I Want My Baby Back Protecting Our Children

This programme contains some strong language.

This programme contains scenes which some viewers may find upsetting.

When my daughter was a week old,

that's when I had to hand her over to social services.

The lady came to get her and as I was leaving, I saw her coming in with the car seat,

and I just wanted to run behind her and say, "Oh, can I come with you?"

Hello, my dear. You OK?

-There we go, that will warm you up a bit.

-Thank you, Kate.

It makes my day a lot when I see my daughter.

Hello. Yay!

Mercy, mercy.

Hey? No smiling? We can have a nice bath this morning.

Society in general

do not want to know or accept that children suffer.

Oh, that's very good.

Every day in this office and in offices across the country,

thousands of good decisions are made that protect thousands of children

from harm, but it's completely invisible to the general public.

Last year,

social workers took nearly 10,000 children into care in England alone.

When the risk is immediate, there's no choice.

But often, it is a more difficult judgement.

I want my baby back as a baby, Louise. I don't want her back when she's two.

'But all the time, it's about risk assessing the household.'

Is this child at risk? If so, who from? What from?

And are we able to put in a safety plan

or do we need to remove the child?

People don't realise we're actually trying

to save children's lives in some cases.

For the past year, social workers in Bristol have been filmed

dealing with these complex issues.

When is it right to remove children?

And when is it safe to let them go home?

SCREAMING

It's a little bit unconventional, but come on.

Sometimes I do feel like walking away because it is too much, it's just overwhelming.

DISTANT SHOUTING

Baby Mercedes is three months old.

A court ordered her to be placed in temporary foster care,

due to her mother's lifestyle.

Louise sees her baby three times a week at a contact centre.

But she is determined to get her daughter back permanently.

Lovely girl. Yes.

Just going to give you a little massage now.

A little massage?

Hello.

-Hello...

-The contact sessions are supervised

to assess Louise and ensure the safety of her baby.

It didn't worry me, people in the room and that any more.

I just be myself, how I would be with her if she was at home.

-All right, I'll see you on Thursday, Louise, all right?

-Yes.

I just think some people deserve to have a chance

at making a go of it before the decision is to have the child removed.

Bye-bye.

The lady that sits in with me, Kate, she's nice, she's very nice.

Obviously, there's a lot of people that want me to get my baby back, so,

I suppose I just get settled at home, really.

I just want her back, you know?

But yes, I'll get there.

Louise has a long history of drug abuse.

She was six months pregnant when she met Wayne,

who is currently on parole for drug-related offences.

Drugs have already cost Louise one child.

My eldest was about 10 months old.

That's the first time I tried heroin.

And it wasn't long then till I had to ring and ask my mum if she could take my daughter.

And I just thought, well, my daughter's safe there.

All right then, yes? You look tired as well.

We'll have some food, go home,

just lie down and rest.

I was in a mad head space then,

and that's when I started doing crack cocaine as well as heroin,

and then injecting and living here, there and everywhere.

Every day, as soon as my eyes were open,

I'd be smoking, till I was literally dead on my feet.

No, I'm saying how are you feeling that you're out for your birthday

and you're in a relationship and they were going through things and stuff,

but you're normally in prison, aren't you?

'Heroine is a selfish, controlling drug.

'You're not thinking.

'You're pregnant. You can even see the bell is there.

'But it's alien to you. You're in that, that place.

'That horrible, dark place.'

You're thinking, oh, well, there's a baby in there.

But I'll still have another hit in half an hour.

Louise claims to have stopped using heroin and crack.

But she'll also have to quit prescription methadone

and attend a detox programme

if she's to have any chance of getting her daughter back.

(SINGS) # Hello, is it me you're looking for? #

In an ideal world, it would be lovely, wouldn't it,

to have everything ordered and managed,

but that's not life then, is it?

My job is a job of chaos, because you work with people's lives.

You never know what's going to happen. I never take anything for granted.

I never assume things, because all families are different.

Because it's about survival and families need to survive.

Bye then. See you tomorrow.

It's just about holding information and unpicking it.

A bit like Poirot.

Mercedes is a new case for social worker Louise.

Just one of 20 children she's responsible for.

This one is actually in care proceedings,

so all throughout the pregnancy, the mum was using drugs,

right up until the birth, if I understand.

So we assess mum

to see if she's able to provide care for this baby in a long-term way.

