Social workers snatch elderly mother

[Blasphemous]

You couldn't make it up! My Brother in-law was a Senior Social Worker. It constantly amazes me that they just cannot seem to get these things right these days. Don't get me wrong they have a difficult job at times but FFS this woman was taken out of a 'Care' Home by her daughter because her daughter is/was worried about her health. Social Services seem to have applied for the warrant because they were concerned that she was being 'ill treated and neglected'. Yeah, by the 'Care' Home from the sounds of it!!!

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090423/tuk-social-workers-snatch-elderly-mother-dba1618.html

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.

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."

 

[tim west]

Can the woman not do the same and apply to the magistrates for a warrant on the grounds of neglect and ill treatment? Also what proof of ill treatment was shown in order to get the warrant in the first place?

 

[Blasphemous]

Can the woman not do the same and apply to the magistrates for a warrant on the grounds of neglect and ill treatment? Also what proof of ill treatment was shown in order to get the warrant in the first place?

Don't know on both counts Tim but it's not a bad idea.

 

[NS215]

this country just gets worse

the poor old lady is taken from her house then had the blanket stuck over her head
still I'm sure the local authority makes more money with the lady in care than at home with her daughter

 

[roughcaster]

NS215 wrote,

the poor old lady is taken from her house then had the blanket stuck over her head

It was the smug overweight social worker who should have had a blanket thrown over her head.

Roughcaster.

 

[Johnmelad502]

still I'm sure the local authority makes more money with the lady in care than at home with her daughter

I suspect that if the daughter stops paying the fees, her mum will be sent home very quickly.

 

[Blasphemous]

still I'm sure the local authority makes more money with the lady in care than at home with her daughter

I suspect that if the daughter stops paying the fees, her mum will be sent home very quickly.

Is it a Private though John? It could well be NHS. I just find the whole episode more than a little bizarre. UNLESS.... the daughter has some sort of 'history' with Social Services, The Courts etc and they are jumping in before anything 'might' happen. Let's face it, we'd be just a critical, maybe more so, if the woman took her mother home and ill treated/killed her. But there's no mention of any such history.

 

[Johnmelad502]

Is it a Private though John? It could well be NHS.

I read somewhere that the home is private and charges something like £2,000.00 a month.

Social Services = SS!

 

[^woody^]

It's ironic that many of the social workers charged with looking after "us" are some of the most socially inept people, and have very little understanding of how to look after people in society.

And to think that somewhere within every council office, is a clueless manager who can make autonomous decisions on a whim, which will have such impact on a persons life.

 

[toptec]

In order to swear out a warrant under ANY legislation an application in writing must be laid before the magistrates. This application has to contain all the reasons and rationale behind the application and lists all the suspicions and facts.

This application is obtainable through the courts to anyone with an interest under the FOI and especially to those listed on the warrant and should be supplied once edited to protect sources.

I would LOVE to see the information contained in this application!

 

[Norcon]

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".

So a person in the care of their loved ones "believed" to be suffering a mental disorder is automatically "being ill treated and neglected" under this law.
How ridiculous is that?
And a bl@@dy disgrace shoving a blanket over her head.
Is hitler dead or is he actually running the UK from a bunker deep within the motherland?

 

[Zampa]

Absolute disgrace..and the old bill turned up with a battering ram as well..i wonder if they took there numbers off and pulled their masks up to disguise themselves too?

Thankfully they had enough sense and compassion not to use it

 

[dextrous]

I think that without the full facts of the case, it is unwise for anyone on here to be passing judgement on the actions of the social services.

The blanket may have been put over her to cover bruises, or to protect from facial distortions or even a crude way of protecting her from agoraphobia. It may even have been put on at the request of the woman or the family itself. Like I said - how the hell do we know?

The family may well have been negligent in their duties of care, possibly letting her sit in her own excrement, not feeding her, not providing medication, ridiculing her etc. They may have taken her out of the care home to prevent the council taking their cut of the womans estate, and acted for purely selfish or greed reasons. You may wish to ask yourself why police presence was felt necessary - maybe the family have a violent historical disposition.

Again, we don't know, and my conjectures are as factually based as the criticisms of those commenting so harshly against the social services.

So get off the band wagon and think before you point the finger

 

[LastMagicBean]

Is it a realistic possibility that this poor old girl 'wanted' to put a blanket over her 'own' head... to save the shame and indignity of being pulled about like a piece of meat .....and being photographed....????????..!!!!

 

[libby lou lou]

The daughter used the blanket.