Urgent advice needed please!

[WDC45B]

Hi, this might be quite a long read, but I’ll try to condense it as best I can.

I met my partner in January this year. He was honest from the beginning about recently being released from prison and his past history of being in and out of prison throughout his life. The main offences were harassment of an ex (who they were in a secret relationship with at the time despite having a restraining order against him) x2 breach of restraining orders (same ex and her brother) and intimidating witnesses.

Whilst I know that doesn’t read well, and it was a huge shock for me, he is genuinely such a lovely and loving partner. He dotes on me and really looks after me. We have a great relationship, great family life and we have both met each others families loads of times & we all get on really well.

I have a 4 year old daughter. She really likes my partner too and they have got on from the moment they met! Which is quite unusual for her as she used to be quite shy around new people, but they bonded really quickly which was lovely for me to see!

As my partner had recently been released from prison (December 2023) he was still working with probation and on licence. He was going to move in with me, but his probation worker said my house would need to be assessed first due to me having a child. This is when SS became involved. I received a Clare’s Law disclosure on my partner and he had told me the truth and nothing was new information on there. The SW said I was minimising his offences and was unable to see the risks he presented to my daughter and put her on a Child in Need plan. We had a safety plan drawn up which included no contact between my daughter and my partner. Unfortunately, the next day I stupidly made the mistake of breaking the safety plan (hindsight is a wonderful thing!!) as we had previously booked and made plans as a family so I did meet up with my partner with my daughter. My SW found out about this and was honest with me saying she is now extremely concerned that I am not putting my daughters needs before my own/my partners.

A couple of weeks went by and my partner was arrested (1 month ago now). He is currently in prison on remand. He was at Court today, and it has been adjourned until end of January as it will go to trial. He is looking at being sentenced to between 12-18 months for breaching a restraining order.

My child has now been placed on a Child Protection Plan due to emotional harm risks. All members of the ICPC meeting spoke highly of my parenting, how confident and happy my daughter is and how well she is settling into school etc they have no concerns about her, her development or anything else except for obviously the risks my partner presents.

My dilemma now is that SS want me to split up with my partner. He wants to continue talking on the phone whilst he is in prison and continue with visits (I have been twice so far). My worry is will SS find out if I visit him in prison and will this look bad on me? Will they escalate the child protection plan to court or anything? I just feel torn because I love my partner and I want to continue speaking to him at least, but I need to do right by my daughter and keep her safe.

Is there a way I can have contact with my partner without my daughter being involved? Even if that is just talking on the phone once a day?

Sorry for the very long post!! Thank you in advance.