Child complaint in school

[Devassy]

Hi I am working as a staff nurse and my child raised a concern about my husband in school.
On the same day police came to my house and assessed the situation and told that there is no major concerns to them and they will forward this to social care services for further proceedings.
Social care services involved and we are awaiting for the report . She said to the social worker that sometimes my husband smacked her and threatened.
Sometimes food is not served properly but that was false statement by her because after social worker left my house I asked her regarding this food issue she told that she means my husband didn't giving her favourite food always.
can you please advice that will it affect my job and sponsorship and ILR process

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Devassy

Welcome 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 about the difficulties you and your family are experiencing. I understand that this is a stressful time for you, you are worried about children’s services, about the potential impact of their involvement on your role as a staff nurse, your sponsorship and your indefinite leave to remain application.

I can advise you about children’s services’ role and give you some advice about how your work could be affected but not about any possible impact on your immigration.

You explain that your daughter reported concerns at school about your husband. Police visited to assess the situation. They referred to children’s services. The concerns relate to allegations made by your daughter that your husband sometimes smacks and threatens her. She also spoke about food at home not being served properly. It is not clear what is meant by this, but your understanding is that your daughter is not happy that your husband does not always provide her with her favourite food.

Smacking is not ‘banned’ in England as it is in Scotland and Wales but it is not seen as an acceptable way of discipling a child or helping them manage their behaviour and where it exceeds ‘reasonable punishment’ or an implement is used it may be a criminal offence. The police are not, it seems, pursuing a criminal investigation and so children’s services are assessing your daughter’s needs. If you would like to know more about the law on smacking, please see Child Law Advice’s explanation here.

The social worker’s role is to assess your daughter’s situation fully. The social worker has already begun their assessment, and you are awaiting their report. It is important to know if the social worker is doing a child in need assessment or a child protection investigation. You can ask the social worker to clarify this for you. The maximum timescale for completing an assessment is 45 working days but a child protection investigation is likely to be completed much sooner as its purpose is to determine if a child may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm and what action (if any) they need to take to keep the child safe and promote their welfare.

You can find out more about each of these processes in our advice pages on child in need here and child protection here.

There can be several different outcomes to an assessment depending on the specific circumstances, the level of need or risk identified and the strengths and support in place for the child and their family. You may find it helpful to see the diagram and explanation of how children’s services work here.

So, the recommendation the social worker makes in their report will be important. If they suggest early help or child in need support, both are voluntary processes and should not impact on your work. However, if a child protection conference is held and a child protection plan made for your daughter then this is likely to have implications for you in your professional capacity as you may work with children or vulnerable adults. The Local Authority Designated Office (LADO) may become involved. In this situation I would recommend that you seek advice from your professional body or trade union e.g. the Royal College of Nursing.

You can get specialist immigration advice via Citizens Advice.

I know that the situation may feel very uncertain now. To help you manage this, you can ask the social worker to keep you updated and to let you know when their report will be ready and what their recommendation is. This guide to working with a social worker following may be useful. You may wish to seek further advice once you know the outcome.

There is a lot of support and information for parents about positive parenting and how to manage their child’s behaviour without smacking. You and your husband may find the following helpful:

Action for Children: how to manage your child’s behaviour without smacking
NSPCC: Need to know guide to positive parenting

Family Lives and Family Line are two parenting support charities who offer advice and information to parents on all aspects of parenting or family life struggles. You may find it helpful to speak to an adviser on their helpline or look at their online resources.

I hope that this is helpful. For further advice and information please post back or contact the advice service via one of the following options:

• Calling the freephone advice line on 0808 8010366, Mon to Fri, 9.30 am to 3.00 pm.
• Using our webchat service
• Using our advice enquiry form.

Best wishes

Suzie

[benion]

Although smacking, without leaving a mark, is not illegal, it is frowned upon.

There are 3 levels of statutory involvement from SS, namely Child In Need (CIN), Child Protection Plan (CPP) and care proceedings. Care proceedings is when they go to court.

What you have described is not that serious and will either be dealt with on CIN or Early Help (which is even lower level involvement and does not involve a social worker). You will probably be offered a parenting course to learn other methods of discipline which are better.

So, no, this will not affect your job.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Devassy

I hope that you have now heard back from children’s services and are clearer about what the outcome of your child’s assessment is.

You have been offered further advice and reassurance from another poster which I hope has also been helpful to you. I just wanted to say that unfortunately neither of us can predict the outcome of an assessment or provide any guarantees as we do not have all the information to do so. Assessment decisions and recommendations are based on the specific circumstances of an individual family’s situation. We cannot say whether there will be any repercussions on your employment.

However, I hope that your family can move forward.

Best wishes

Suzie