I'll bring her again in a minute. >

Hiya, sorry I'm late.

You all right?

Although Wayne isn't the baby's father,

he and Louise want to be assessed as a couple.

Me picking this up now where I have,

I'm quite worried about where you are in your abstinence, really.

I'm not trying to put any pressure on you,

because from what you were like, it's amazing where you are now.

-Yes.

-But I need some form of plan you're doing for detox or rehab.

Because we're in care proceedings, there will be an expectation for that.

They're not going to just turn around because you go to contact

and it's going well that they will let you have your baby back.

-I don't see why I should...

-Because the risk would be so high.

I know people that's got their children and they're still on methadone.

But we're in court with this.

The baby's been removed because of the chaotic drug use, the history.

You need evidence that you have changed your lifestyle.

Yes, but obviously we have changed.

Yes, and I've made that clear, I want you to know that

and I don't want to take that away from you.

But to be honest with you, when I work with families,

I would have an expectation of that,

plus, I'd want to see evidence of you living in the community as well,

drug-free for a while.

-Why...

-It's too late...

-It's not too late.

-It's too late, I'm never going to get her back.

-It's not too late.

-I'm just trying to be honest with you.

-No, I'm not going to get her back.

It's like what we're doing now isn't good enough.

-I've got to wait till I'm abstinent to get my child back.

-Yes.

What are you frightened of? That you feel you won't be able to do that?

No, not in time. I want my baby back as a baby, Louise.

I don't want her back when she's, like two.

And everything's done too late.

It's not because if you go and have detox, which is two weeks,

and you're doing really well,

we could look at a mother and baby unit, so she'll be with you.

You'll be in a unit and it won't be home as such, but she will be with you.

We ain't going to get her back.

No, that is not true. That is not true.

-Of course we will.

-That is not true.

If I can see you, moving forward and stuff like that, I will fight for you.

I will. But at the moment, I can't.

If someone said to me now, I have to do a recommendation,

I can't recommend it, because I need to see more.

A major decision is going to be made

on whether this little baby comes back to you guys, is massive.

Because we don't remove children like people think we do.

We've just been doing what we thought was what we had to do.

Obviously you've told us different, so now we're saying,

"Well, 100%, I'll do whatever it takes."

But we've got to get it right.

We have got to make sure that it's the right decision for...

-OK.

-Yes.

-All right then. So I'll see you Tuesday anyway.

'I have an expectation as a social worker

'of what I would expect a parent to do at this level

'where we're thinking of returning a child to their care.

'So it's part of me, really, and how I want things to be.'

I think you must offer parents every opportunity they can

when we're in this level of care proceedings,

because then, they have that opportunity, they have the choices.

Child protection is if a child is at risk of

or is suffering significant harm.

The standard categories we deal with are neglect, physical abuse,

sexual abuse and emotional abuse.

I've always had a sense of objecting to any abuse of power,

whatever that is.

Whether it's a dictator or someone who is abusing their kid.

You think you've seen everything

but humanity has endless ways to surprise you.

Ben has just received a new and urgent case.

A health visitor has reported fears that a 14-month-old baby

is being sexually abused.

The mother is living with a known sex offender,

despite a police warning.

The police are saying he's high risk and I would agree

so I suppose our starting point is that we are not going to be

able to agree for this baby to still live with Mum

if this man is in the home.

-I'll see you later, James.

-Yeah, all right.

It is all about managing risk and assessing risk

and that is what we do.

Coming up with safe plans to limit a risk or eradicate a risk.

We're going to meet the police there

because as a social worker I can't remove a child.

I don't have any legal powers

to do that, so we may require the police to take out a Police Protection Order.

We will talk to Mum.

If Mum is co-operative and can work with us

then we won't need to remove the child.

So it all depends on Mum's reaction at this point.

The mother's boyfriend has a history of sex offences going back 30 years.

-Are you BLEEP?

-Yes.

-Are you?

-Is that what we're knowing you by today?

-That is my name.

I'm just waiting for my colleague from the police to arrive. DC Moore.

-I haven't done anything wrong.

-You know DC Moore, don't you?

-I don't know.

-Right.

I think he's possibly interviewed you about different things over

-the past year.

-Year?

-Or during last year?

-I was on bail.

I went to the cop shop and it was NFA, no further action,

because I was proved innocent.

