Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi,
I am an autistic adult who is a parent. Since having my daughter I went through a terrible time with social services who set me up to fail and removed my daughter from me because I have a diagnosis of autism. It took me two years to fight for my daughter back and through this time social services and Cafcass used the so called deficits of my autism to justify the removal and to stop the return of my daughter. Thankfully the judge saw through this and returned my daughter concluding in her judgment that I parent my daughter to a high standard.
I want to know how many my adults will autism who are parents have been through a similar situation. How many parents with ASD and other disabilities and or impairments are being targeted by social services and having their children removed? If you have experienced this please tell your story because the current system is outrageously discriminative against parents who have a disability and or impairment and I would like to raise awareness of the current failures within the current child protection system which is targeting parents with disabilities and or impairments so that change can happen.
I had my daughter's removed a year ago purely for having aspergers, I am going to fight with all my might to get them back, no one was autism aware on my case and no allowances were made, my whole family have been alienated for over a year including their 20 month old cousin, they have been placed with my youngest daughter's paternal grandparents so therefore my eldest has no relation to them and they have psychologically abused my daughter's telling them they'd never see their auntie again and that I would be sent to prison, I have looked after the girls from birth on my own with no assistance, I fully intend to take this as far as it can go to get them back, I had a positive parenting assessment also but nevertheless the paternal family to my youngest got granted an SGO, the girls have been there 10 months not a year like the criteria says and they also had no representation yet their opinion was always listened to by the social worker, guardian and judge yet I was bullied for my aspergers.
firstly I am sorry to hear that I am also a autistic adult but black male and have had my daughter adopted due to what id summarise is lack of professional candour and lack of equality and diversity, racism and ostracisation
I would like to outline some major legal documentation alot of local authorities social workers and public authorities dont like to adhere to when interacting with DIFFERENT PEOPLE.
first thing I will say is get yourself a adult social and have a needs assessment done to identify what your difficulties are and what support u do need with or without children (this should be part of your transition plan being that alot of autistic people have difficulties with transitions and significant life events then having a child would of been such. How was you supported?)
I would then advise u to google and research on Statutory guidance for local authorities and NHS organisations on the implementation of the adult autism strategy (statutory means schools have an obligation under law to carry out this.)this is in line with the adult autism strategy
if u have had a SEN report when u was a child there should be information already to what support u should have and receive if this support has not been put in place due to lack assessments then all support that was given as a child should be kept in place until new support is put in place and your needs are being met
I would also like u to pay attention to the equality act 2010 which states discrimination by association means any child u have if you are discriminated against then you are to and anyone who you are related to and didnt recevie the support you or they should of received
the main principle of the children's act is to keep children within their families by all possible means this would include providing support to their parents where that support can be provided.
all social workers have a duty of care o communicate effectively if this was not done effectively due to your autism needs whether they be u need face to face contact only (teams or something if not able) or only written so if they constantly phone u then u put in. complaint as people as this would be a reasonable adjustment that could be made
you could also look into a advocate who will also help to uphold your rights as a autistic individual this could be from Age uk or via your local authority adult social worker this does not have to be a stranger (professional)but can also be a family or friend or both stranger(professional and family member) who the social worker can interact with you over high flare situations that alot fo them exploit. Due to there lack of knowledge.
ask a social worker the difference between a tantrum and a meltdown. Not many know the difference which in itself is very frightening
Hopefully, social workers are becoming more aware of autism. If you find yourself facing family law proceedings, you need to get a lawyer who is autism-aware. Your lawyer should be able to get statements and expert witnesses to point out the errors in the authority's assessment. If your child is autistic there should be school reports, assessments, EHCP etc.. If you as a parent are autistic, again you should have assessments and documentation. Please do not try to fight the local authority without a lawyer to argue your case and cross-examine the social worker professionally.
Do NOT rely on Google and websites and try to go it alone. The person who defends himself in court has a fool for a client. Social workers have many years of training and the support of the authority's legal department, and even so, they sometimes get it wrong. Lay advocates can help you with the emotional impact of a social care involvement, but you also need good legal advice.
