Potential social services concerns

[CCDDEE6]

This is my first time posting here so I am sorry if I’ve posted in the wrong forum

I have a 2 year old daughter and had social services involvement from 12 weeks pregnant to my daughter being 6 months old. They had concerns surrounding her fathers past and drug use. For reference Me and him had split early in the pregnancy, they signed us to off when my lo was 6 months old. I have now started a new relationship and I’ve came to find my new partner and his ex had a child removed 8 years ago. This sent me into a panic as even though social left us almost two years ago the idea of them coming back terrifies me. Is there anyone who’s had one child removed previously and been allowed to keep another? I’m just so scared that if we were to have children in the future they would try to remove ours

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear CCDDEE6,

Welcome to the parents' board and thank you for your post.

You say that you have a 2 year old daughter. You had children's services involvement from 12 weeks pregnant up until your daughter turned 6 months old. Children's services had concerns about your child's father's past and drug use. You split early in the pregnancy. You have now started a new relationship and have found out that your new partner and his ex had their child removed 8 years ago. You are worried as you do not want children's services to become re-involved. You would like to know whether someone who has had a child removed previously will have any subsequent children removed and whether any children you have would your partner would be removed.

It sounds as though you have made some really positive progress since children's services were last involved. You do not mention why your partner's child was removed. However, based on the situation, children's services may have some concerns about your current relationship and whether this would pose any risk to your daughter. Of course, this depends on the circumstances of his case and it is very possible that in the last 8 years he has made positive changes to his life. It is your job to ensure that your daughter is safe and that any relationships you have are also in her best interests. If you are not sure whether or not he may be considered a risk to your child at this point in time, you may want to contact children's services and inform them of your new relationship. They may want to conduct an assessment, including a risk assessment on your partner, or they may be satisfied that he poses no risk and that their involvement would be unnecessary.

To answer your question about any future children - if you were to become pregnant, based on yours and your partner's previous history with children's services, they want to do a pre-birth assessment. This will look at your current situation, and assess whether your family needs any support and whether children's services need to be involved. Just because someone has had a child removed previously does not mean that any other children they have will be automatically removed. In order to take the matter to court and to potentially remove the child, there would have to be significant concerns. You may find it helpful to read this page on our website for more information.

I hope you have found this helpful.

Best wishes,

Suzie.