-Yeah.

-So...

-I think...

-I didn't even have to go to court for that.

I think there's a distinction between not having enough evidence and being proved innocent.

What we'll do, we'll explore with Mum, you can either get her somewhere

safe or if she's got family to go to, we'll talk to her about all of that.

I think what we can't do is just walk away from her

leaving it as it is.

I've tried my best

and I still get the social workers banging on my door.

I've been under them since the age of two

because my parents were violent and we was all taken off them anyway.

So I've been brought up with social services all my life.

And I've got them again now.

In the past, I've worked with them.

Not like, when I was a teenager, I was always against them,

because I will never forgive them for splitting me

and my two brothers up.

The mother refuses to be filmed.

MOTHER: I left my son with him yesterday.

We'll get your son checked out by a paediatrician, all right,

to make sure he's OK.

It's not a situation that is acceptable

because we consider BLEEP to pose a very high risk to children.

Ben tries to reason with her for 40 minutes.

We're not going to leave you alone.

YOU have to make a choice now, right?

Are you going to work with us or do we have to go to the law

-and get a protection order for the baby?

-I won't let you take my son.

You're either going to pack and come with us,

or we're going to have a load of police in here who are going

to remove your baby and take him into foster care. That's what will happen.

Come on, then, start getting some things together.

-I'm telling you to get out of my flat.

-OK.

If you're not going to listen to us, we'll to make a choice.

-We are going to PPO so that's where we are going.

-Leave my baby!

I'll speak to you later.

WOMAN SCREAMS

Fuck.

That's a little bit unconventional,

but can one of you perhaps come with me?

-Can I go up now or not?

-Um, I wouldn't at the minute.

She couldn't, she couldn't...

Accept that, you know, she had to leave and, you know,

she couldn't accept any of the choices.

So it became a bit...

..Emotional.

So, we've just had to take the baby. You know, sometimes...

..you've got no choice.

She'd been drinking.

Just became increasingly clear she wasn't going to be able to

make an informed decision and, you know, do the right thing.

So, you know, this is one of those incidences where, you know,

we have to do an extremely difficult thing.

James, I tried ringing. Got a little visitor.

-Hello. Have they just PPO? Where's Mum?

-Back at the flat.

Being restrained.

Ben, you offered...

And Mum knew we would B&B, find her somewhere in the interim?

James, she's saying, "I'm not going where there's blacks and Pakis."

She's just not, we couldn't get through to her.

Although she accepted the risk from him

and is even worried he might have done something to him...

Was she unhappy about the child being removed?

Yes, it's like no, no, no to everything. But accepts the risk.

And no getting through to her.

Ultimately, we just had to pick him up and leave

and the police dealt with the whatever it is, the aftermath.

OK, all right. Thanks for that.

We've got the baby in the office now. The police...

Wow, that's quick as it can be, thank you very much for that.

-We've got a placement.

-Fabulous.

And as long as she knows he's coming with nothing, this is it.

We'll see what we've got.

Mmm...

This baby is now subject to a PPO which means that the baby

can stay in our care for 72 hours and because we don't

have as a place for the baby to stay in terms of a family member,

and because unfortunately Mother's not safe at the moment,

we will have to place the baby in foster care

and our fostering team has found a placement for us.

Bye, poppet.

See you all.

I'm trying to remember the last time we went and came back with a baby.

I think it was about three years ago

and the baby went home 24 hours later.

So it happens very rarely like this. It happens...

It can happen in a planned way when we've fully assessed,

but to actually go out with the police and for the police to remove is very unusual.

BABY LAUGHS

Yay!

It's a little song, is it?

If I was to pick one thing that gives me the most satisfaction,

it is getting in the way of a paedophile who's honing in on

a child. Opportunity to stop that happening makes it all worthwhile.

BABY GURGLES

That's good!

HE BABBLES AT THE BABY

BABY BABBLES BACK

That's very good!

Hayley! Ben, nice to meet you.

DOGS BARK

You've got a few!

Are we a thumb sucker? Do we like our thumb?

We don't know much about the family.

It's the first time we've been in and we've come away with him,

so it's kind of gone from zero to 100 in the space of a few hours.

-Things don't often happen like that, thankfully.

-More planned?

Yeah, bit more planned.

So that's your concern?

I know you did...

