Authority’s perception of sexism, domestic violence and refuges - policy v’s law

Dear Kent County Council,

Authority’s perception of sexism, domestic violence and refuges -
policy v’s law

I write this FOI in respect of comparing gender biasness within the
councils, and concerns that service users are “playing the system”
to take advantage over the other parent within breakups and child
custody battles, thus not putting the children first. I am
compiling a national FOI in the aim to create a bench mark to
educate authorities of equal opportunity and sexism that is
commonly complained of by the non-resident parent.

I also write this as there have been several cases, one of them
being baby P, whereas the non-resident parent has raised concerns
and have been ignored by social services; social services have been
shown to be gender biased, thus putting the child at risk of injury
or death.

Women and Domestic Violence

1. What services does the council provide for women fleeing alleged
domestic violence?

a) How much does the council spend on its services to women fleeing
alleged domestic violence?

2. What outside services or organisations does the council
advertise for women fleeing domestic violence? (i.e. women’s aid)

a) How much does the council spend on advertising services to women
fleeing alleged domestic violence?

3. How much does the council fund, per year, over the last 5 years,
in its respective borough for women’s refuges?

4. A woman runs into a refuge with a child(ren), what are the
following procedures and laws :- (remember law overrides procedure)

a) Who responsible for the welfare of child(ren). i.e. social
services, refuge or mixture of agencies?
b) Who is responsible for informing outside agencies such as the
police that the person is in a refuge and what is the time scale?
c) Who is responsible for informing the child(ren’s) father (with
and without full PR) and what are the time scales?
d) Who is responsible for ensuring the woman has a genuine case and
is telling the truth, i.e. interviewing the father? If so, what are
the time scales?
e) How many cases were there over the last 5 years when the father
was interviewed to ensure that the woman had a genuine case?
f) Who is responsible for ensuring the woman is not suffering with
any mental health condition such as schizophrenia, bipolar or post
natal depression?
g) What action is taken, to ensure the woman has not got mental
health problems, their case is not genuine, or is a risk to their
child.
h) What is the procedure if item “g“, above, was found to be true,
i.e. the women was a risk to a child, or had mental health
problems, or was not genuine.
i) What action would be taken if the woman previously used refuges
with different partners?

5. The father reports serious concerns of the mother’s health
before and after the mother runs into a refuge; matching those of
other professionals such as a GP. Whose responsibility is it to
check the father’s version of events and speak to professionals;
the refuge, social services or both, what action should be taken or
is it the council’s duty to ignore the allegations?

6. The father reports serious concerns of DV before and after the
mother runs into a refuge; matching those of other professionals
such as a GP. Whose responsibility is it to check the fathers
version of events and speak to professionals, the refuge, social
services or both, what action should be taken, or is it the
council’s duty to ignore the allegations?

7. The father reports serious concerns of the child safety before
and after the mother runs into a refuge; matching those of other
professionals such as a GP. Whose responsibility is it to check the
fathers version of events and speak to professionals, the refuge,
social services or both, what action should be taken, or is it the
council’s duty to ignore the allegations.

8. What are the statistics of violence and drugs have been reported
within women’s refuges’ within the council borough over the last 5
years.

9. What is the councils stance / policy on the mother IS allowed to
make accusations about the father, but the father IS NOT allowed to
make accusations against the mother? Is this a correct statement to
make by social services?

10. How many women have been placed in a refuge from your council’s
borough (can be refuges out of area) over the last 5 years?

a) How many women were found to have mental health problems or
fraudulently using the services, (such as had an affair and got
caught out, or investigation, if any, proved that the woman used
services fraudulently)

11. How many children have been injured, killed, neglected,
witnessed drugs or violence in women’s refuges over the last 5
years.

Men and Domestic Violence

12. What services does the council provide for men fleeing alleged
domestic violence?

a) How much does the council spend on its services to men fleeing
alleged domestic violence?

13. What outside services or organisations does the council
advertise for men fleeing domestic violence? (i.e. men’s aid)

b) How much does the council spend on advertising services to men
fleeing alleged domestic violence?

