Thurrock Social Services Policy on intimidating parents NOT to report child sexual abuse or domestic violence to police

S. Prichard made this Freedom of Information request to Thurrock Borough Council This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Thurrock Borough Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Thurrock Borough Council,

A member of our team has been informed that several individual services users of Thurrock Social Services have been intimidated NOT to contact police in cases of child sexual abuse and domestic violence. These service users have been told they will have their children removed if they contact police.

One service user suffered a beating by her ex partner because she did not contact police for fear of social services removing her children if she reported domestic violence. It concerns our team that this “policy” is not unique.

1. We would like to know what is your policy on social workers intimidating service users NOT to contact police for reporting child sexual abuse or domestic violence?

2. If Q1 is correct, is this policy of social workers advising service users NOT to contact police only in Thurrock or nationwide.

3. We have also been told staff at Thurrock council and contact workers have also been intimidated not to report child abuse to police. How many staff or professionals working for Thurrock have been intimidated or lost their jobs following blowing the whistle or reporting concerns to the police?

4. How many parents have been told by Thurrock social workers they are NOT allowed to report child abuse or domestic violence to police?

5. How many guardians to the children have been told by Thurrock social workers they are NOT allowed to report child abuse or domestic violence to police?

6. How many grandparents have been told by Thurrock social workers they are NOT allowed to report child abuse or domestic violence to police?

7. How many parents have had children removed or stopped contact by Thurrock social workers for reporting child abuse or domestic violence to police?

8. How many guardians to children have had children removed or stopped contact by Thurrock social workers for reporting child abuse or domestic violence to police?

9. How many grandparents have had children removed or stopped contact by Thurrock social workers for reporting child abuse or domestic violence to police?

Yours faithfully,

S. Prichard

Information.Matters@thurrock.gov.uk, Thurrock Borough Council

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Senior Corporate Complaints & Information Governance Officer

Information Governance Team

 

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Quinn, Claire, Thurrock Borough Council

3 Attachments

Dear S Prichard,

 

Please see attached letter in response to your Freedom of Information
request.

 

If you wish to make contact with Carmel Littleton, Director of Children’s
Services regarding any allegations surrounding this topic then please do
so.

 

Kind regards,

 

Claire Quinn l Complaints and Information Governance Assistant I Chief
Executive's Office

Thurrock Council, Civic Offices, New Road, Grays, Essex RM17 6SL |
[1]thurrock.gov.uk

 

Thurrock: A place of opportunity, enterprise and excellence, where
individuals, communities and businesses flourish

 

[2]cid:image001.png@01CED012.2FFD20F0

 

[3]cid:image002.png@01CED012.2FFD20F0

 

 

 

 

The information in this e-mail and any attachment(s) are intended to be
confidential and may be legally privileged. Access to and use of its
content by anyone else other than the addressee(s) may be unlawful and
will not be recognised by Thurrock Council for business purposes. If you
have received this message by mistake, please notify the sender
immediately, delete it and do not copy it to anyone else. Thurrock Council
cannot accept any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of this
message as it has been transmitted over a public network.

Any opinions expressed in this document are those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect the opinions of Thurrock Council.

Any attachment(s) to this message has been checked for viruses, but please
rely on your own virus checker and procedures.

Senders and recipients of e-mail should be aware that under the UK Data
Protection and Freedom of Information legislation these contents may have
to be disclosed in response to a request.

All e-mail sent to or from this address will be processed by Thurrock
Council's corporate e-mail system and may be subject to scrutiny by
someone other than the addressee.
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References

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S. Prichard (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

We have seen evidence to contradict Thurrock councils responses

Dear Quinn, Claire,

Please can you investigate why local MP's have raised concerns that several of their constituents have complained of intimidation by social workers. Our team has seen the evidence from MP's

Yours sincerely,

S. Prichard

Quinn, Claire, Thurrock Borough Council

Dear S Prichard,

Thank you for your below email.

Please specify over what time period the below refers to and what information you specifically require.

Kind Regards

Claire Quinn l Complaints and Information Governance Assistant I Chief Executive's Office
Thurrock Council, Civic Offices, New Road, Grays, Essex RM17 6SL | [email address]. thurrock.gov.uk

Thurrock: A place of opportunity, enterprise and excellence, where individuals, communities and businesses flourish

-----Original Message-----
From: S. Prichard [mailto:[FOI #308773 email]]
Sent: 15 February 2016 11:37
To: Quinn, Claire
Subject: Re: FOI 5429

Dear Quinn, Claire,

Please can you investigate why local MP's have raised concerns that
several of their constituents have complained of intimidation by
social workers. Our team has seen the evidence from MP's

Yours sincerely,

S. Prichard

-----Original Message-----

Dear S Prichard,

 

Please see attached letter in response to your Freedom of
Information
request.

 

If you wish to make contact with Carmel Littleton, Director of
Children’s
Services regarding any allegations surrounding this topic then
please do
so.

 

Kind regards,

 

Claire Quinn l Complaints and Information Governance Assistant I
Chief
Executive's Office

Thurrock Council, Civic Offices, New Road, Grays, Essex RM17 6SL |
[1]thurrock.gov.uk

 

Thurrock: A place of opportunity, enterprise and excellence, where
individuals, communities and businesses flourish

 

[2]cid:image001.png@01CED012.2FFD20F0

 

[3]cid:image002.png@01CED012.2FFD20F0

 

 

 

 

The information in this e-mail and any attachment(s) are intended
to be
confidential and may be legally privileged. Access to and use of
its
content by anyone else other than the addressee(s) may be unlawful
and
will not be recognised by Thurrock Council for business purposes.
If you
have received this message by mistake, please notify the sender
immediately, delete it and do not copy it to anyone else. Thurrock
Council
cannot accept any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness
of this
message as it has been transmitted over a public network.

Any opinions expressed in this document are those of the author
and do not
necessarily reflect the opinions of Thurrock Council.

Any attachment(s) to this message has been checked for viruses,
but please
rely on your own virus checker and procedures.

Senders and recipients of e-mail should be aware that under the UK
Data
Protection and Freedom of Information legislation these contents
may have
to be disclosed in response to a request.

All e-mail sent to or from this address will be processed by
Thurrock
Council's corporate e-mail system and may be subject to scrutiny
by
someone other than the addressee.

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The information in this e-mail and any attachment(s) are intended to be confidential and may be legally privileged. Access to and use of its content by anyone else other than the addressee(s) may be unlawful and will not be recognised by Thurrock Council for business purposes. If you have received this message by mistake, please notify the sender immediately, delete it and do not copy it to anyone else. Thurrock Council cannot accept any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of this message as it has been transmitted over a public network.

Any opinions expressed in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Thurrock Council.

Any attachment(s) to this message has been checked for viruses, but please rely on your own virus checker and procedures.

Senders and recipients of e-mail should be aware that under the UK Data Protection and Freedom of Information legislation these contents may have to be disclosed in response to a request.

All e-mail sent to or from this address will be processed by Thurrock Council's corporate e-mail system and may be subject to scrutiny by someone other than the addressee.
____________________________________________________________________
This message has been checked for all known viruses by the MessageLabs Virus Control Centre. For further information visit
http://www.messagelabs.com/stats.asp

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Dear Quinn, Claire,
Please supply us with complaints and statistics of how many service users have made complaints of intimidation, and to what outside authority or MP parents were told not to contact. Please go back 5 years

Please also provide information if the same professional has been reported two or more times by different service users for similar conduct. Please also inform us what action Thurrock council took.

Yours sincerely,

S. Prichard