One month on, and Louise is concerned

that Mercedes' mother still isn't reducing her methadone.

She and her team manager meet the council's solicitor.

I've been speaking directly to Ryan, who is Louise's drug worker.

He's now given her a plan that she has to turn things round

in the next four weeks.

She has to attend all appointments offered to her,

produce urines every time, and he will review that after four weeks.

If she's managed to do that, he will look at

further assessing her as having to go into detox.

And if she doesn't?

If she doesn't, he will refer her to a GP

where she will continue on the methadone level, whatever she is.

Mercedes was born on the back of a history of...

Drug use. Entrenched drug use.

Previous child removed and we timetabled through

because we think that this is a case that can be dealt with relatively

quickly because, ultimately, it turns on,

can parents make a change?

And there's nothing that you are describing to me now,

or that is really in their statements,

that suggests that they can.

How is your assessment going to change between now and 25th February?

In February, you'll have two people saying they're going to go into detox.

They're producing a plan where they're going into detox, evidence.

-They are doing it?

-But it is a big if, if they do.

There's nothing...

If they do, then that means the courts are going to be

requesting timescales.

They will be requesting a timescale.

-If they are providing negative samples...

-Which they have done.

When have they provided negative samples?

Doing this just by memory,

the 15th of the 11th, I am sure there was a negative for Louise.

-So we've got one negative.

-But it is still a negative.

That's not going to wash it with the court.

Oliver, I'm not arguing with you and I'm not saying to you

that they are doing so fantastic and I'm trying to fight their battle.

-They are not doing well, they are high risk.

-OK.

My concern is...

I think we're running too fast with this and I think they've got to have

a reasonable timescale for this baby, to have every chance they can to turn this round.

If they can't, then fair enough, I'll go into court and say that.

OK. Well, in that case, I think if at some point we think,

"Hang on a minute, they do appear to be turning it round," then let's look at it again.

Whee! What's that?

It's massive for someone, I'm always aware of that.

You know, we're asking an awful lot - life-changing.

This is big stakes. Big, big stakes for this family.

The baby's future will be decided in court.

To help make the decision,

the court appoints a guardian for the child.

Sarah's priority is to determine

the baby's future as quickly as possible.

'The child deserves a chance

to be brought up within their family if at all possible,

'but you have to balance that against the developmental needs of a very young child.'

We did used to think that babies were quite portable

and as long as their needs were met,

it didn't matter too much who was meeting those needs.

Now there is much more research about how vitally important it is,

particularly for brain development,

for them to establish good, solid, predictable attachments.

SHE SINGS

'If babies don't develop those attachment skills,

'that obviously affects all their relationships into their future.'

I want to be very clear with Louise,

as I have been before, exactly the things that worry me

about her and Wayne's ability to safely parent.

I think it's only fair to be very clear about

what the difficulties are even though you can't sugar-coat it.

That always has to be balanced by the fact that

she's a vulnerable young woman and these are very difficult,

emotionally distressing areas of conversation.

I'm not happy about any of the options, really.

I want her really, but if it was a case where it come to that

I couldn't have her full-time,

I would ask for it to go to court for my mum,

as long as it was set in stone that I could see her on a regular basis,

as long as I was doing well.

And you are doing really well.

What that has to be balanced with is how long she can wait.

That's the focus of my job

and obviously to look at all the alternatives.

If she can't come to me, I don't want her in care.

-No.

-Like, being adopted out.

-No.

No, if we possibly can, she needs to be within her family, doesn't she?

I mean the difficulty is the time to go through your recovery

with its ups and downs is much longer

than the timelines for a little baby.

The best thing to do is bring her round here tomorrow

and we'll have her here from tomorrow. Sweet. Done.

We're loving and caring, you know.

I've got a couple of pictures to put on the wall,

a couple of things to sort out but we're getting there.

I don't feel like I'm going to get her back for some reason.

At the end of the day, the court will make that decision.

Because recovery is a long road, it is for life.

It is a very, very long road. Also the professionals have to be absolutely sure

because the worst thing of the lot would be the court says,

"You deserve a chance," and things go badly wrong

and she has to be moved again. That's why, I know it feels like

you've got massive hoops to jump through, and you have,

and I'm being very straight with you about what those are

but that's the reason,

because we can't take those kind of risks with her.

All right, babe? We'll get her back, of course we will.

