Line 340 - School (February 2010):
"Curtis has significant emotional needs due to his relationship with his mum, the issues she promotes and his anxiety around this."
Line 851-853 - Case Direction, James Arthure (12/05/10):
"There is however evidence that mother is over anxious regarding health issues, and that she does not protect the children from adult discussions and is negative regarding Curtis, to Curtis, which places him at risk of emotional abuse."
Line 938 - Ben Crang (17/06/10):
"Children registered under potential emotional abuse."
Line 988 - Transfer Summary (17/06/10):
"Sec 47 substantiated the concerns and an initial CP conference was held on 17/6/10. The children were registered under emotional abuse."
Line 1008 - Case Record (17/06/10):
"The children were made subject to a CP Plan under emotional abuse."
Line 977-978 - Transfer Summary:
"Ms Osborne may be presenting an exaggerated picture of these, possibly stating conditions that have not been diagnosed and also presenting a generally negative picture of Curtis and talking negatively about Curtis in front of him. There was concern as to whether over medicalisation of the children was having a detrimental effect on their emotional, social and developmental well-being."
Line 1722 - Case Direction (09/09/10):
"Parents lack of insight and they are emotionally abusive to Curtis."
Line 2659 - Case Direction (16/02/11):
"There continues to be significant concerns about the children's welfare and parents' style of parenting is quite emotionally harmful."
Line 3215 - Case Direction (04/05/11):
"Parents are emotionally quite abusive and this is having a detrimental impact on the children's emotional well-being."
Line 953 - CAMHS Referral (June 2010):
"Referral to CAMHS for work between Ms Osborne and Curtis focusing on the insecure attachment and also to focus on increasing Ms Osborne and Mr Drew's understanding of the effect that talking about the children negatively in front of them will have on them."
Line 1126 - Child Protection Plan:
"Partnership agreement to be drawn up and signed re talking negatively about the children in front of them."
Line 319-341 - Ben Crang recording Tom Mackie, Head of Year, Bridge Learning Campus (02/02/10):
"2-2-10 I saw Curtis's head of year, Tom Mackie, support worker Ray and Curtis at Bridge Learning Campus school today. Tom said he saw Mum at the induction day before curtis came to BLC. She gave a list of Curtis's medical conditions and other problems as asthma (needing pump before PE), excema, serious mega-colon chronic constipation (so he would need a toilet pass), that she suspected he has ADHD or autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, anger problems, forgetfulness, unable to manage time, untrustworthy, can't go out by himself, problem with feet and she apparently said he was a 'bit of a loser'. She also said she was involved in a really serious court case with Curtis's Dad but didn't say what about.
Tom: Mum was so negative about Curtis saying all this in front of him that Tom found a reason to send Curtis off as he felt it was too much for him to be hearing this.
Mum requested school do a health plan. Tom gave an appt to do this, Mum didn't attend then made a formal complaint about Tom.
School have seen no evidence that Curtis has anger problems although he seems anxious and stressed and has a level of difficulty in social relationships although he does have friends and does socialise in school, chats in class and is not a loner. They have seen no evidence of dyspraxia, dyslexia (and he has had CATS tests).
Curtis seems stressed about being organised and has lots of bags and is always last to leave class as he checks all his stuff anxiously.
Ray has seen Curtis 8 times even though Mum was highly critical at CAF panel recently that Curtis hadn't been seen.
Curtis recently got bruised on legs from incident in drama involving another boy kicking him through some curtains. School have resolved this but mum had been to school with photos and accused them of not dealing with it.
Line 173-174 - Ben Crang, Social Worker (January 2010):
"I raised concern that the parents may share letters and their views about professionals with Curtis and possibly blame him for some of the problems."
Line 253 - CAF Meeting (2010):
"Parents were very agitated at CAF being very critical of professionals."
Line 209 - Ben Crang (January 2010):
"The children were in the next room hearing the parents raised and emotional tones."
Line 730-741 - Neil Light, Connexions Worker (30/04/10):
"After this we went to play mini golf with another young person and Curtis enjoyed this. Afterwards went home and spoke with him with his Mum and step dad about how counselling could help to talk about his feelings and also anger management. He said this was a good idea. When we were having this conversation his Mum and step dad were negative to Curtis right in front of him. I spoke about maybe Curtis wanting to go out more and that is why he is getting angry. But they said that he has no common sense and is easily led. Curtis seemed to get more angry at this. Curtis also spoke about a friends house he could go round but his Mum said that was not going to happen as she did not like the family."
