i filled in a form to request a visit / core assessment for a social worker nearly 5 months ago. i have a letter stating that my case is 'non urgent' and i will need to wait. the thing that upsets me the most is that i have 2 children with special needs and they know nothing about me yet feel that over 5 months is acceptable. for all they know i could be unable to cope. thank goodnes im doing ok, for now. but for how long?

when we had our core assessment we were told it had to be done in 35 working days, they did take a bit longer with my permission as the social worker doing it was doing a really informed one due to social services trying to stop our respite and she wanted to make sure it was kept

hi fragile
i would phone up again and tell them that you want an urgent appointment as you have been waiting 5 months and you really need some help, unfortunatly as most social services are short staffed its a matter of who shouts loudest gets the attention, dont mean literally shouting but if you keep phoning they will see you even if its to get you off the phone , you were probably put as none urgent as you might have said you are coping (we all say we are coping whether we are or not) and if you havent phoned since your file will be in a drawer somewhere waiting till you say you need help
corinne

Hi Fragile x

I totally aggree with Corrine on this one, you have to keep on and on and on and on at them or you get no where it is wrong but they just sort of forget about you otherwise.
i also had referals from peads and ot, but still got told i was not urgent enough so i phoned 5 times in one day and threatened to take Matthew to thier office with an overnight bag (i would never have done this!) and i had my innitial assesment the next week then i had to battle for the core assesment 6 weeks later so i told them that their service was rubbish and that i felt failed by thier system and i thought maybe the press would like to take on my story, guess what thay found me a social worker that day who came out the following week and started the assesment.

its such hard work but you have to fight.

good luck
Becca

Sorry
I might have confused things slightly, Core Assessments are 35 Days here in Devon, we have a Joint Agency Service for Children with additional needs we complete Integrated Assessments which include Health and Educational input, and the timescale for this is 65 Days

(09-06-2010 06:28 PM)Devonw Wrote:  Sorry
I might have confused things slightly, Core Assessments are 35 Days here in Devon, we have a Joint Agency Service for Children with additional needs we complete Integrated Assessments which include Health and Educational input, and the timescale for this is 65 Days

Thanks for the clear up
I spent hours checking this myself