AN 85-YEAR-OLD dementia sufferer was "kidnapped" by Essex County Council's social services department – which then charged her daughter and grandson £1,300 for the unnecessary care costs she incurred.
Brentwood resident Martin Harlow and his mother Marian Harlow fought for nine days to bring Enid Parkinson home after she was taken into care – only achieving their goal after the intervention of local government secretary Eric Pickles.
Mr Harlow, 36, who works for a hotel booking firm, said of his grandmother's ordeal: "It has been hellish.
"My mum has been diagnosed with anxiety and I felt sick with stress."
Mr Harlow said his grandmother, who lives with his mum in Frayes Chase, Ongar, was taken into respite care at Ashlar House, in Epping.
He continued: "She didn't come home so my mother phoned the cab company who told her she wasn't coming.
"My mother phoned the care home and discovered that there had been an allegation of abuse and that social services had taken her into care in Loughton.
"The allegation was simply, 'my daughter shouted at me' and social services hadn't phoned to tell us."
Mr Harlow, who is also a special constable, added: "My mother has Power of Attorney on Grandma's affairs and finances and they were spending money without permission.
"I was away on business until Thursday and I came home to the news that my grandma had been taken away.
"I went to visit her at the Loughton care home and she was confused, claiming to have been there for a couple of weeks.
"Social services were helping themselves to my grandmother's finances and my mother has Power of Attorney – they cannot do this.
"We have now received a bill for £1,300 from Essex County Council.
"How can they kidnap my grandma and then charge us for it?"
Mr Harlow says he had a routine of taking his grandma out for lunch at weekends.
"It is something we have done for a while," he said.
"By this time we had been handed over to a third social worker.
"They said I couldn't take my grandma out, telling me not to fuss as "it is only two days".
"My grandma has dementia and a heart condition – she may not have that many weekends left."
Mr Harlow contacted Brentwood and Ongar MP Mr Pickles to try and bring his grandma home.
Mr Pickles said this week: "Martin Harlow contacted me, and I was most concerned to hear about such a distressing experience for him and his grandmother.
"I have written to the chief executive and the leader of Essex County Council asking for the full circumstances of the matter to be investigated as a matter of some urgency."
Mr Harlow said of the MP's involvement: "We wouldn't have been able to get her home without him.
"He took up our case and got to work straight away. By Monday we were on social worker number four."
A week after she was taken into care, Mrs Parkinson was transferred to a different authority.
Mr Harlow said: "I was livid and I was despairing.
"They claimed my grandma was a Havering resident despite her living in Ongar but this turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
"I met a social worker at the authority on Wednesday.
"She listened to my story and then, to my surprise, she told me I was right and that Essex Social Services had acted in a manner which was "disproportionate and unnecessary".
"She then told me I could take my grandma home.
"I took Grandma to Leonard Lodge, in Hutton, a care home she had stayed in before and in the reception we met the afternoon shift staff.
"All of them were excited to see her and at this point I broke down in floods of tears.
"Finally she was safe, finally she was away from social services, and finally she was back in our care."
Mr Harlow is pursuing a complaint against Essex County Council.
A county council spokeswoman said: "Essex County Council cannot comment on individual cases.
"Our Adult Social Care staff work within the Southend, Essex and Thurrock agreed policy and guidance in handling any concerns in relation to vulnerable adults."