Line 745-761 - Neil Light, Connexions Worker (05/05/10):
"Spoke to Curtis's Mum on phone to see how things were. Curtis was still at school. She has spoken with her own counsellor and they are going to try and refer Curtis to southmead hospital for counselling and anger management. Mum also said she wants curtis to move school and she believes he is easily led and this is causing problems at home as he is now swearing. I asked if he wanted to go out more and how this might help with his anger. She said to him he can go out if he wants but he said he did not want to. Mum thinks he is attention seeking but in the wrong way and is using this. Mum said that things had began to settle down after court case but believes because social services are involved things have gotten worse."
Line 779-803 - Neil Light, Connexions Worker (07/05/10):
"Met Curtis at school and asked how things were at home. He said things were not good and he had been fighting with his Mum and Stepdad. He explained he only wants more freedom so he can go round his friends house and he doesn't want to just roam the streets like his Mum says. We spoke about maybe if he was good he could go round his friends house on monday but he would need to speak to his Mum about this. We went on the water taxi which Curtis enjoyed and I took him home afterwards.
When we got back to his house Curtis said he had arranged to go round his friends house Josh Bradbury on Monday. He did not say anything about being good over the weekend. His Mum and step dad became annoyed because he had arranged something behind there back. Curtis got very angry very quickly. He started being abusive and said he was doing it anyway. He spoke about wanting his own freedom. Mum blamed Curtis for a lot of things in argument - her mother has recently died and she could not see her before she died because curtis had misbehaved. She also said that he will end up worst than her sister who she said became a 'drug addict' because she hung around Hartcliffe. His step dad was also angry with Curtis saying it was always 'take, take,take' with Curtis. His Mum spoke about moving school so he was around different people. They did not listen to Curtis."
Line 817-825 - Neil Light, Connexions Worker (11/05/10):
"Phone call recieved shortly after from Step dad and Mum who said Curtis was out of control and was angry, threatening them with knives and physical violence. Saying his step dad is hitting him when he isn't. I explained i would speak to ben crang tommorow about what i have seen but i did say to mum that curtis would be less angry if he was allowed to go round his friends house but she did not like his friends or the school he is at and said that after he moves school she would allow him to go out with his friends."
Line 833-834 - Neil Light, Connexions Worker (27/05/10):
"Curtis came to the phone and said his parents were being 'idiots' and then Rebecca shouted at him saying if he said things we would take Kaytlin away."
Line 1916-1927 - Sarah Gay, Child & Family Support Worker (23/11/10):
"Curtis - Rebecca says that Curtis will not listen to Lee at the moment and that she has to do the parenting. Curtis sat quietly on Sofa during visit watching TV, he occasionally joined in with our conversation and smiled with us. He got up at one point to make himself a Hot Chocolate. Rebecca put restriction on him when he asked to play with the Wii, saying 'No' firmly.
Rebecca and Lee spent a lot of the visit airing their grievances about various professionals, this was done in front of the children.
I asked if there was anything particular I could assist the family with before leaving. Rebecca keen to meet outside of the home."
Line 2632 - Elliot Davis (01/02/11):
"Parents not happy about giving Curtis more 'Freedom', as they don't think he can be trusted and his actions in school have proven this."
Line 2276-2278 - Elliot Davis (2010):
"Rebecca responded by saying that she thought it was strange that the hour long free sessions were available and questioned it with suspision. In my opinion, Rebecca appeared to be putting a barrier to the activity rather than expressing pleasure for Curtis."
Line 544-545 - Tom Mackie, Head of Year (28/04/10):
"Feels mum is not worried that he may hurt himself, just wants to prove that he is difficult."
Line 2402 - Case Notes (2011):
"Parents continue to be critical of Curtis."
Line 228 - Ben Crang (15/01/10):
"Curtis having an anxious attachment, due to him witnessing DV until age of 7 and having hospitalisations in his early years."
Line 328-329 - School Assessment (02/02/10):
"School have seen no evidence that Curtis has anger problems although he seems anxious and stressed and has a level of difficulty in social relationships."
Line 349-350 - Curtis (02/02/10):
"Curtis says he gets angry at home but not at school. He says that this may be because he is occupied at school but bored at home. He says he directs his anger at Mum, that it comes from nowhere."
Line 722 - Neil Light (30/04/10):
"He also said he was scared of being taken away by social services."
Line 2716 - Elliot Davis (2011):
"Rebecca also talked about how Curtis had been self harming, scraping his wrists with an earing stem. She says he is depressed."