That's what we want. I think it will help us.

But that's not Mercedes' job to help you.

No, I don't mean that, but it will...

-It's just what we want.

-She should be with her mum.

She should and if it's possible, if it's possible...

Because it is about her.

She's an innocent little baby, isn't she?

-She didn't ask for all of this.

-No.

Louise has four weeks to prove she's serious about quitting drugs.

I'm just taking and reducing all my methadone

because I was on 75ml and I'm now on 45 now.

I need to be down to at least 30ml to go into detox.

You know, I just want to be in my own little house

not having to move again and stuff like that.

I'd like to be settled down in a relationship with Wayne,

just living the normallest life possible with my children.

# Row, Row, row your boat Gently down the stream

# If you see a crocodile Don't forget to scream. #

Ahh!

Where's your eyes?

The baby boy Ben removed is doing well in foster care.

Who's this?

-It's an elephant.

-Give him a cuddle. Give him cuddles. Ahh!

A lot of these children don't have secure and good attachments,

and our first role is getting that attachment going.

It needs to be a relaxed atmosphere, it needs to be very calm,

a lot of time spent for the child to trust you.

It shows them they can actually go on and attach to other people.

SHE WHISTLES/BABY LAUGHS

He does get very, very upset when he has a nappy changing

and when you dress him, so we obviously let his social worker

know that that's a little bit of an issue with him.

-How is he doing?

-He's great.

He's been absolutely contented and smiley and a dream.

She's really chuffed. I think she wants to keep him.

Ben's biggest concern

is that the baby might have been sexually abused,

so he has been examined by a paediatrician.

We did a formal developmental assessment and it was great.

There's just a couple of things that concerns us lightly.

Socially he was a bit unusually accepting of strangers.

For example, he put his arm up to Russell and immediately wants to go and cuddle.

The fact that he was fine in your office and he settled into the foster carers so quickly

-is just slightly unusual for a 14-month-old.

-Sure.

-And the physical examination, no signs of anything untoward?

-No.

Russell did most of it, but nothing of concern.

Brilliant. That's good news.

Thankfully there's no physical signs of sexual abuse,

but it doesn't mean nothing has happened.

What we know about this bloke is he had plenty opportunities

to sexually abuse this child and disturbingly that he took

major responsibility for changing nappies.

Why would you do that if you were... If it's not your child?

Mum's willing to do it, so that's slightly disturbing,

but perhaps we'll never know.

Children are only removed immediately

in the most extreme, high-risk situations.

A new case of severe neglect has been referred to Ellen.

-Is that the master bedroom?

-Yes.

She is concerned a seven-year-old child is living in these conditions.

-Because that is obviously human faeces in the bath.

-Yeah.

-They've spent a lot of money on these blocks.

-Pardon?

They've spent a lot of money on these blocks.

Ellen has already met the child at school

and now takes a housing officer to see the mother.

'It was about direct work with families,

'that was what really drew me to a career in social work.

'Sadly, that's not really what we are able to do these days

'just due to sheer demand on our time.'

Hi, there. We're the council. We've got an appointment for you today.

We need you to come in. I'll come down and speak to you. One minute.

'As social workers, we've got a huge barrier to get over when we very first meet families.'

'But our aim is to keep families together.'

Where are we going then?

Where are we going first?

When was the last time you were in here?

Where's your lounge? Come on then, let's go.

I'm Ellen, I'm the one that wrote you the letter.

I had a referral from the housing department.

Obviously they were concerned about the living conditions of the flat

and so then the referral was made to me.

-WOMAN SOBS

-It's OK. Listen.

The mother agrees to continue filming as long as she isn't identified.

-We're here to help you.

-You've come to take my daughter!

No, no, no. Obviously you need some help and some support

and that's what we're here to do.

The housing department told me that the toilet is not working

and that it's blocked and so you need to use the bath

and that can be repaired, we can get that sorted today.

-I just want somewhere where I can stay with her!

-This is your home.

-I don't want this place!

-Is there problems? Is there problems here?

It's everything. Everything!

At the moment, it's not in a good state, is it? We need to sort it out.

Crystal and I can help you get moved if that's what you want.

You want my daughter!

No, we want to help you so that you've got a nice home.

WOMAN SOBS

Can you show us round then?

