Verbal disagreement in parents led to police and SSw

[Mummydaddy]

1. Wife called police on dv case and mentioned its going on for 7 years. This is not entirely true. However no charges were pressed.
2. Police passed case to social care
3. Child mentioned mummy and daddy argue
4. Call made to parents by early intervention team
5. They emphasised on parental course as children are on ADHD spectrum
6. They also mentioned about possible care plan of things do not improve
My questions are
1. What is possible outcome if parents work together to improve situation
2. Shall we do extra online parental course to show our proactiveness

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear MummyDaddy,

Thank you for your post and welcome to the parents’ forum.

My name is Suzie and I am an online adviser responding to you today.

You explain that children’s services became involved after police were called to your home about domestic violence, but you do not feel that the allegations are entirely true.

Police are under a duty to refer to children’s services when they are called to a domestic conflict and there are children in the home. Children’s services then make child protection enquiries to decide whether the children have experienced or are at risk of experiencing significant harm.

Children can be very distressed, and their wellbeing and long-term development affected by frequent and severe conflict between their parents. Children’s services have a duty to protect children from emotional harm.

You can read about child protection enquiries here.
Significant harm is described here.

You may find the Family Rights Group pages on domestic abuse helpful here.
You can link to contact details for domestic abuse support organisations here.

You can read specific information for fathers about early help in the context of domestic abuse here.

The support available from early help teams is described here.

It is always positive for parents to engage with parenting education courses available and work with children’s services on the concerns raised. I would advise you to talk to the early help team social worker about the specific courses that would be helpful to you and your family and find out what is available locally. Completing additional online parenting courses could also be beneficial and would show that you are keen to work collaboratively.

You can find out about online parenting courses on the Family Lives website here.

If children's services see that you are willing to accept the help available and you are open to the challenge of working on new ways of resolving conflicts they could conclude that no further measures are needed to protect your children from harm, so the offer from the early help team will be an important opportunity.

I hope this was helpful. Please post again or contact us another way if we can be of further help.
There are many different ways to contact Family Rights Group.

• A free telephone advice line open Monday to Friday between 9.30am and 3pm (excluding Bank Holidays) on 0808 801 0366
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• A web enquiry form – to help you submit an email and receive a reply within five working days.

Best wishes,
Suzie

[Mummydaddy]

20.01.2025
1. Visit by key worker at home and spoke to parents separately. She said after meeting you appears to be miscommunication and misunderstanding but unlikely DV case.
2. Next visit in school with kids.
3. What she is likely to ask kids in school, so we signed the declaration
4. So far everything positive per conversations.
5. We have told parental course in the meeting which we are willing ro do asap.
5. What would they ask kids in school?

Thank you for valuable input.

Mummydaddy

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Mummydaddy,

Thank you for your reply. You would like to know what the key worker is likely to ask your children when they visit them in school.

The keyworker key worker should speak with your children in an age appropriate manner, so it will depend on their ages as to what exactly the keyworker will say and what questions they might ask. If your children are young then the key worker will most likely do some ‘play’ with them – this might include asking them to draw a picture of their family or house and talk with them about this, or they might play with some toys and use them to try and gain an understanding of how your children feel about their home life.

If the children are older then the key worker may be more direct with them and ask them questions about their home life and how they feel about this. They may talk with them about their hopes, their worries and their aspirations for the future. They may have some worksheets to complete with the children to help with this.

It is good to hear that so far you have found that the intervention has been positive, and I would encourage you to continue working with professionals, and to take advantage of any courses that are available to you if you feel they would be helpful.

Best wishes,
Suzie

[Mummydaddy]

Hi All,

Key worker finished assessment and now we are waiting for parental course of 5 weeks. It has been more than 3 weeks as husband parental course worker is very busy and waiting for dates.

Just as an update...
Thank you All

[Mummydaddy]

Key worker mention no parental course needed. Also mentioned case will be closed and we will be informed via text message?

We still have no response, what shall we do. Wait for how many days?

Thank you

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Mummydaddy,

Thank you for your update. You say that you have been told that the case is being closed, but you have not had this in writing yet. You want to know how many days you should wait before chasing this.

It is up to you to decide how long you are comfortable waiting for but I would suggest waiting 5 working days and if you have still not had confirmation that the case is closed then you could send an email or text message asking for this to be confirmed in writing.

If you continue to have no response after this then I would suggest contacting the manager.

Best wishes,
Suzie

[Mummydaddy]

Dear Suzie,

Thank you for your reply. We messaged on 4th working day. Now it's 7th working day. No response from social worker.

We don't have Managers details how do we approach?

Thanks,

Mummydaddy

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Mummydaddy

Thank you for your further post. I am sorry that you have not yet received written confirmation that your case will be closed.

The suggestion that you wait 5 working days related to you waiting 5 working days after sending your request for confirmation.

You say you do not know the name of the team manager, I suggest you telephone and ask for the name of the team manager for the person who you have been working with. I know this is very important to you, but sometimes emergency cases can take priority, and it seems there are no immediate safeguarding concerns relating to your children.

It is helpful to have confirmation in writing so try to give more time before chasing up again.

Hope this helps.

Best wishes

Suzie

[Mummydaddy]

Dear Suzie,

Case is closed, we are so relieved.

Good luck all. We pray for everyone. Hope our small post will help someone.

Regards
Mummydaddy