Family Rights Group | Parents’ Forum

A friend of mine told me that they had signed a section 20, while they were under arrest and being held in police custody. My friend was not read their rights or asked if they wanted anyone present to help them understand what they were signing. There was a social worker and 2 policer officers present. My friend does not remember being in a room with recording equipment and cannot remember any cameras. My friend cannot recall if body cameras were in use by the officers.

If my friend requests transcripts of their time in custody, under a subject of access request and there are no recorded records (video footage) of the interview with the social worker and they signed the section 20 under duress, is this illegal? Can my friend make a complaint to the police and Children's services?

Personally I find this very under hand.

Hello KatKat,

Sorry to hear this happened to your friend.

I am no expert on this, however my common sense thinks that, if your friend has a reason to need support and that wasn't offered,while it may not be illeagal it is in my opinion certainly not acceptable.

Social services do not usually tape interviews, so not sure why they would in this case. The police should however tape interwiews, i beleive. Your friend, if not having an assigned social worker

You say your friend was arrestted, I think it would depend on what for, and the validity of the arrest as to the need for social services involvement. If your friend had no one suitable to look after their children then child services would be involved.

I have heard that some have been asked to sign if there is not a suitable adult, as they need the permission to arrange foster care. I think depending on the type of offense,the outcome and charges if any then the section 20 may stand until a case confrence has been heard on the safety of any children.

As for a complaint, you can at any point during an investigation ask for a superior to check the social worker/police officer has followed the correct procedure.

Hope this helps.

Dear KatKat10

Thank you for your post about your friend’s situation. If you would like to give your friend our contact details e.g. our freephone advice line number 0808 8010366 and opening times (9.30 am to 3.00 pm, Mon to Fri except bank holidays) they could speak to an adviser about their experience of a section 20 voluntary arrangement being put in place for their child/ren. Or of course your friend could post directly on this forum if they preferred.

As you know, we only advise on children’s services’ role. If your friend has any queries or concerns about police procedure they could discuss with a solicitor (they should have had access to a criminal solcitor when arrested) or if they want to complain they can do so; they can make a complaint to the local police force involved or via the Independent Office for Police Conduct website.

As you are querying matters on behalf of your friend it is not possible to provide specific advice as there is information missing about the circumstances which limits our advice. Other parents on this forum may feel worried about the situation as it is described so I will try to provide some clarification here.

You don’t say what your friend was arrested for – this is relevant if it concerned harm to their child/ren or other children or violence . If there was no suitable person to care for your friend’s child/ren and as your friend was unable to care for their child/ren themselves as they were in police custody then a social worker would have needed to discuss with the parent whether they agreed to a section 20 arrangement. This is explained further here . Your friend should have been given information about what this involves as set out here . However, a parent being under arrest is usually an emergency situation; please see below for further about what happens then:

In an emergency, a child may be taken into a voluntary arrangement without discussing this with a parent or carer with parental responsibility. One example of this is where a parent or carer has been arrested or taken into hospital.
In such situations it may not be possible for a parent or carer be given clear and accurate information about their rights at the time the arrangement is put in place. But the Supreme Court has said that this information should be given as soon as possible afterwards (see Williams & Anor v LB Hackney [2018] UKSC 37 at paragraphs 40 and 41).

Your friend retained parental responsibility throughout their child/ren being accommodated as this should have been made clear.

You don’t say how long the child/ren remained accommodated under section 20, whether the child/ren returned home or whether their situation progressed to child protection or to care proceedings. Please encourage your friend to get further advice if they need it about any of these possibilities.

If section 20 was not agreed and there was no suitable person to care for the child/ren while their parent was under arrest then police could have taken them into police protection for up to 72 hours which would also usually mean that children’s services would place them in foster care too. From the information provided, your friend’s circumstances i.e. being under arrest means that they were not able to care for their child/ren themselves which necessitated safe arrangements being made for their child/ren. Their welfare is children’s services’ responsibility while the police role is to deal with the criminal process.

Another parent has already responded to clarify that social workers don’t record interviews. Your friend may be able to request transcripts of police interviews. They can do an access to records request from children’s services in relation to their child/ren’s case; this may clarify what was written down by the social worker at the time and their account of any discussion with your friend. Here is our advice sheet about requesting personal information from children’s services which you can share with your friend if you wish. If your friend requires specific legal advice about the S20 or subsequent involvement of children’s services they can consider speaking to a child law solicitor or as mentioned earlier they can discuss their situation directly with an adviser.

I hope this helps.

Best wishes

Suzie

Thank you Suzie & Bossman for your replies,

My friend was not arrested in an emergency situation as they went to the station themselves and was arrested once they arrived. My friends kids were in a safe environment and a suitable carer, a close relative had been identified as being suitable to look after the kids. The SW failed to notify my friend of this and basically my friend signed under duress.

if there is a reason they would of forced the removal or by a judge then what I say is good luck so without the in and out story I do my best to tell you a
section 20 by a parent or guardian to sign if they consent to child being removed either for there own wellbeing or because the person signing can not cope will be in force untill such time you want the child back again it is voluntary and rightly you should of had this all explained I will guess it was child's social worker ask for child back ( now ) if not you will get an explanation from who took your child ) RECORD ,EVERY THING AND GO FROM THERE freedom information takes to long ,record everything if the judge never directed the order and without a court hearing you can not go round taking children ( pide piper ) wow !!! any way no one hurting the child in any way no child wellbeing ongoing problems I see no problem if the child being violent to you no problem
The police were not part of the scenario even tho they may been there it usually incase you get frustrated with your child being taken ( with your consent ) and you say a horrible thing to someone lolt the police will stand there and I feel make it makes it worse then it should be as you think "my god the police " and they just stare and say nothing if you recollect that then I am right
HOPE MADE SOME THING OUT OF THE ABOVE AND FREE LEGAL ADVICE ALSO Citizens ADVICE