Have Social Done This Right?

[Angel0301]

My partner spoke to a child decoy online in March. This resulted in him being arrested and Children's Services have since opened a case as we have a 2 year old and now an 10 day old baby. I went through the SARC for my daughter in which it proved no harm had taken place towards her. Initially they kept us on the assessment team as I was moving from one area to another. So no work took place for myself. During this time the police case was NFA as they found it wasn't what these people were saying it was. Again he's not in the right for talking to a child but it was not as bad as it was painted out to be. He shouldn't have dine it and he acknowledged that from the start when he was caught.
After we moved in May the new LA called and arranged an initial assessment on which the assessor decided the most appropriate action was a Child In Need plan. Me and my partner agreed to this as we are willing to work with them to improve our understanding of his behaviours. Our Social Worker then came to visit to explain what their plan was which was for myself to have 6 sessions with a Family Support Worker to understand healthy relationships due to accusations of DV. Now these accusations were because my partner being a veteran he now suffers with depression and anxiety which lead to breakdowns. This has resulted in phone calls to the police where he has been removed due to fear of his actions to himself. Along with these most recent events he has some historic cases in which he had an intimate relationship with a child who had lied about her age which was then proven during the case resulting in NFA. During this investigation I did fall pregnant with my first as this was a 3 year long investigation due to complexities of him also being a serving person. He told his investigating officer that he was expecting a child, surely this should've flagged up to refer us to social services back in 2022. However nothing was done it was only now that the referral was made after this police case in 2024. I have completed my session with the Family Support Worker in which she sees no issues with me as a parent however she feels I need to recognise what can be perceived as controlling which I've agreed to and began to prove to them I now understand through a recent attempt of suicide by my partner. They have asked for psychological and sexual risk assessments to take place for both me and my partner however I am unable to complete these due to being oregano you have to wait till you are 6 weeks post birth yet they are refusing my partner to do them when in reality he is the problem (which is what the Social Worker says). After working with them for 3 months it was decided a strategy meeting needed to be help for Section 47 enquiries to which the outcome was Child Protection. This resulted in the Social Worker coming out and telling my partner to leave the property immediately. At this tome I was 37 weeks pregnant and high risk with a 2 year old so we asked what support could be put in place to help me manage incase of an emergency with my 2 year old. No plan was made regarding this which meant I decided to give her to my mum the day after so that she was being cared for. Since he left the Social Worker has cancelled assessments for him on the day and ignored any texts or phone calls when we've both had questions to ask about the ICPC. When we received the letter for this it was set on my due date in which we decided that my partner could still go if I had not gone into labour. However due to the stress inflicted on us my waters broke and my labour did not begin which resulted in an induction on my due date so we had to reschedule the meeting this was changed to the following day. I gave birth the following day at 3.45 am and the meeting was at 2.00 pm my partner went to the meeting and I attended over the phone. At this meeting my Social Worker and his manager were not present as they were both ill. This ekant we had a duty social worker so no decisions could be made other than it was appropriate for a child protection plan. The following day a discharge planning meeting occurred with our Sociak Worker where it was decided again my partner to have no contact with the children, meaning I had to get a taxi home with my baby as I was not allowed to drive.
We did break the safety plan as I needed some shopping in for myself and I could not do it by myself so my partner cane to the flat to drop some shopping for me and my son just ti get us through the week until I was better. The Social Worker has now said that he wanted to look at pre proceedings, however we have no received a letter stating that they are taking us to court to look at if our children are safe. When is questioned if they were at immediate risk he said no they are not so our court date will not be promised and we are not an emergency. When I asked if they are seeking removal they've again said no but they can't guarantee the court won't decide that.

My main questions I am wanting answered is
Why weren't we referred to Children's Services in 2022 when he had actually admitted to an intimate relationship with a child.
What grounds do Children's Services have to remove an adult from the home without any paperwork.
Can they skip the pre proceedings stage if the children aren't at immediate risk.
What can I do other than sit and listen to what they are saying as they see it as me defending him when I ask them questions about what can be done to make sure the kids are safe around him.
And advice is appreciated.

[Skysie98]

Hi,
So sorry your going through this unfortunately you broke the saftey plan and put your children in their eyes at risk.
Sorry I just reread your post. So in regards to court yes they can take you to court and skip pre proceedings if they feel your children aren't safe but not in immediate danger.

Regards to your partner being out of the home without paperwork they can do this and if they have said he needs to move out etc that you need to take that seriously and abide by it whether in paperwork or not.

