Good morning, Duty Team, Paul Roberts speaking.
Good morning. I hope I'm through to the right department.
I wanted to make a referral to Children's Social Services.
Okay, you're through to the right person.
Let me start by taking your name.
It's Emily Jones. I'm a health visitor for the family.
I'm based at the health centre on the Northfield Estate.
Okay, and who's the referral about?
It's Waseem Akhtar. He's a two-year-old boy.
He lives with his parents, Mabina and Saleem Akhtar at 3 West Park.
Okay, let me do a quick check on the system.
I can't seem to find him. Has he been referred to us before, do you know?
Probably not. I think the family are relatively new to the area.
Okay, then. If you are concerned about him
let's see if we can put all his details on the system.
His full name, date of birth and address.
Okay, now that I have got all that information
I can see it's just a problem in terms of the spelling of the name.
Now do you want to go ahead and tell me what these concerns are
so I can document them?
Well, I'm concerned he's being neglected.
He's constantly cooped up in the house with his mother.
He rarely seems to get out.
I'm just worried that he's spending a lot of his time in his bedroom
without age-appropriate stimulation.
As a result he seems to have delayed development,
particularly his speech.
Okay. How long have you known the family
and has this always been the case?
Well, I was allocated the family
when they relocated from the north of England
shortly after Waseem's birth and my concern has steadily grown
after the past 18 months.
It's just become apparent that Waseem and his mother,
they're isolated in the community.
It's now having an impact on Waseem's emotional development.
And what do you think it is that lies behind this?
Do you think it's a confidence issue?
Do you think it's something to do with parenting?
Any idea at all?
Yes, both, I think.
It probably started out as a confidence issue.
There are aspects of Mabina's parenting
that are starting to concern me.
There is little sign of positive interaction between her and Waseem.
And what do you know of Waseem's father?
Does he actually live in the household?
Yes, he does.
But I've only seen Saleem twice in the last 18 months.
Apparently he works long hours.
And he's away from the family a lot.
It is difficult to comment on Saleem's parenting.
I haven't seen him with Waseem.
He's the main income earner for the family
and materially everything is provided for.
Okay, I need to get this all down accurately on our records.
There's no concerns around Waseem's physical needs.
Are you trying to say that he could be emotionally neglected?
Yeah, that's right.
I'm also concerned about Mabina's emotional health
and I think she needs more support.
More support than I can offer.
I can see from our records a social worker from the east team
was actually allocated the family
following a referral from the midwife.
Is that correct?
Right, I didn't know that.
Mabina was suffering from postnatal depression
and I think the midwife thought
that maybe the baby was being left in the bedroom.
Perhaps the full information wasn't transferred
with Mabina's medical records when they came to the area.
I don't seem to have all the details on the system
but it does appear as if the case was closed after about eight weeks.
It sounds to me the best thing would be for me to put you in touch
with the social worker who was last working with the family.
Her name's Liz Green.
It might be better if you approach Mabina and Saleem
about having a multi agency meeting to actually look at other agencies
being involved in looking at what they can actually do
to try and look at the issues or their concerns.
And possibly agree after that who's going to be in the better position
to do a fuller assessment on the family.
I've made a note of our discussion on the system
and I suggest that you take the action that we've agreed
and discussed.
I'll leave the case open or the referral open on the system
pending further information from Liz
as to whether or not this needs to be allocated to a social worker.
- Is that okay? - Yes.
I'll email Liz to outline the concerns that you've raised.
By the way, do you have Liz Green's contact number?
Yes, I've got it. Thanks.
Yeah, that's fine.
Don't hesitate to ring back if things deteriorate
and you don't get an opportunity
to put things in place with Liz beforehand.
I feel clear about things now.
Yeah, thanks for your help, Paul.
Appreciate it. Thank you. Bye.