Social workers do not want to take kids into care. Their managers do not want them to take kids into care unless it is really necessary - getting a case to Family Court costs thousands of pounds, and the cost of keeping kids in care is a huge strain on the authority's budget.
At the end of the day, it is the judge who decides that the threshold for significant harm has been met and that a Care Order is necessary. The default is the Court will not make an order if there is any other way of resolving the matter - the " no order principle"
neurodivergent I meant
also statutory guidance is not optional. The law says councils or the NHS must be able to demonstrate they have a good reason for departing from guidelines when they do, and it costs too much is not a good enough reason. They can be taken to court for departing from guidelines.
Sorry I find it difficult to follow your argument.
NAS76265 said:alot of people think there experts and only have level 6 5 or even 4 qualifications but I went to uni is acceptable to some people but as stated an expert is not only someone with the level 8 qualification and understanding but someone who also has numerous years experience where they have made numerous professionally qualified decisions with in their professional expertise is my perception of a "expert".
well as an academic of course I do think academic research is good evidence of expertise however I won't say other experience can't be as well. But for the purposes of standards in healthcare it really should be experience that can be empirically measured.
NAS76265 said:Autism is not a psychiatric disorder please be careful of malicious communication and publishing information the is not correct autism is a neurotypical condition
Autism is not a psychiatric disorder but autistic people very definitely do not have a neurotypical condition. Not every time a doctor has to become involved in something will be an example of a disease. Intersex conditions are an example. I don't think most intersex people would consider it a disease but they often need a doctors help in explaining the implications of their variant biology to a world that isn't used to it.
statutory guidance for local authorities and NHS organisations on the implementation of the adult autism strategy also highlights target audiences many people do not adhere to statutory guidance
from what I understand is the local authorities responsibility to
Seek to work with CCGs to ensure there is a suitably trained lead health professional to develop diagnostic and assessment services for adults with autism in their area.
alot of local authorities do not adhere to statutory guidance for the adult autism strategy and again it clearly outline in the statutory guidance on what should be done and who should carry put the assessment skills competence nd knowledge is very important when addressing such a complex disability with the fact everyone is different in their own way. an autism expert is someone forget the label is someone who can demonstrate the skills knowledge and competence to meet a service users needs if they fail this once training is needed to keep things up date and is a part of safeguarding whistleblowing where people accept they dont have the qualifications to deal with a situation again peoples EGOs thinking they know best but comment out side of their merit or level of understanding how many social workers obtain level 8 education PHD and doctorates in itself proving limitations in knowledge and experience
in reply to inits you perception about comments about social workers wh according to the British Association of social workers have a legal duty to empower and work to peoples strengths and uphold the profession if they are not carrying out statutory guidance to exploit vulnerable adults then that is a very concerning matter u I have analysed and observed are more invested in protecting failures that are documented by people who have been directly impacted by this disgusting behaviour along with the heading that clearly is highly emotional and being that everyone is autistic I with my qualifications have expected language that may be offensive and such but u seem to enjoy pointing out the differences that make people autistic - imagine being a narcissistic saying things in a way where you act like eu dnt know but with your experience and qualifications should be expecting certain things so to be like ah I went to school today and I saw kids what did u expect.....
alot of people think there experts and only have level 6 5 or even 4 qualifications but I went to uni is acceptable to some people but as stated an expert is not only someone with the level 8 qualification and understanding but someone who also has numerous years experience where they have made numerous professionally qualified decisions with in their professional expertise is my perception of a "expert".
Autism is not a psychiatric disorder please be careful of malicious communication and publishing information the is not correct autism is a neurotypical condition but constantly classed as things it is not why people are commonly misdiagnosed with personality disorders, antisocial personality disorders and such due to even GPs and doctors not having the correct info or ill informed or trained again proving that only the person they refer u to who is level 8 qualified then corrects alot of false information due to a GPs or social workers perception
for instance ive been referred to adhd services by my gp because I dnt keep eye contact again he didn't realise how demeaning this ws until I logged a complaint for discrimination but I guess I was supposed to listen to the doctors perception again people abusing their position in power making referrals that are needed due to lack of skills competence an knowledge and commenting outside the areas of expertise