Last Wednesday I had my meeting with my case worker's team leader in her office.
It was by my own request as well as hers, after the letter she received from my sister in law the week before.

I arrived on time and this time, there was no lengthy wait (for a change).
The team leader opened the door to me and thanked me for coming to see her. I immediately felt a completely different kind of energy coming from her than what I am used to with our case worker.
She pretty much came to the point right away: She had received the letter my sister in law wrote. She asked if I knew about the letter and its contents. I confirmed that I did. She said she would also reply to my sister in law, but wanted to talk to me first. The content of the letter was enough for her to have some concern and she wanted to hear my side of the story.

source: www.transformingtruth.org

Social workers that listen. Do they exist?

She proved this to be true not long after our initial introduction. It almost seemed as if she knew the letter by heart.
Although there was enough in the letter my sister in law wrote to file an official complaint against my case worker, she said she felt it wasn’t very clear if that was what we wanted. I confirmed to her that this was indeed what was intended, but that I had wanted to talk to her first.

She asked me to tell her what had happened and what had been said as detailed as possible. So I began. I didn't want to start a rant, so I tried to explain things as calmly as possible and tried not to leave anything out.
I started out with the fact that the case worker has mentioned taking the kids into care twice now, once at our initial meeting, another time a few weeks ago and that some requests turn into a threat within two sentences.
I told her that we felt like we were forced to move my youngest daughter and eldest son from the football club they’d been playing for for the past 4 years to join a club closer to home and that they had to leave friends behind. I also mentioned that it was my daughter who told me:
“It’s OK mom, I’ll join here. I don’t want you to get into trouble if I insist on staying at the old club.” I told her that that was what hurt me the most: that my 9 year old has to act like a grown up, just to suit the case worker.
I continued by telling her that I felt like the caseworker never really listened to me and this was quite clear now too, since she thought I was working outside of the house last Friday, when on numerous occasions I had told her I work from home. And when she did listen, she would later throw it back in my face and use it against me wherever she could.
I finished with the thing that concerned me the most, which was when she told my daughter she thought she might be bipolar and that she ‘understood’ she was depressed because of everything that was going on at the moment with our family.

I also mentioned that when the case worker told me just before Christmas that she was going to be replaced, that it caused unnecessary stress. Especially since she then told me not long after the New Year that she wasn’t going to be replaced afteral.
The team leader explained to me why this has happened and this opened my eyes to the reason why the case worker might be handling things the way she does. Her contract was only a 12 month one and ended at that time. The main office was calling her back to another town, but then another opening came here and she took it. Now, I am not sure how it works here, but in most European countries, you can only get two 12 month contracts. This probably means that she hasn’t worked as a social worker for very long, which might explain why she is trying so hard. It’s not an excuse to treat people the way she does though...

When I mentioned that I was doing well enough financially before but lost a lot of money and a job since they entered our lives, I saw a little worry in her face. I’m not sure if this was because she’s afraid of a lawsuit or because this can never be their intention when they come to ‘help’ a family. I closed with the fact that because of her meddling, I felt pushed to get things sorted around the house faster than I had planned initially (since we just moved here not long before they came) and that this took away time from my kids. The ones they are supposed to protect.

Next step: an official complaint will be made

source: www.lynda.com

The team leader closed off by giving me all the information that I need to file an official complaint. She asked me to put it all in writing in as much detail as possible.
So this is what we will do.
All in all the conversation lasted for an hour and a half and I never got the impression that she was rushing me or otherwise in a hurry.
I walked into her office at 4 pm and left at 5.40 pm.
I am still not sure what will happen next, but just talking to someone who seems to have a bit more sense made a huge difference for me. And I felt like she truly listened. That should count for something...

If you missed my earlier posts, here are the last three:
https://steemit.com/familyprotection/@misslasvegas/be-careful-when-dealing-with-cps-they-might-just-target-everyone-around-you-as-well
https://steemit.com/familyprotection/@misslasvegas/update-the-letter-was-received-by-the-team-leader-and-the-tone-changed
And a little more information, in case you missed it, here:
https://steemit.com/familyprotection/@misslasvegas/just-when-i-thought-i-d-heard-it-all-update-crazy-cps-lady

If you want to read the full story, please check through my blog and you will find how this all started a little over 7 months ago.

Do you think my story is an exception? Think again!

Please read all the stories of others under the #familyprotection tag. It happens, every day and everywhere to people like you and me. It could happen to YOU! Please support @familyprotection, if there is ONE cause worth fighting for, it's this. Thank you for reading. 50% of the earned SBD will go to @familyprotection.