My ex was in court earlier this year and was found not guilty of familial abuse. I’m awaiting some sort of contact from SS for him to have contact with our children. I assume it goes through SS again. They made my life hell last time, as did the police, I’m still in a complaint with SS that’s been on going for over a year, because of their behaviour and that their assessment is complete bs and is now stuck on my file! So I’m incredibly anxious right now and it’s still taking a huge toll on my health. All of it caused mental health decline, severe anxiety, hair loss & panic attacks, so the thought of it starting up again/not ever ending is horrendous!
We’ve no one who can supervise, his family live far away & my child has sen needs which means he would need a carer with him, which he doesn’t have.
Don’t necessarily need exact answers just advise trying to ease my anxiety slightly if possible.
I assume it will be supervised contact? What happens if there’s no one who can supervise? No carer etc? Will it mean a new assessment?
Contact after not guilty
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Suzie, FRG Adviser
- Posts: 4996
- Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:57 pm
Re: Contact after not guilty
Dear Fairyfly89,
Thank you for your post. My name is Suzie, I am FRG’s online adviser. I am sorry to hear of the difficulties you are currently facing in respect of your concerns of contact between your children and their father.
The allegations and criminal court proceedings:
I can see from your previous posts that your family have had ongoing children’s services involvement in respect of allegations of sexual abuse against the children’s father, which resulted in criminal proceedings. Your key question, which I will focus on here, is what arrangements may be made for contact, now that the father has been found not guilty in the criminal court. It is not clear whether there are or were Family Court proceedings alongside the criminal proceedings. I will set out below some advice about how children’s services and also the Family Court may deal with any request from the father to spend time with the children again.
Contact:
How a child spends time with each of their parents is usually arranged between parents themselves. If there is no Family Court order in place, the contact arrangements can be decided between the parents. But, if children’s services are worried about the child, they may want to do an assessment, and advise you about what contact arrangements might be best for the children. I understand that your children are currently subject to a child in need plan. Children’s services may wish to do an assessment, and talk through the concerns you have around contact, and also what help and support can be provided to you and the children in relation to contact (this may include supervision – see further below).
Firstly, it is unlikely that, having been found not guilty of any offence in the criminal court, unsupervised contact between your child and the father will automatically start again as per any previous arrangements. This is particularly so if there has been a long break between the children spending time with their father.
In addition to the view that children’s services take on contact in light of the child in need plan, it may be that the children’s father decides to apply to the Family Court for an order about contact. This is called a ‘spends time with’ child arrangements order. This order will say who the children should spend time with.
Should the children’s father make an application for a child arrangements order, the court is likely to ask the social worker to write a report for the court. This is called a section 7 report. It will be about what contact the social worker thinks is in the best interests of the child (see section 7 of the Children Act 1989). .This report will form part of the evidence that the court will use to reach a decision about what the right contact arrangements for the child are. When making a decision in the Family Court the child’s welfare must always be the ‘paramount consideration’. This is known as the welfare principle and to work out what is in the child’s best interests, the court must use the welfare checklist. You can read more about the welfare checklist here.
Possible fact-finding hearing within any Family Court proceedings:
If the father makes an application for a child arrangements order, you could ask the court to hear evidence about the allegations and make a decision about whether these events did occur or not. To do that the court would have to decide whether each an event was more likely than not to have occurred. This is called the ‘balance of probabilities’. This is something that you may wish to seek advice from a solicitor on.
What might contact look like in your case?:
In either scenario (of children’s services taking the lead with a new assessment, or the court ordering an assessment), it is highly likely that a new assessment in respect of contact between the children and their father will need to take place. The assessment should look how that contact will take place, including how any reintroduction could be managed, and what, if any, supervision may need to take place.
On a practical level, if supervised contact is proposed and there is no-one for example in the family who can supervise, children’s services can look at facilitating and supervising the contact by a professional.
It is important that during the assessment process, children’s services are aware of your child’s needs – particularly anything specific that needs to be kept in mind relating to special educational needs.
Contact between the children and their father could take different forms. For example, contact can be gradually reintroduced at a pace the children feel comfortable with. Sometimes it starts with letters or emails and then at a comfortable pace for the children increase to direct contact.
