frequency of child in need meetings in the home

[Red1]

Please can anyone give me some advice.
We have a background of domestic violence recorded in 2016, 2018 and 2019 which was proven in family court in 2021. Father was allowed a staggered return to contact after making undertakings not to abuse me or the children. A year after unsupervised contact recommended by Cafcass started again the eldest again reported his father three times for physical violence. Social Services became involved again and have put the children under a Child in Need Plan. Although I have complied for the past 6 months and suspended contact as SS ordered - the new social worker has told me that as well as being visited at school, I have to make the children available every three weeks at home during my work hours. When I queried this and told the social worker that I cannot take time off work every three weeks because I am the only source of income for the children and this will be on top of the time i take off to take children to doctors, dentist, one to assessemnts for dyslexia, she told me I have no choice and the visits every three weeks are statutory - when I asked her why this isn't in the plan, she told me its ``statutory and look it up'' and ``the kids live with you so you have to be visited in the home''. Given the risk is the father and not me, does anyone know if it is legal to enforce three weekly home visits or can direct me to any literature to show the social worker this isn't the case for a CIN - or should i ask that the reason for the three week visits and the order of three week visits be written in the poropsed cin (currently they are not) - thank you in advance, feeling very railroaded by this social worker who is agency and sending a student social worker to do the visits and handle the plan.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Red,

Thank you for your post and welcome to the parents' board.

You say that there has been a history of domestic violence between you and your children's father which was shown in the family court. Your children's father was granted a staggered return to contact. A year after unsupervised contact started, your eldest child reported physical violence from his father. Children's services became involved again and your children are now under a child in need plan. You have suspended contact as children's services recommended. You have been told by the social worker that visits have to take place in the home every 3 weeks during your work hours. You have expressed why this would be difficult for you but have been told you have no choice. You would like to know if it is legal to enforce three weekly home visits.

Firstly, I am sorry to hear about your situation and that you are finding the current involvement from children's services to be distressing.

Home visits are an important part of a child in need plan and it is often useful for a social worker to speak to children in their home environment. Some local authorities will have policies on how often child in need visits should take place, but there is no law or regulation that states how frequent this should be. Child in need visits should be agreed as part of the child in need plan and should be reflective of the family's individual circumstance and need.

You may want to write to the social worker or ask for a meeting to better understand why she thinks visits should take place every 3 weeks. You may want to discuss why this is difficult for you and propose a different time or frequency of visits. As part of a child in need plan, the social worker should work collaboratively with you. Remember that a child in need plan is a voluntary agreement between you and children's services.

If you are unhappy with the social worker's response, you may want to consider speaking to the team manager or make a formal complaint. Take a look here for more information on how to do this.

Best wishes,

Suzie.