14. How much does the council fund, per year, over the last 5
years, in its respective borough for men’s refuges?

15. A man runs into a refuge with a child(ren), what are the
following procedures and laws :- (remember law overrides procedure)

c) Who responsible for the welfare of child(ren). i.e. social
services, refuge or mixture of agencies?
d) Who is responsible for informing outside agencies such as the
police that the person is in a refuge and what is the time scale?
e) Who is responsible for informing the child(ren’s) mother (with
and without full PR) and what are the time scales?
f) Who is responsible for ensuring the man has a genuine case and
is telling the truth, i.e. interviewing the mother? If so, what are
the time scales?
g) How many cases were there over the last 5 years when the mother
was interviewed to ensure that the man had a genuine case?
h) Who is responsible for ensuring the man is not suffering with
any mental health condition such as schizophrenia or bipolar?
i) What action is taken, to ensure the man has not got mental
health problems, their case is not genuine, or is a risk to their
child.
j) What is the procedure if item “g“, above, was found to be true,
i.e. the man was a risk to a child, or had mental health problems,
or was not genuine.
k) What action would be taken if the man previously used refuges
with different partners?

16. The mother reports serious concerns of the fathers health
before and after the father runs into a refuge; matching those of
other professionals such as a GP. Whose responsibility is it to
check the mother’s version of events and speak to professionals;
the refuge, social services or both, what action should be taken or
is it the council’s duty to ignore the allegations?

17. The mother reports serious concerns of DV before and after the
father runs into a refuge; matching those of other professionals
such as a GP. Whose responsibility is it to check the mothers
version of events and speak to professionals, the refuge, social
services or both, what action should be taken, or is it the
council’s duty to ignore the allegations?

18. The mother reports serious concerns of the child safety before
and after the father runs into a refuge; matching those of other
professionals such as a GP. Whose responsibility is it to check the
mothers version of events and speak to professionals, the refuge,
social services or both, what action should be taken, or is it the
council’s duty to ignore the allegations.

19. What are the statistics of violence and drugs have been
reported within men’s refuges’ within the council borough over the
last 5 years.

20. What is the councils stance / policy on the father IS allowed
to make accusations about the mother, but the mother IS NOT allowed
to make accusations against the father? Is this a correct statement
to make by social services?

21. How many men have been placed in a refuge from your council’s
borough (can be refuges out of area) over the last 5 years?

l) How many men were found to have mental health problems or
fraudulently using the services, (such as had an affair and got
caught out, or investigation, if any, proved that the man used
services fraudulently)

22. How many children have been injured, killed, neglected,
witnessed drugs or violence in men’s refuges over the last 5 years.

Yours faithfully,

Sheila Hersom

Dear Kent County Council,

Thank you for your response.

I would like to expand on one of your questions, whereas you
highlight an assessment may be carried out if one parent raised
concerns. This situation seems to be happening throughout councils
and your council seems to be the only council that has remained
gender neutral, which I commend, and hopefully will make a
benchmark for other councils. Ofsted has highlighted that in the
majority of serious case reviews the father's concerns have been
ignored, as what happened in the case of baby P.

1) if one parent (parent A) raised concerns of the following
issues:-

a) the other parent mental health, and concerns is shared by a GP
and other professionals, have social services got a duty to dismiss
the parent "A" concerns and stop contact to parent "A" or
investigate.

b) if parent "A" also raised concerns that it was brought to light
that parent "B" was abused as a child, by a parent or close
relative (could also relate to step mum or dad), and evidence came
to light that other people from person B family also raised
concerns that this person posed a risk to danger to a child, and
social services were also alerted when parent B was a child, should
the social services carry out an assessment or ignore parent A
concerns and stop contact

2. Significant risks come to light on the child by different social
services. the child is passed back via a separate social services
and courts to parent A. the child was returned traumatised and
withdrawn. Parent A highlights social services failures and reports
disclosures that the child has made against the person who
suspicion was raised in question 1b) which could have been
prevented if parent A had been listened to.

a) should social services place child on child protection register
against parent A as emotional abuse for complaining of the councils
previous failure and reporting the disclosures that the child has
made, and class taking the child to a GP when the child complains
of symptoms that are concerning, age inappropriate and unexplained
as abuse, and should social services try to remove the child from
parent A, despite professionals having no concerns of the child in
parent A care or parent A parenting capabilities, and continue to
discredit parent A or should they support parent A's parenting and
investigate what failures had been made.

b)The child has also made disclosures to police and nursery, should
social services place them in child protection reports for courts
or omit them giving no significant reason for doing so

Yours faithfully,

Sheila Hersom