Wrongfully accused / CAFCASS / court

[NFA]

lllllllll

[PerfectlySafeDad]

So much innocent until proven guilty.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Need some advice here

So I was previously arrested as my ex partners daughter accused me of inappropriate touching (the child was 4 at the time). I was questioned and released and shortly after given NFA. The case notes state "Child did not make a proper disclosure" and No crime to investigate. I was never charged.

Anyway I got a new partner explained all this at the very beginning before even meeting. Explained that I did not want to put myself in the same position so never wanted to be left alone with her child. She is in a custody case so we declared everything about my previous arrest to the court and the cafcass officer involved. They have done a level 1 check what came back clear as I applied to ACRO and had the arrest removed. They are now doing a level 2 check.

Couple of questions, has anyone ever appealed to not have the information of a previous incident disclosed? I am not too worried about this as I have declared everything, however I am still annoyed that I was arrested in the first place as I would have been happy to volunteer to an interview. Secondly has anyone had any experience of how this will effect my partners case?

I know there is a lot of grey areas here. Would the police force disclose an arrest that did not lead to a charge? Would a representation not to disclose be successful, and on what grounds could you argue it should not be disclosed? The trouble is with any accusation such as this is there is not the idea of innocent until proven guilty and I understand that police not charging you may be argued that it was due to a lack of evidence rather than the reality of no crime committed in my case.

Dear NFA

Welcome to Family Rights Group’s parents’ discussion board and thank you for your post. My name is Suzie, FRG’s online adviser. I am sorry we were not able to respond to your query sooner.

You are asking a number of questions which stem from a previous allegation by an ex-partner’s child that you had inappropriately touched her. The police investigation did not result in you being charged and resulted in no further action. You are right that there can be different reasons for police not charging.

You have been open with your new partner from the beginning and informed her that you did not want to be unsupervised around her child at any time.

You have a couple of queries. Firstly, in relation to an appeal to not have information of a previous incident disclosed. This is not something that we can advise on. Perhaps Unlock may be able to help although their remit is for those with convictions. The Lucy Faithful Foundation also provides some information about the criminal justice process.

You also wonder about the possible impact on your current partner’s court case which you describe as a custody case so I am guessing is a child arrangement order case between your partner and her child’s father? If so this is a private law matter on which FRG does not advise. However, you or your partner can get advice from Child Law Advice.

You do not mention children’s services involvement at all. It is likely they were involved at the time of the initial allegation as police should have notified them that you had been arrested and the alleged offence that you were being investigated for. This may have led to an assessment and/or a safety plan being put in place recommending that your partner at that time should not allow you contact with her child.

Currently, Cafcass are involved in relation to the current dispute about who your partner’s child should live with. You do not say if there is any current children’s services’ involvement. Cafcass may have made a referral to children’s services; your partner would be informed if this was the case. In some circumstances an individual might be regarded as posing a possible risk to children without there being a conviction and so children’s services would consider this in any risk assessment.

Our remit is to advise families where there is local authority social work involvement. If there is, your partner or you can post back to clarify and to ask a specific question or if you prefer you can call our freephone helpline 0808 8010366 Mon – Fri, 9.30 am to 3.00 pm to speak to an adviser.

I hope this helps.

Best wishes

Suzie

[Nic2302]

I am in a similar situation, I have been with my partner for 4 years, he was accused of “R”, Nfa’d by the police due to the alleged victim withdrawing her statement, cafcass are already invoked due to a child arrangement order with my grandchild who lives with me full time… level 2 checks have come up and obviously so has the allegation.. on those grounds and although a NFA Decision has been made that are recommending to the court that he has zero contact with my granddaughter… whilst I understand they have to put the child’s safety first to me this is a little extreme.. I know my partner very well and no this offence was not committed(can’t go into too much detail will take forever) has no other convictions, is never left alone with my grandchild yet that’s there decision… I feel stuck and stagnant and not even sure where to go from here… I would say get all the advice that you can and just prepare for whatever comes next… some things are just not fair unfortunately and I’m some cases an NFA is just not good enough