Line 7144-7168 - Social Worker (2011):
"We spoke about the self-harming. I told him that I had seen his Twitter account and the blogs that he'd put on as well. He looked quite alarmed and evidently had not expected me to have seen the twitter feed. He was anxious to find out how far back I had read. I explained that I was not judging him. He relaxed slightly as the conversation went on, but he said that there wasn't much I didn't know now that I'd seen the twitter account. He said that he hasn't cut himself for two weeks and that he has friends who help him. There were two girls at school who know about him cutting and he talks to them. There are lots of kids at school who know about it and follow him on twitter. He pointed out some small scars on his hand sticking out below his shirt sleeve. He said Lyn doesn't really know, but that Louise (weekend carer) does, as does his friend Niamh, and they check his arms to see if he's cut himself. He said that Louise had said to him that she would have to tell me, but he'd asked her not to. She said she would have to before long. He talked about doing it to help him relieve the pain he feels inside, and that the physical cutting helps him. He said he does it when he has a really bad day at school and people give him a hard time, like teachers.
I asked if he wanted to stop it. He said he did but it helped him. I offered some help, being there to talk and to listen. He said thanks, but then I mentioned CAMHS, Simon Bird, being around to help. He said that he didn't want to talk to somebody who doesn't cut as they wouldn't understand him, so he didn't want to speak to Simon. I asked him if I was right when I said that the cutting was a symptom of a deeper emotional problem, and the anger and pain he's feeling towards the adults in his life and the fact he doesn't have control over things. He said yes, that was right. I said that Simon and I could try and help with the underlying emotional pain, not necessarily the cutting. He said that he'd think about it.
We then went on to talk about other things. Curtis said that the most important thing for him is to know what's going to happen in the future. He was clear that he still wants to go and stay with them long-term as his first choice. I said that his Mum had mentioned to me about him wanting to stay overnight. He said that he does not want to do this at the moment as there will be arguments if he stays too long. He also spoke about the difficulties over the last weekend and how his Mum didn't send the text to Louise to say he could stay overnight until really late, and then adding in that it was because he didn't want to come home. He said that he had arranged to go and see his Mum on the Tuesday instead. He was clearly annoyed about this situation and described it as getting 'fucked up' and a 'mess'."
Line 602-622 - Ben Crang recording meeting with Chris Allaway, Biological Father (19/04/10):
"James and myself met with Chris Allaway. We said we were looking into a matter which we would explain in a bit but first we asked if he had any information or concerns that he thought we might need to know.
Chris said he was still going through court to gain contact with Curtis. He said he is waiting for a date for the situation to be reviewed.
Chris said in terms of physical care Rebecca was a good Mum. He did say that his concerns were around his emotional well-being as she did not protect him from things such as physically fighting with her mother a few xmas's ago in front of Curtis and that she would row with people and not shield him from conflict.
Chris said he hadn't seen Curtis for 3 years. He said Rebecca would often not turn up for court and felt she had 'poisoned' Curtis against him. When they split up he used to see Curtis several times a week and when Rebecca was in hospital for 3 months after having Kaytlin he had Curtis every night. Chris says when he got together with his current partner who had a child Rebecca stopped all contact.
We explained to Chris why we are involved. He said Rebecca would look for problems and over dramatise things or exagerate.
He said Rebecca had never protected Curtis from details of illnesses or the court case he has been going through."
Line 62-64 - Multi-Agency Strategy Meeting (24/11/09):
"Mother and father/ step father struggle to work for long periods with professionals, make frequent complaints and disengage with workers who challenge their belief as to the medical concerns regarding the children. This pattern is also witnessed within education."
Line 2633-2634 - Elliot Davis, Social Worker (01/02/11):
"Opinion - a vicious circle here, with Curtis getting angry at not being allowed any freedom, and parents thinking that his anger is proof that he can't be trusted and allowed any more freedom."
Line 2948 - Case Direction (2011):
"CIN case. There are concerns about parents' capacity to provide appropriate emotional support for their children."
Line 2967 - Case Direction (2011):
"There are significant concerns about the childrens emotional welfare."
Line 3095-3097 - Case Direction (2011):
"There are significant concerns about Curtis' emotional well being. Mum and Dad do not take any responsibility for this."
Line 3129-3130 - Family Support Assessment (2011):
"There are concerns with Curtis (aged 12) who often feels depressed. Curtis had suffered from bullying at his previous school. Curtis has now moved to St Bernadettes School. Curtis has low self esteem, feels responsible for his mum and sibling."
Line 3436-3437 - Case Direction (2011):
"There are significant concerns about the over medicationisation of Curtis' emotional welfare. Parents are not very insightful and do not see CYPS concerns."
