the same way....Anything for a fight...

But one thing, yep, we dont know the full circumstances...but if it is safety related...then its the ways and means, the method that I dont like, it shows a lack of thought and process..

They are entitled to gain access etc, have the police present for any breach of the peace circumstances...but the enforcer is usually rused for other more immediate matters and dangers...drugs, as in flushing down the loo, kidnap as in immediate physical harm and danger to the person.

If you want to gain entry with a warrant you request police presnece for breech of peace purposes, you then get like gas boards etc, ballifs, etc....a LOCKSMITH...charged under the warrant to to the occupier...once he starts his drill, the door will usually open as no choice..

So what they are stating by thinking of an enforcer battering ram is that the daughtrer posed a physical and immediate danger to her releative...

This is pretty stupid and obviously nonesense. And on the social workers part a lack of thinking and planning.

I'll say again as I say in the majority of these cases...We deserve better.

 

Not true, the enforcer is quite often used in situations where access has been refused despite the presentation of the appropriate documentations etc. The mention that the police have it will get the door open quicker than a locksmith.

I'm afraid this isn't the process, the reason the police are there is because this person is being taken away for their own protection, it is believed that they are being mistreated and endangered, the police are there in case access is refused. It isn't like the balifs, we aren't dealing with a TV or a DVD player but a person, it doesn't matter too much if someone is keeping a TV locked up but in cases of abuse you want the person out of there ASAP.

The whole justification behind the warrant is that the client is believed to be in danger, that is why the social workers are there, the police are there to ensure that the danger is removed ASAP.

As I pointed out, all we have here is the point of view of the clients daughter. We have seen none of the evidence which convinced the court that the family were neglectful, no evidence about what was going on in the home, no real background at all. All we know is that a social work team cocked up in their effort to stop the face of the client being splashed about the press.

In the majority of these cases you get better!

During a six month period working for social services I encountered literally hundreds of cases where the police were needed to remove people from their homes because their lives were genuinely in danger. Social services save thousands from abusive/neglectful family members, they struggle to get as good a deal as possible for people who have literally nothing, quite often they are the only people who actually give a flying monkeys for the thousands of mentally ill, elderly and so on who society simply forgets. They get rubbish pay, struggle against totally incompetent management and a 'care' system designed to make a profit rather than look after people with no thanks and then every couple of months they are damned by everyone in the country because one idiot cocks up. As a result there are investigations, suddenly every case has another ton of paperwork, knees jerk all over the place as the agencies/authorities start to focus on looking after themselves rather than their clients and the whole thing starts over again. Who suffers? Well, the people who actually do their job to the best of their ability and their clients, whilst a society who doesn't care goes on misstreating it's elderly relatives, children and so on.

 

One reader's comment about the situation:

~Have they not seen the Panorama program which cost the nurse her job? Social workers really don't live in the real world.
Click to rate Rating 128
- Mrs Baker, Stamford, Lincs, 23/4/2009 12:01