I think, this is on the list to do. There's nothing I can see that

I can do straight away to help you with this

because I think, in terms of... It's just a good clean, isn't it?

-It's not working, is it?

-If you open that, it's all blocked.

I'll call repairs on that.

-The water comes out of the plughole.

-The bath is blocked, is it?

Someone said they were going to phone domestic someone...

-Domestic drains.

-They never came out.

-OK.

I wanted to move. I got told I couldn't move.

-This is your room, here?

-Yeah, it's got loads of...

-How long have you not been staying here?

-Over a year.

So you've been sofa-hopping for a year then, really?

Do you drink at all?

I did used to, and now I don't. That's why I got in trouble with the police.

That's when you were found drunk in the park, wasn't it?

-Quite a while ago?

-How do you know that?

Because, obviously, we were notified, but we didn't have to follow that up,

because your mum agreed to go and pick your child up from school,

and kept her overnight.

That's when it all went wrong.

Are you all right with me coming round on Monday?

-And we'll make a start on it together.

-Mmm.

Cos I think, you know, it's got to a point where you're sort of just

drowning in it, aren't you, a little bit? And it's all got too much.

SHE CRIES

So things can only move forward now.

'That is the role of a social worker,

'to engage with families.

'It's actually about being able to demonstrate to families that,

'actually, we want to work with them. We don't want to dictate.

'But all the time, it's about risk assessing the household.

'Is this child at risk?'

If so, who from, what from?

And are we able to put in

a safety plan to reduce those risks,

or do we need to remove the child?

Ellen gives the mother two weeks to clean up

while the daughter stays with her aunt.

The long-term future of the child remains in doubt.

Wayne has tested positive for crack,

and been recalled to prison to serve the last two weeks of a sentence for burglary.

'I'm the main carer that is there for her,

'so I'm hoping it won't put that much of a big dent in.

'Maybe, like, they might say yes to work a bit harder.

'I don't know.

'But they have told me that I'm the one that

'they're looking at more.'

Oh, this is a joke, man!

Here he is, look!

'I think maybe it was just getting a bit on top of him.

'Everything just a bit too much.

'And he'll go through courts and stuff like that.'

Why has he had his hair cut off?

I knew you would have and all...

-Give us a kiss, then.

-..In there.

Give us a kiss, then.

Go on, then.

Why is your jacket off?

Why is your jacket off? You don't like it?

Who's that? Yeah, yeah.

What?

-Me jeans are ripped.

-Yeah? I've got your jeans in there for you.

Those jeans are too tight, love!

'He thinks he can just come off the crack and the heroin,

'and he can still have a drink.'

He can go out partying, take pills and snort coke,

like, on a weekend, and that's fine.

He thinks that's all right.

'He's not in this role of abstinent...

'..but I've got a time limit on mine,

'which is a lot different. But, you know...'

Cheers.

You wasn't really worried about me coming on a visit, was you, love?

You? Been in the gym?!

Mmm.

I think you're put into a category,

like, if you're on drugs, you're going to be a bad parent.

It's just wrong. It's not true at all.

I know plenty of good parents.

So, yeah.

Knowing children need a settled and secure home in which to thrive,

Ellen returns to see if the mother has started the clean-up.

'It's no good me just going in and, you know,

'taking over, because that's not what it's about.

'Because if she doesn't take ownership for it now,

'the likelihood is we will have a repeat of this

'in another 12, 18 months' time.'

I think there's no sign of her at the moment,

which is really disappointing.

However, what looks really positive is that when I've just looked through the letterbox now...

umm...

there's lots of black bags by the door.

Umm...

And, actually, I can hear some news.

Hiya, I thought you weren't in.

-I've got to go out and get some more things.

-Have you?

How are you getting on? May I have a look?

Let's have a look.

OK.

But do you think, realistically,

that this is going to be ready by Friday?

I'm going to do it.

I mean, I was going to do it. In fact, I'm starting now.

So, what's the plan of action for the rest of today?

Just...

clear both rooms,

clean out and then go on to the other one.

And then chuck everything out the cupboard in that one.

'I think she does have enough understanding to be able to acknowledge that, actually,

'if she doesn't make the changes,

'then her daughter is not going to be returned to her care immediately.'

Louise is reducing her methadone,

but she, too, has tested positive for other drugs.

Seven weeks after being told she needs to be clean,

Louise finally accepts she's not ready to take Mercedes home.