I also will give a bit of advise.
Do not say that it wasn't actually a child that doesn't matter and it can be seen as minimising. I am giving you this advice as I have been in a very similar situation.
Whether it was an actual child or not what your partner did is serious.
And in their eyes he's a risk to children.
Lucy Faithfull inform course can help you understand and educate yourself on this as well. And it's free.
You need to stick to the saftey plan

I lost my daughter for 18months due to my partners past but also mine.
We did get her home and we are slowly being allowed to be a family again.
However of you don't take their concerns seriously or show you understand they will most likely take you to court.

With regards to why they didn't get involved before I would only be suggesting it would be because it was still under investigation?
Find courses to help you. Come up with your own saftey plan in order to show how you would keep your children safe.
Lucy Faithfull have resources for this.
Also stopso can offer safeguarding therpay for you but you do have to pay for these sessions.
Educate yourself and do everything you can to put your children first.
Both work on yourselfs apart.

Suzie can probably give your more advice.

Skysie98

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Angel 0301

Thank you for your post and welcome to the discussion board. My name is Suzie I am an online adviser and will be replying to you today.

You have a two-year-old child and a 10 day old baby. Congratulations on the birth of your new baby.

Your partner has been arrested for child sexual abuse charges, twice. During this period, you become pregnant with your first child. You informed the authorities, and they did not take any further action.

The assessment for the most recent concern was completed via SARC – Child Sexual Assault Referral Centre which assessed no harm had come to your two year old child. The police outcome was no further action. Your child remained open to children’s services.

Following the move to a new local authority, children’s services contacted you to arrange an initial assessment. This concluded that your child would benefit from support via a child in need plan. You and your partner consented to this as you were both keen to better understand your partners behaviours.

There were concerns that you were a victim of domestic abuse. You disputed this and attributed your partner’s behaviours to his depression and anxiety following his experiences in the Armed Forces. Sadly, recently your partner made a suicide attempt.

Matters escalated. A Section 47 assessment was completed which recommended a child protection case conference. During this process the allocated social worker ask your partner to move out of the family home immediately, which he did. At this point you were 37 weeks pregnant. No support was offered by children’s services. You made a contingency plan for your child should you go into labour.

The initial child protection conference (ICPC) was arranged on your expected delivery date. This did not transpire as your labour began, your baby was born, and children’s services decided to rearrange the ICPC for the following day. Your partner attended the meeting with you attending by phone. Neither the social worker nor the team manager was present because they were off sick. At the meeting it was decided that your children should be placed on child protection plans.

At the hospital discharge meeting, children’s services asked your partner to have no further contact with his children. Whilst you both agreed to this and signed a safety plan, it did mean that you had no one to support you to return home and there was no plan of support for when you arrived home. This resulted in your partner dropping some shopping off to you which broke the safety plan.

Children’s services have now said that whilst they do not consider the children to be at immediate risk of harm, they are considering pre proceedings – Public Law Outline . You are yet to received notification of this.

Before I provide advice on your questions above, I think it is important to acknowledge the efforts you made to attend the ICPC less than twelve hours after giving birth. This does not seem reasonable to me, and I suggest you consider making a formal complaint to children’s services regarding this. I have added HERE the complaints process and suggest you read through this before making the complaint (if you decide to go down this route).

In answer to your questions
1) I do not know why a referral was not made at this point if you were pregnant or your child was born. Safeguarding legislation and guidance states that if a child is a risk of harm/potential significant harm then professionals should following their safeguarding policy and procedures to ensure children’s services are informed and a referral made.

2) Children’s services do not have jurisdiction to force a person to leave their family home. They can make a request. Only the police, using their powers of protection can remove a person in an emergency situation, or an order from the court needs to be obtained.

3)Public Law Outline (PLO) Children’s services should not issue care proceedings without trying to first work with a family to keep their child safe. And if children’s services do decide to apply to start care proceedings, they will have to show the Family Court what has already been done to support the parents to resolve their concerns.

In an emergency situation, children’s services can go straight to the Family Court to seek urgent orders to protect the child. But this should not be the norm. It should only happen where it is really necessary. See our Urgent protection of children section for more information. Please see this link HERE for further information and guidance.

4) It would be a good idea to take a look at The Lucy Faithful Foundation for support and advice in respect of what support you and your partner can seek for yourselves. It would also be a good idea to also speak to your health visitor who will know of local support groups in your area.

Should children’s services decide to take the matter to court to seek an interim care order, it would be a good idea to think about your personal support network. I would suggest you discuss a family group conferencewith the allocated social worker. Please see the link for further information.

I hope you find this information helpful. There are many ways to contact Family Rights Group if you seek further advice in the future please look at our website for further information.

Best wishes, Suzie