Urgent Advice Needed

[A2022]

I've had a social worker come to my house today as they had a referral due to concerns after my son didn't attend some appointments.

I explained that we were away so I was not aware of these appointments.

The social worker said that she doesn't think it needs to go further but wants to do a Child and Family Assessment under Child in Need. I do not want this as I see no need for social services involvement.

I found out I was pregnant last week (7 weeks). I haven't been to the doctors yet and I'm now thinking I may have to have an abortion because of this.

I desperately need advice as I've called solicitors but they've explained they can't give much advice in these circumstances due to it not being far enough along

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear A2022

Welcome back to the parents’ discussion board. Thank you for your post. My name is Suzie. I am Family Rights Group’s online adviser.

I am sorry to hear that you are very worried.

Congratulations on your pregnancy. It is in the very early stages. However, you are considering whether to proceed with the pregnancy. I cannot advise you about this as it must be your decision but there are organisations that may be able to give you the support and advice that you need. I think it would be a good idea for you to get in touch with a specialist service. You could contact your GP, the NHS website or a pregnancy advisory service if that would be helpful. Family Line is not a pregnancy advice service but can offer emotional support with any aspect of family life and may be able to signpost you to a local service too.

I have looked back at your previous posts where you provided more detail about your past experiences including care proceedings and your worries in relation to having another baby. You also explained that your son has a disability.

You have recently been visited by a social worker who would like to do a child in need assessment of your son’s needs. This is because he missed some appointments which you explained that you were unaware of. It is likely that the social worker was contacted because of your son’s needs in relation to his disability.

You can find out more about child in need assessments here; the most important thing for you to remember is that this is a voluntary process and cannot be imposed on you. The purpose of the assessment would be to decide if your son or your family need any extra support. It can also be offered to prevent a child’s needs or a family’s situation from becoming more serious.

You can find out more here about the help that families may be offered under a child in need plan. The social worker indicated that ‘she doesn't think it needs to go further’ but a child in need assessment would inform this.

Please see this FAQ which explains more about the voluntary nature of child in need assessments and what a parent can do if they don’t think it is necessary and want to decline.

Please read this FAQ carefully and think about asking the social worker what they would do if you decided not to agree to the assessment.

However, I am guessing that you are most worried about children’s services involvement with your unborn baby. And anxious that having a social worker assess your son's needs would trigger an assessment of your unborn baby's needs. I think it is likely that this would happen, when your pregnancy is more progressed. This may be why you have already sought legal advice from a solicitor, but they were unable to help at this stage. A pre-birth assessment may be proposed whether on not there is a child in need process for your son. So it may be worth considering if it would be better if you were already working in partnership with children's services in relation to your son rather than a new referral being made for a pre-birth assessment if you continue with your pregnancy.

You raised your concern about children’s services’ involvement with a new pregnancy/baby in your previous post. I think it would be a good idea for you to have another look at the advice I gave you then as it was specific to your situation and explored your main concerns. Key points were:

• As you have had previous social services children’s services may want to do a pre-birth assessment of your unborn baby’s needs.
• They will assess you based on how you are now. If they have no concerns that they may not remain involved. You set out very clearly in your earlier response how much had changed for you and how you have successfully cared for your son throughout. So, this is positive and useful information for children’s services to know.
• If you are with a new partner, they will want to know more about him and his background to ensure that he does not pose a risk to you or your unborn child or your son.
• You may find it helpful to read more about having another child where you had children’s services’ involvement with a previous child. This is explained in more detail here.
• We discussed support from family and friends on both your and your partner’s side of the family. You could ask for a family group conference to harness this support.

I hope that this helps.

I know there is a lot for you to think about so for any further queries about children’s services please post back or contact the advice service via one of the options linked to here. Our advice service offers advice to families where children’s services in England are involved but if you are in a different part of the UK you may be able to find an advice service in your area by scrolling down this page.

Best wishes

Suzie

[A2022]

Hi,

Thank you for your response.

I agreed to the Child and Family assessment under the illusion that a Child in Need assessment would be separate and would need consent at a later date.

This has not happened. Following my consent for a Child and Family assessment the Social Worker has said that simply consenting to this has triggered the Child in Need Process.

We had our first meeting yesterday where everyone said positive things. But the SW manager wanted to progress it to Child Protection and has asked that the SW enquire with the previous Local Authority about the case there that was closed in 2022.

I have complied with SS involvement and am easily able to follow the instructions in the CIN plan. However, I am concerned that SS will make it a Child Protection case just from the information they get from the previous LA. I feel helpless as I can only do my part and if information from the past is going to open a CP case there is nothing I can do.

I am moving back to my family home in just over a month which is where the closed CP case was done. I'm worried the LA here will attempt to stop this.

I desperately need advice as I feel like no matter what I do this will escalate.

Thank you

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear A2022,

Thank you for your response. I can understand that you are worried about the involvement of children’s services escalating and what this might involve.

I would strongly advise you to continue working with children’s services openly and honestly. Refusing to work with them is likely to increase their concerns rather than reduce them and is more likely to lead to more serious escalation. You say that you are able to follow the requirements of the CIN plan – this is positive and I would encourage you to do so.

If you would like information and advice about child protection then I would suggest that you look at our website HERE. If you have any specific questions about the child protection process then please feel free to post here again.

I cannot comment on whether children’s services will have any concerns about you moving back to your family home in the future. I would suggest that you discuss this with the social worker so that they have the opportunity to raise any concerns they may have about this. If they do have concerns you can ask them what would happen if you did decide to move back. Then you can make an informed decision about whether you want to move or not.

A ‘child and family’ assessment is another name for a ‘child in need’ assessment and means the same thing. I am sorry to hear that this was not explained to you properly and it sounds that you did not realise exactly what you were consenting to. You may wish to raise this with the social worker or their manager.

I hope that this is helpful,

Best wishes,
Suzie