'She clearly said to me she's thought about things.'

She knows that she's not going to be able to achieve what's necessary

within the timescales.

She don't know how many months it will take her to recover.

What she said to me was that she was going to continue to be abstinent for herself,

and so she could have a relationship with Mercedes.

But she wanted her mum to have care of her.

She says she's thought about it,

and her mind would not change.

And that is exactly what she said to me in early January,

-that because she loves Mercedes so much...

-That is why she wants to do it.

-..that's why she wants the very best for her.

-She don't want her left,

cos she knows she's not going to achieve it within, you know,

the next months or whatever.

I think it's fair to say that, on the basis of what we've got,

we will not be recommending rehabilitation into the care of mum, alone,

or mother with Wayne.

-Do you agree with that, Louise?

-Yes, I do.

'You know, there is an expectation that she needed to achieve, really, by January.

'She knows she's not done that. She's admitted she has been tested positive.

'And, you know, I really admire her for doing that.'

And I don't think she realises, actually,

what amazing things she's done for the sake of the baby,

really, in that way.

There she goes!

Does she? Yes!

Look at you!

'I've not given up. I'll still be doing what I can.

'It's just that I don't think

'I stand that much of a chance of succeeding to get her back

'in the timescale of things that I've got to do.

'Hopefully, soon, she'll be settled down with my mum and her sister.'

Little princess!

Is you my little princess?

Oh, yeah!

Oh, yeah, you wait till you see your sister!

She's going to love YOU!

# That's what she said to me... #

'Yay! # Sera, sera. #'

SONG: "Que Sera, Sera"

Bye bye, sweetheart. Maybe see you Monday. Bye!

Goodbye, sweetheart. Goodbye.

All right. Cheers, thanks.

Bye!

Bye, little sis!

Goodbye, sweetie.

They've chucked this in.

WATER DRAINS

TAP WATER FLOWS

TOILET FLUSHES

'I stopped talking to my dad for just over a year, I think,

'a year and a half.

'And it was just isolation, really.

'I was isolating myself from everybody and just drank.

'Friday to Sunday, it would be just a massive binge.

'I would do, like, 18 litres of cider.

'I'd vom. I went yellow.

'Imagine that.

'What's that? Like, six litres a day?'

I found out I got sacked,

and then I just come straight back here,

grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniel's and Southern Comfort.

I just drunk the Southern Comfort and the Jack Daniel's,

and passed out in a park.

And, umm...

I think that's when social services was called once.

That's how Ellen knew before I told her.

I was all sober when I see her.

Got to get things sorted.

'I think, probably, the key to all of this

'is going to be going back quite a long time,

'and all these emotional problems have been escalating,

'and now they've got to crisis point.'

A month on,

Louise is struggling to come to terms

with not getting her daughter back.

'We're obviously looking at her having a part in the baby's life

'so the baby can associate with her and know who she is.

'But that is what we're asking,

'for another person to be the main carer,

'and that's very hard for a mother to have to understand.'

Now, going back, you, Louise, said that you've really thought about this

and that you were aware

that although you would love to keep Mercedes yourself,

you know that you're not in the place to do it at this time.

-Yeah, at this time.

-Therefore, you wanted to put your mum forward.

Therefore, you're doing this for yourself,

so that you can have involvement in her life.

Yeah, but I would like shared responsibility, not,

"Oh, she's at my mum's and she's fine,"

and I get one day a week contact, what's that?

If you like, that offer is in a sense of what is guaranteed.

That's not to say it stays at that,

because as I've said to you, if things are going really well,

there's nothing to say that that don't increase.

One day a week? That's less than what I get now.

Well, to be honest with you, in most situations like this,

we would recommend five times a year.

-What?

-Yeah.

So this is exceptionally high,

and the reason why I'm supporting that level

is because you both have been really good. And committed.

It's meant to be better and easier when they're kept in the family.

-How is that when you get one contact a week?

-Because if she was adopted, you wouldn't see her.

Well, maybe that would be better.

Well, I don't agree with that,

because you do want to be part of her life, don't you?

I can't give you what you want, honey, can I?

I can't give it to you because you're not in the right place to do that. You're in a good place...

It's heartbreaking. You know, we're trying so hard.

-How far she's come in the last eight months is unbelievable.