Practical considerations and next steps:
I would suggest as a first step speaking with the children’s social worker about your concerns relating to contact now that the father has been found not guilty.
Our working with a social worker’ top tips guide provides information and tips on how to work with a social worker. This includes steps on how to build your confidence and understanding your rights and options.
If you wish to provide a little more information about children’s services involvement with your family, including whether there are at present any Family Court proceedings, I may be able to give you some more detailed advice to your specific circumstances.
Alternatively, if you would like to discuss the situation with an adviser, please call our freephone advice helpline on 0808 8010366; the lines are open Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 3pm. Or please reply to this post if you have further questions.
Best wishes
Suzie
Thank you for your post. My name is Suzie, I am FRG’s online adviser. I am sorry to hear of the difficulties you are currently facing in respect of your concerns of contact between your children and their father.
The allegations and criminal court proceedings:
I can see from your previous posts that your family have had ongoing children’s services involvement in respect of allegations of sexual abuse against the children’s father, which resulted in criminal proceedings. Your key question, which I will focus on here, is what arrangements may be made for contact, now that the father has been found not guilty in the criminal court. It is not clear whether there are or were Family Court proceedings alongside the criminal proceedings. I will set out below some advice about how children’s services and also the Family Court may deal with any request from the father to spend time with the children again.
Contact:
How a child spends time with each of their parents is usually arranged between parents themselves. If there is no Family Court order in place, the contact arrangements can be decided between the parents. But, if children’s services are worried about the child, they may want to do an assessment, and advise you about what contact arrangements might be best for the children. I understand that your children are currently subject to a child in need plan. Children’s services may wish to do an assessment, and talk through the concerns you have around contact, and also what help and support can be provided to you and the children in relation to contact (this may include supervision – see further below).
Firstly, it is unlikely that, having been found not guilty of any offence in the criminal court, unsupervised contact between your child and the father will automatically start again as per any previous arrangements. This is particularly so if there has been a long break between the children spending time with their father.
In addition to the view that children’s services take on contact in light of the child in need plan, it may be that the children’s father decides to apply to the Family Court for an order about contact. This is called a ‘spends time with’ child arrangements order. This order will say who the children should spend time with.
Should the children’s father make an application for a child arrangements order, the court is likely to ask the social worker to write a report for the court. This is called a section 7 report. It will be about what contact the social worker thinks is in the best interests of the child (see section 7 of the Children Act 1989). .This report will form part of the evidence that the court will use to reach a decision about what the right contact arrangements for the child are. When making a decision in the Family Court the child’s welfare must always be the ‘paramount consideration’. This is known as the welfare principle and to work out what is in the child’s best interests, the court must use the welfare checklist. You can read more about the welfare checklist here.
Possible fact-finding hearing within any Family Court proceedings:
If the father makes an application for a child arrangements order, you could ask the court to hear evidence about the allegations and make a decision about whether these events did occur or not. To do that the court would have to decide whether each an event was more likely than not to have occurred. This is called the ‘balance of probabilities’. This is something that you may wish to seek advice from a solicitor on.
What might contact look like in your case?:
In either scenario (of children’s services taking the lead with a new assessment, or the court ordering an assessment), it is highly likely that a new assessment in respect of contact between the children and their father will need to take place. The assessment should look how that contact will take place, including how any reintroduction could be managed, and what, if any, supervision may need to take place.
On a practical level, if supervised contact is proposed and there is no-one for example in the family who can supervise, children’s services can look at facilitating and supervising the contact by a professional.
It is important that during the assessment process, children’s services are aware of your child’s needs – particularly anything specific that needs to be kept in mind relating to special educational needs.
Contact between the children and their father could take different forms. For example, contact can be gradually reintroduced at a pace the children feel comfortable with. Sometimes it starts with letters or emails and then at a comfortable pace for the children increase to direct contact.
Practical considerations and next steps:
I would suggest as a first step speaking with the children’s social worker about your concerns relating to contact now that the father has been found not guilty.
