Advice for home educators following a referral to Social Services

 

Home education in itself should never be the sole reason for referral to Social Services (SS) but unfortunately our LA has had some quite odd practices over recent years and unfortunately, it does appear that families had been subject to a referral without their knowledge. More often this has been resolved with a simple phone call from Children's Services or with a letter (sometimes it is the first thing a family knows about their referral) and everything is simply closed with no further action. 

 

Sometimes and there are occasions where the referral is unwarranted from other people. This happens of a number of reasons. It may be due to coming into contact with professionals who have little understanding of home education, or the law surrounding it. Sometimes there may be a malicious referral from neighbours or people in the street. Sometimes there may be a referral from a friend or family member that they see as a genuine concern but, again, it is often due to a lack of understanding or knowledge of home education.

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Simple steps to protect yourself

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1. Meetings will be unavoidable. Try to have a supporter with you. They will often not be allowed to speak but they can make notes on your behalf 

2. Keep as much as possible in writing

3. Keep a separate file and keep it in good order by date and keep a chronology

4. Keep a diary of appointments with dates of attended and missed, why and who missed or cancelled them

5.  It is imperative to keep a paper trail so do not talk about important issues on the phone then there is no room for misinterpretation

6. Covertly record ALL meetings*

7. ALWAYS maintain contact and respond to their letters and enquiries.**

8. Consider meeting with the LA - it can still be on your terms - where you wish etc. as having EHE on side if matters progress could well be a deciding factor

9. If your child has medical issues get your GP involved. If they are 'old school' and don't understand - consider changing your GP

10. If you are separated from the child's other parent - try to get them on board. Keep lines of communication open with them. Waring parents will never go down well and the choice of keeping them home educated may not remain and you then may not have a choice of what school to put them in. Give it careful consideration as now this is specifically mentioned within the new guidelines. Further details can be found here 

11. Try to keep a diary or list of events you go to, classes you attend, trips to the library or museums being mindful of safeguarding and not identifying other parents or the exact locations of classes unless ordered to do so by a court order. This will go a long way to showing that the child(ren) is not isolated and is seen often within the community by people outside home education circles.

12. Ensure you take plenty of pictures of everything you do. This is of even greater importance if you opt for or your child likes a less traditional way of learning. So if you don't use paper and use chalk or white boards, take photographs even little video clips of them completing the work. Take photographs of them with other people, at events (keeping personal images secure from identification such as putting a sticker across their face or if your child has a notable scar / birthmark - ensure it is in the photo thus identifying your child). It will remove the love of learning a little but only for you - and it won't be forever but you need to show you are providing an education and this is the easiest way by far.

13. Where possible have someone you trust attend any meetings with you or sit in on any visits. Try to make sure they are confident, especially knowing home education law.

14. Read the law until you know them off by heart and quote them in meetings and correspondence. Have them printed out and highlight the relevant sections. Present them to the SW when they arrive suggesting that you are sure they know all this but just in case they haven't dealt with HE for a while you've printed these out for them.

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* Ensure minutes of any meetings accurately reflect the discussions that occurred. You can not submit the recordings as evidence even in court but you can use the recordings to make a transcript which can be submitted. This is legal. You do not have to ask for permission. As you have a verbatim record of the meeting challenge them if you feel they are not accurate. This is because the Information Commissioner regards the content of a meeting to be the personal data of the subject of the meeting rather than that of those in attendance at the meeting.  The Data Protection Act 2018 does not apply to individuals recording data for their own personal or family use. 

More here about recording

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**Dealing with Social Services is a different matter altogether than dealing with the LA EHE. EHE can escalate according to their internal procedures and policies despite the guidelines.

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