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They are coming for your mother, too.

by Renegadeparent 22. April 2009 22:55

Well, I’ve just seen the local news and this item.

A woman removes her 86 year old mother from a nursing home.
She spends thousands of pounds converting a room in order to care for her at home.
Social Services decide that the vulnerable woman is now at risk.
Social Services attempt to enter the property and access is refused.
Police arrive at the property with a battering ram.
The elderly woman is removed from the property and wheeled away by social workers who deem it appropriate to throw a towel over her head in the process.
She is now back in the care home, against her daughter’s wishes.
A spokesman from Birmingham City Council concedes that in putting a blanket over a frail and confused elderly woman’s head, the social workers had acted inappropriately.

I know little of the family’s personal circumstances, but I am assuming that the daughter chose to remove her mother from the care home because of genuine concerns about care standards, rather than to wilfully abuse her (upon further reading, this absolutely proves to be the case).

I am also willing to bet that the care this woman receives from her daughter is as good as, if not better than, the care delivered by any institution. However, I am not a social worker, just a reasonable person with a modicum of common sense. Which is why I no longer work in local government.

When is this going to stop?

Comments

4/22/2009 11:14:29 PM #

Un-F-ing-believable! And they wonder why they have such a bad reputation, why people think they're EVIL?

Firebird

4/23/2009 9:00:36 AM #

At a guess, when they stop reading bits of paper with "policy" written at the top and start using common sense instead.

Shirl x

Shirl

4/23/2009 11:11:50 AM #

That's utterly horrendous! When are people going to take notice and stand up to all this? Why do they just shrug their shoulders and turn away? Until it happens to them, of course.

Sam

4/23/2009 12:24:07 PM #

My husband, who recently trained as a nurse, warned me that this would happen...

I daily expect someone to come banging at my door or my mother's. She lives up the street from me, and we care for her. The poor dear has either Senile Decay or Altzheimer's Disease. I am scared because my mother can say anything at anytime. She has, in fact, said awfully odd things to workpeople, in my hearing. One day, she will say something about me and one or more of the SS will be jackbooting all over our lives.

I live in fear.

Diane

4/23/2009 11:16:51 PM #

@Firebird, Shirl, Sam - when I saw the news coverage last night, all I could think of was how easily it could be me, in a slightly different scenario. I wish more people understood that every time something like this unjustly happens to someone else, it could just as easily be them.

@Diane - I really feel for you; it must be a tremendous strain at times. I am interested to know what standard procedure is in situations where what an individual says is likely to be somewhat unreliable - specifically adults with dementia, Alzheimers etc. Because it seems to me that whilst verbal evidence cannot be written off completely without assessing other factors, actual physical evidence (whilst in the nursing home the daughter had found dried blood around her mother's mouth, for example) is a lot more compelling than something the older woman might have said in a confused and vulnerable state.

RenegadeParent

4/26/2009 12:34:00 AM #

Here's a follow up in the Sunday Times
www.timesonline.co.uk/.../article6169378.ece

Sam

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Libertarian and heretic. Parent, partner and entrepreneur. Embracing autonomous learning. Leading not following. Challenging the status quo.

I do agree with being kind, considerate and generous to others.

I don't agree with compulsion, coercion or unnecessary intervention in any aspect of life - that goes for education and childbirth too.

I value autonomy, personal responsibility and informed choice.

I really am all for the freedom - are you?