Our working with a social worker’ top tips guide provides information and tips on how to work with a social worker. This includes steps on how to build your confidence and understanding your rights and options.
If you wish to provide a little more information about children’s services involvement with your family, including whether there are at present any Family Court proceedings, I may be able to give you some more detailed advice to your specific circumstances.
Alternatively, if you would like to discuss the situation with an adviser, please call our freephone advice helpline on 0808 8010366; the lines are open Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 3pm. Or please reply to this post if you have further questions.
Best wishes
Suzie
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Fairyfly89
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2021 5:36 pm
Re: Contact after not guilty
Thank you. I know I’m delayed replying unfortunately due to a family bereavement.
Social services are no longer involved. They closed their case with our family prior to court. They set a contact plan against my wishes which couldn’t be followed due to one of my parents ill health. They have since passed so the contact plan cannot be followed anyway.
The children’s father is trying through a solicitor to get an updated plan however social services are saying there isn’t one as the case is closed. They’re refusing any further input meaning he will end up taking me to court which I don’t want especially as I can’t afford a solicitor. I was told at the time any changes to the contact plan he was to go through them to amend, but now they’re saying no.
No family court was involved.
Social services are no longer involved. They closed their case with our family prior to court. They set a contact plan against my wishes which couldn’t be followed due to one of my parents ill health. They have since passed so the contact plan cannot be followed anyway.
The children’s father is trying through a solicitor to get an updated plan however social services are saying there isn’t one as the case is closed. They’re refusing any further input meaning he will end up taking me to court which I don’t want especially as I can’t afford a solicitor. I was told at the time any changes to the contact plan he was to go through them to amend, but now they’re saying no.
No family court was involved.
-
Suzie, FRG Adviser
- Posts: 4996
- Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:57 pm
Re: Contact after not guilty
Dear Fairyfly89,
Thank you for your post.
I am sorry to hear about your family bereavement and send my condolences to you and your family.
You say that children's services are no longer involved, however that they set a contact plan, which you did not agree with and which can now no longer be followed due to the passing of your parent. The children's father is trying to get an update plan, but they are not responding and say the case is closed. You are worried that he will take you to court and say you cannot afford this.
I am assuming that children's services recommended a specific contact plan prior to closing the case. Now that your circumstances have sadly changed, I would advise that you inform children services of this in writing and formally request that they advise on next steps. You partner can formally ask that he is assessed for unsupervised contact, but Children's services may not think it is necessary if there has not been any change to the risk he consider him to pose.
As the children's parent, you can amend contact in agreement with your ex-partner, however, this may cause concern to children's services if they had recommended a plan for supervised contact. This means they may choose to be involved again.
If your ex-partner applies to the courts for contact, you can act without a solicitor and represent yourself. You may be eligible for legal aid, and you should speak to a family solicitor to find out if you are. You may also find it useful to seek advice on private law proceedings from Child Law Advice on 0300 330 5480 or Rights of Women on 020 7251 6577.
Best wishes,
Suzie.
Thank you for your post.
I am sorry to hear about your family bereavement and send my condolences to you and your family.
You say that children's services are no longer involved, however that they set a contact plan, which you did not agree with and which can now no longer be followed due to the passing of your parent. The children's father is trying to get an update plan, but they are not responding and say the case is closed. You are worried that he will take you to court and say you cannot afford this.
I am assuming that children's services recommended a specific contact plan prior to closing the case. Now that your circumstances have sadly changed, I would advise that you inform children services of this in writing and formally request that they advise on next steps. You partner can formally ask that he is assessed for unsupervised contact, but Children's services may not think it is necessary if there has not been any change to the risk he consider him to pose.
As the children's parent, you can amend contact in agreement with your ex-partner, however, this may cause concern to children's services if they had recommended a plan for supervised contact. This means they may choose to be involved again.
If your ex-partner applies to the courts for contact, you can act without a solicitor and represent yourself. You may be eligible for legal aid, and you should speak to a family solicitor to find out if you are. You may also find it useful to seek advice on private law proceedings from Child Law Advice on 0300 330 5480 or Rights of Women on 020 7251 6577.
Best wishes,
Suzie.
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