Orwellian nightmare of family in grip of the ‘guardians’
A MOTHER has described the ‘horrific’ ordeal of having her family almost torn apart by her daughter’s Named Person.
Until just after her 12th birthday, the girl was a healthy, active child. But almost overnight she was struck down by a debilitating illness.
Rather than offer support, the girl’s Named Person made the situation worse by reporting the family to the authorities.
Ignoring medical evidence, the Named Person insisted that, rather than suffering from a crippling illness, the 12-year-old simply wanted to avoid school.
A nine-month ‘nightmare’ followed as the family – who wish to remain anonymous – were referred to social workers and investigated by the Children’s Panel.
They were devastated when the panel, backed by the Named Person, threatened to take the girl away from her parents unless she returned to school. It took four appearances before the panel – and the intervention of a paediatrician specialising in ME – before the case was dropped.
The child’s mother, a 51-year-old office manager, said: ‘It was horrific. We were totally distraught and I was suicidal.
‘When that happens, you’re so low, so low. You just feel, who can help you? You feel helpless. You feel like a bad parent, like a bad person. You wonder where you’ve gone wrong and feel totally useless.
‘The Named Person was a major part of what we went through because, to me, she didn’t read doctors’ letters, didn’t read hospital letters, or pass them on. She just treated my daughter as a school refuser.
‘The Named Person scheme should be scrapped. You can’t have people trying to take over when they don’t understand and they’re not willing to try and understand.’
The family’s nightmare began in February 2016 when their youngest child fell ill with what doctors later diagnosed as ME, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome.
Her mother said: ‘She loved school and was one of the top pupils. That changed almost overnight. The school kept being on our back because she wasn’t going. At first we thought she’d get better, but she got worse. ’
Then the family’s ordeal took a sinister turn. ‘The Named Person came to the house a couple of times and went back with stories which weren’t true. She said she saw my daughter hitting me, which just wasn’t true.
‘We got a letter from our GP to say she’s not fit for school, but the Named Person and the school didn’t accept this. That was the start of a nightmare for the next nine months. We were referred to social workers and then to the Children’s Panel. It was like the Named Person and social worker were against you.’
The Children’s Panel made a supervision order to try to ensure the girl went to school – but her illness made that impossible. Four months later, the family’s ordeal worsened.
‘The panel shouted at my daughter and said, “If you don’t get to school, we’ll put you to a family that will make sure you go”. They threatened to take her off us.
‘My daughter’s condition got worse. I believe the stress made her worse.’
The family eventually found Tymes Trust, a charity for children and young people with ME. It put them in touch with a specialist paediatrician who contacted the various authorities to say the child was ill – and the case was abandoned.
‘If it hadn’t been for him, I don’t know what would have happened. But even then the Named Person’s last words were, “We’ll be back, it’s behavioural”.’
‘We were totally distraught and I was suicidal’