Line 3683-3684 - Case Direction (2011):
"There are significant concerns about the children's emotional welfare because parents are highly critical. The plan is that care proceedings will be initiated."
Line 530-534 - Tom Mackie, Head of Year (28/04/10):
"Mum has been in today and made a massive scene at school saying that Curtis tried to assault her last night with a screwdriver. According to mum Curtis threatened to kill her he then threatened to take his own life. During the meeting at school mum shouted and pushed and pushed Curtis until eventually he admitted it."
Line 2229-2233 - Elliot Davis (2011):
"Curtis had not gone to School today as he had apparently been 'beaten up' by another pupil. Rebecca felt that the School had not dealt with this appropriately. Curtis was quiet during visit, it was opinion/observation that he looked sad in his eyes and face. He asked if he could watch some music videos on the TV, Rebecca said no at first without explanation but she allowed him after further questions."
Line 2529-2530 - Sarah Gay (2011):
"Rebecca said that Curtis has been very aggressive with them at home, she still feels that he may have ADHD diagnosis or similar. He has been saying things like he is going to stab various people, including SW Elliot."
Line 2596-2597 - Elliot Davis (01/02/11):
"He said he would like to be able to walk home from school as well but his Mum says that he has the common sense of a 4-year-old."
Line 2611-2614 - Elliot Davis (01/02/11):
"Curtis said he was planning on walking home after school today and just prove to his Mum that he can do it. I said that i thought perhaps he could negotiate with his Mum some way of allowing him to do this. He said that she won't because she thinks he is like a 4-year-old and will get knocked over by a car. He said that she won't let him out at all."
Line 3003-3006 - Sarah Gay (2011):
"Rebecca says that Curtis continues to be abusive towards her. I asked if he had given her the Mother's Day Gift he made with myself, she said that he had ripped it up and put it in the bin in front of her saying that he hated her. I asked what had triggered him into this, Rebecca said that it had come from nowhere and there was no trigger."
Line 8357-8359 - Elliot Davis (August 2013):
"TCT Curtis. He told me how he'd come back to Bristol last week early from the holiday (on 12th August). He said that his Mum had been embarrassing him in front of other people and she'd been having a go at him. He said that he couldn't stay down there with her and Lee and asked Lee to bring him back up to Bristol."
Line 8918 - Curtis (2013):
"He said that the rules in Ben and Mark's are just reasonable and common sense, and that he doesn't feel the rules are too much. He said that at his Mum's her rules were sometimes unrealistic, and inconsistent."
Line 1997-1999 - Rebecca Osborne (2010):
"Rebecca said that the boy had hit his own head against the wall and that Curtis had been threatened with scissors. She is very angry at the school. She said that Curtis has been very upset and has spent a long time 'sobbing his heart out' on her bed. She is worried about him harming himself. She said that nobody is doing anything about it and that she doesn't want to get in trouble because she hasn't done anything and that is why she is asking for help."
Line 2599-2601 - Curtis (01/02/11):
"Curtis spoke about his problems in school as well. He said that other kids picked on him and that they took the piss when they saw him being picked up. He said that there were some kids who saw him walking along with his Mum in town, and were saying 'f-ing this and f-ing that', and laughing when they saw him. He said that he didn't know them, but it was embarrassing."
Line 2924-2932 - Rebecca Osborne (01/03/11):
"Curtis said to her last night that he wants to go to a school 'where people are like me'. Becky said that she thinks Curtis is now seeing that he is different. She said that he was upset because he was last to be picked for a team at sports, and ended up going on an all-girls team. Becky doesn't think that people are taking things seriously. Becky said that Curtis is not communicating and that other family members are seeing a difference in him as well. They went to Lee's mum's house where Lee's nephews were, and Curtis just sat in a corner not talking. I asked Becky if she thought Curtis was depressed. She said that he probably was."
Line 1246-1247 - Curtis via Advocate (June 2010):
"We then talked about whether he sometimes gets angry at home and he said 'yes and sometimes violent'. It does bother me and I think about it quite a lot, but I seriously don't understand why I do it."
Line 431-435 - Ben Crang (24/02/10):
"Sian Tate from CAMHS rang. They met with Rebecca and Lee on Mon. Rebecca keen that CAMHS contact us to let us know that she had expressed at the meeting how unhappy she is and Curtis is about us contacting his dad. I said I would record this. Sian strongly advised Rebecca to reassure Curtis but is not sure she will do this. There is a further meeting with Mick Wood from Lumsden Walker soon but this is really to discuss Rebecca's dissatisfaction with the way their report was not communicated to them. CAMHS may not continue to offer Curtis a service due to Rebecca's current angry state."