-I know.

I've told you, I won't take that away from you.

-We've jumped through so many hoops.

-But it's not enough, unfortunately.

-I know. Oh, I can't...

-That's OK.

The local authority, which is me,

is telling you what we will be recommending.

Your solicitor is the one who will fight for you about that,

so when you do see her,

you need to be telling her that you're not happy

with what I'm suggesting at once a week,

and she will go in court and fight for more.

I don't know how anyone can recommend someone

seeing their child once a week myself.

We have to look at it in the long-term thing

for a child to be able to settle in a placement.

It would be really disruptive for you to be going in and out loads and loads of times.

That child would be really confused.

That's the only option I've got for going to my mum's.

No, you had another option, but you haven't been able to manage that,

and very bravely, you've admitted that.

Which I will say, a lot of mums are unable to do that,

but you have, so you did have another option.

Ooh!

Right, then.

That was very, very difficult. Um...

I just feel very, very sad at the moment, really, with it all.

Both of them are not in the right place

to hear these sort of messages, really,

because they can't see where they are in their drug use or recovery.

And it's just very, very difficult to say that to a mum, really.

So it's just a part of social work I don't really enjoy.

But there you go, it has to be said, because,

like I said just now, that is my job, I am the social worker to the child.

Ellen is aware the clean-up is just the beginning.

The mother must now work towards providing a real home before her daughter can move back in.

The referral to us sparked a whole triage of professionals, really.

We're brought in to support and actually empower you,

and put you back on the right track.

The other thing would be around developing a home for the both of you.

'Now we're looking at the longer-term stuff,

'and how she can maintain where she is now without our intervention.'

Hello!

-How are you?

-OK.

-If your gas is paid off,

you can keep it a bit warmer in here, can't you?

Right, so if you can roughly write down for me all coming in and going out.

A child needs a home.

It's about her having a base,

and it's about them as a family unit having a base.

Round and round they go! Like a teddy bear.

One step, two step, and tickle him under there!

The baby Ben removed continues to thrive with his foster carers.

The long-term hope is that he'll be reunited with his mother,

but only if she proves she can keep him safe.

To see the difference from the day he arrived till today

has been brilliant, the development,

he's come on leaps and bounds, his speech and language is coming along,

he's interacting, he's playing.

Yeah, we're really enjoying having him, and I think he's enjoying being here.

And he's tending to walk little bit more! Yes, you are.

When we have a success,

that's never out there splattered across the papers,

"Social services save a child,"

you'll never see that headline, so what we do is largely invisible.

It's only visible when something goes wrong and we're vilified.

Good afternoon, duty team. Debbie speaking.

You know, Baby P died, and Sharon Shoesmith,

the head of Haringey children's services, was sacked.

Sacked. No investigation, sacked.

When the police shot Jean Charles de Menezes in the head seven times,

an innocent Brazilian, obviously a tragic mistake,

but a failing on their part.

The police closed ranks, the politicians closed ranks around the police,

and you get a sense that OK, they are well-protected by the state.

But if something goes wrong with social work, then bang, you're out, you're scapegoated

and splattered across the papers as some sort of incompetent do-gooder.

So we do feel exposed and out on a limb. We know if it goes wrong, we're going to get in the head.

Baby Mercedes is now eight months old.

After weeks of getting to know her grandmother at contact sessions,

she's on the way to her new home.

Oh, there she is!

What a special day.

Louise is also moving on, setting up a new home with Wayne,

but without her baby, the second child she's lost to her addiction.

Obviously, I'd love to have her, but at this time, um,

it wouldn't be right to have her, really.

I do have slips on the crack. That's my downfall.

I've got a lot out there to fight for and to be strong for.

Hello, baby!

Hello! Hello! Are you talking to me?

That's Louise as a baby. Four and a half months. That's your mummy.

This is Louise. That's Mummy. That's in 2007.

-Oh, that's beautiful.

-Yeah.

I shall give her back to you, then, for the next 18 years.

It is, isn't it? We don't mind, do we?

-Take care.

-And you.

'I think it's a very powerful job.'

Sometimes I do think to myself, "Who are you to make that decision?

"Who are you?"

Stuart and I have to really think about that,

and as long as I feel that it's right for that child,

then that's what I do.

To find out more about the daily lives of social workers,

go to our website and follow the links to the Open University.

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