access to documents

[mary84]

Hi
Could anyone tell me if I can request all documentation cs have on my file. How do I go about this ?? Last year I was in a relationship with someone that posed a risk to my daughter. He is now in prison....a week before he went to prison we broke the contract that permitted him contact...I no how wrong this was and had no excuse only that i wanted her to be able to see him and explain she wouldnt be seeing him again rather than him just disappearing. Anyway he went to prison and a core assessment was done. IT had in it that we had broke the contract which was true but also had alot of things in it that were untrue, making me out to be a bad mum. Not big things but lots of little things. After receiving a copy of this I expected them to keep visiting me but that was the end of it and havn't heard anything since. I did write a letter to go on my file responding to the core assessment. My worry now what will happen when he is released from prison. Any advice ??

[ange301126]

mary,YES.you can request documentation held on file by the CS.Should there be any false information ,you can take steps to have it corrected.
You may be worried about breaking the contract and how it has been recorded by the CS.WILL THE INFO BE USED AGAINST YOU IN THE FUTURE?

Was it a legal contract or a private agreement?

[helena.88]

Sorry to jump on your thread but I also wondered if I can access my daughters CS file?

[mary84]

I am not sure if it was legal or private but what i have noticed since is that the sw that dealt with us did not sign it. I did and so did my partner and her manager but it was left blank where she should of signed it...

[helena.88]

Was it done thro the courts/solicitor or not? If not, then it is basically a private one x

[mary84]

No, solicitors were not involved, the so called sw just brought this paper round and said we had to sign it.......do you think they will use this against me ???

[ange301126]

dear mary.I suggest you copy the agreement on to here word for word (except for names) and someone might be able to advise you.

[ange301126]

helena,as I explained to mary,yes you can request your daughter's file and according to the Law ,you are entitled to see it.

N.B. In practise, the CS DO NOT ALWAYS COMPLY with the Law and carry out their duties and responsibilities as they should. Some do,some don't .This is a fact. Especially where they have medical evidence on file which is detrimental to their case,they may prefer to conceal it and deny its existence.Therefore you have to have a GOOD solicitor working for you!
In our case,school reported how welll our daughter was doing in our care when asked for an opinion by the social worker and described no neglect at all. The social worker filed the report,did not reveal it either to us or the court and when asked for it by our solicitor they failed to produce it. Later,they claimed it was lost.The trouble is we were relying on it being produced to Court as was our right.We didn't get a fair trial because of it.Similarly,the Social Worker asked for a initial Looked After Child health assessment from our children's consultant paediatrician and the Local Authority described them as an essential part of any investigation..She supplied them to the Social Worker who filed them and failed to reveal them to us or the court on time despite the fact that we requested them at court which ordered them to be produced. Several years later, despite repeated requests and a Complaints Investigation which criticises them for the failure ,they still refuse to send us copies.
However,by accident,they happened to send us a couple of pages from one of the assessments in a bunch of other papers.It states unequivocally how our son deteriorated and became seriously disturbed when taken into care! In her assessments and care-plans the social worker claimed the child had IMPROVED DRAMATICALLY in care! She stated that the carers had reported to her that the child was toilet -trained within two weeks of being in care. Medical assessments and carers reports actually report he was still in nappies 14 weeks later.

Later one of the experts stated that the dramatic improvements since entering care 'indicated the possibility that our care of thew children had been inconsistent'. Because of that,the Judge stated that the CS had demonstrated neglect.

We still haven't seen the true files. As I said you have to get a solicitor who will insist that they supply the files to you herwise they will just disregard their duties if necessary to win their case.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Hi Mary

Welcome to the discussion board and thank you for your post. My name is Suzie and I am an adviser at Family Rights Group.

From what you have described, Children’s Services initially became involved with your family because of concerns about your partner at the time. You were advised not to allow your partner any contact with your daughter and asked to sign a working agreement stating that you would follow this advice.

You did sign the agreement but, for reasons you have explained, you did not strictly stick to it.

In the above context, the agreement/ contract that you were asked to sign was not legally binding. By breaching the agreement, however, you did go against a commitment that you had made to Children’s Services and this might have had very serious consequences in terms of their concerns about your ability to safeguard your daughter.

If the broken agreement had raised serious concerns about your parenting, Children’s Services might have arranged a child protection conference to consider whether a child protection plan was needed for your daughter. If they were extremely concerned, they might have considered legal planning for your daughter.

It would seem, however, that, although a core assessment was carried out and the fact of the broken agreement was documented, this has not led to any further action from Children’s Services. This would suggest that they feel you are able to safeguard your daughter appropriately and do not currently see a role for themselves in your daughter’s life.

Once the core assessment was completed and sent to you, the social worker should have confirmed in writing if s/he planned to close your case. This would also have been an opportunity to clarify any ongoing advice- e.g. that you had no further contact with your ex partner on his release from prison.

I would advise that you contact the social worker and ask him/her to confirm, in writing, the outcome of your assessment in terms of any further involvement with your family. If the case is currently closed, it will not be reopened once your ex is released from prison unless there is a further incident or issue that raises concern.

You have every right to request to view your daughter’s file in order to be clear about the information that is held there. We have an advice sheet relating to accessing records which will hopefully assist you (and others wishing to go through this process)

As the advice sheet explains, Children’s Services are entitled to remove some information from the file before making it available to you but should be able to justify why this is done. Information should only be removed if, for example, it relates to a third party who has not given their consent or if sharing the information would be detrimental to you or someone else.

If you are unhappy with something that is held on your daughter’s file or any other aspect of Children’s Services’ involvement with your family, you might want to consider making a formal complaint.

I hope this is helpful Mary. Do post back and let us jnow how you are getting on or if you have any further questions. Alternatively, feel free to call us on our free and confidential advice line 0808 8010366 if you would like to discuss your situation with an adviser directly.

Best Wishes

Suzie
FRG Adviser

[ange301126]

dear mary, As I thought she would Suzie has confirmed that you can request information available and the CS have to supply it to you .
As she also points out ,however, they do have the option to conceal information from files in certain cases and this is where issues may become blurred if the CS fail to act with absolutely integrity. You will see that ,according to the rule book, they must be able to justify withholding any information and there are particular reasons they might give for doing so.
This is why you will need a good solicitor acting for you.They may try to pass you off with any cock and bull story if you act alone ( and later deny having done so). Similarly ,if you don't have a good solicitor ,a bad one might accept their reasons without argument.
Also ( as happened in my case ) , they might promise to reveal documents etc. ( in the presence of solicitors) and then later delay and delay the day until you are tired of asking and after a year or two turn round again and refuse point-blank. Another way round it is for them to send you a modicum of documents whilst claiming to having sent them all.

I know this advice seems very negative but I am afraid there is good reason for that and I want you to know all the pitfalls.
As Suzie comments, matters appear to have settled down. Even years down the line from where you are now however, files can be reopened and it is quite feasible that the fact you altered the terms of the 'private' agreement 'privately' without telling the Social Worker may be taken to a Court as evidence that you are not to be trusted.It has happened to several people and it has been said this is why the CS get you to sign them. False concerns, such as that one, should not be allowed to fester on file for months if not years.Talk to your solicitor about it.