Severe mental Health and Prison

Hi Claire/Dan,

Thanks both for your input it does give me food for thought - the difficulty I have with Social Services is that although my client has Severe Complex Autism and a Personality Disorder he has a 25 year history with Social Services. They hear his name and they just keep batting him away!

He has been sectioned time and time again but is released back to a manipulative Mother and a chaotic household.  Social Services continue to state he does not suffer from Mental Health. The fact is he does not fit into nice little boxes and therefore keeps slipping through the net.

We have requested Autistic Specific MHA and requested we are informed in advance so we can assist in helping him to engage. We send consent forms requesting that Social Services communicate with us directly prior to any care needs/MHA but guess what they keep us out of the loop. We are then informed that they completed an assessment with our client but he would not engage. These are tactics that SS continually use. 

He lives with a very manipulative Mother. He cannot be rehoused NO ONE WILL HAVE HIM. He as been in every hostel in his area but he cannot cope with noise/groups of people etc. He is either very scared or becomes very agitated and the Police are continually called. Housing have fulfilled their statutory duty to him and he has been assessed as requiring 24 hour support. They can no longer place him somewhere where he becomes a danger to himself or others?

I have contacted an Autistic specific Solicitor who has informed me that if my client is in agreement and he engages with them then they will take over his financial and Health affairs and fight his case. Fingers crossed!!!!

The Police do not want to detain him/Housing are trying to assist but their hands are tied/Ambulance Services know him by name and are an invaluable source of help to him. Social Services specifically the Mental Health team in his area are continually letting him down as are the safeguarding team. In fact the Mental Health team tried to get him arrested and sent to prison for abusive and agitated behaviour? 

We have complained to Social Services in fact to the Head of Social Services, NHS, CCHG AMP’s, his case is so high profile we are getting no where quickly.  In fact we have been informed by The Serious Case Review Board that they are certain his case will come before them one day?

Some of the links above are very useful and please continue to offer your input.

good lord.

report the social services team etc to the relevant regulator?

ClairemHodgson - 14 June 2019 02:38 PM

which begs the question, rather, Dan.  particularly as OP said mother playing ducks and drakes with his benefits….

He’s been assessed as having capacity… however long a story that might be the local authority will be entitled to stand by that and it will take a Judicial Review to budge it.

I frequently see people who are capacious allowing themselves to be abused because they don’t want to disturb the status quo or are worried about the consequences of making the changes we would see as necessary. Sometimes they can’t understand that they are being abused in the first place; having been imbued with a false sense of obligation toward their abuser.

There are some cases we’ve kept open for years trying to gently nudge the change needed. Often it takes quite serious relapses; disrupting the client’s social needs -usually a breakdown in tenancy either due to breach or length of admission- thus the availability of the client to the abuser, before we can break the pattern.

Put simply: if they don’t want to change and can make that decision we can’t force them.

The other side of that; with hard pushed Social Work teams I can see situations where if they’re assessed as capacious and don’t want to change, that would be enough to close the case until there’s a change of circs grave enough to disrupt the client’s need for Care & Support or they approach earnestly seeking to make the necessary changes.

mmm

i’d wonder if someone really does have capacity if they don’t in fact recognise that someone is playing ducks and drakes with their benefits

if they do recognise it and don’t do anything about it, then i wouldn’t have the question….