Pre-crime Tribunal

[SoFiDe]

Hi all,
I am new to this forum, and this country. Thank you for having this website and sharing your experiences. I am seeking any advice and recommendations for solicitors in the X area.
My partner is on the SOR for something that happened 30 years ago in his teens. He served his sentence, did up teen years of therapy and no repeat offence. Now that we had a baby socials is dictating our lives. The police have given their ok for him to be around a child and have him as low risk to the public, but I just had an hour long meeting with the SW who blatantly admitted that no matter what the assessments or any psychiatrist say they deem him high risk to our baby and demand he has no contact. That they have already sought legal advice and gave me a list of solicitors to use to do the same. That they are starting proceedings against him and if I let him see our baby they will seek to remove the baby from my care. Mind you we have not done any assessments or anything. I asked, “So there is no threshold I can meet that would say I can adequately protect my child?” The SW responded, “We might determine that you can supervise, but not at night because you’re sleeping.”

She then immediately went to see my partner and told him that the goal was to try and let us be together???

They say they care about the welfare of my baby, but are forcing me to have to stay in a hotel with my baby even though my partner volunteered to go to the hotel so we could stay in the flat.

Please guide me the best way forward as I am confused at how he can have no right to his child? If the courts actually agree with this then I am appalled at how this country treats people.

[VD2ER]

Can you confirm your partner is on the SOR indefinitely?

My understanding is your partner can apply for removal after 15 years, or 8 years if under 18 at conviction.

Google says:
2. The Two-Stage Appeal ProcessStage 1: Apply to the PoliceSubmit a formal application to your local police force. They will conduct a risk assessment using information from the probation service, social services, and MAPPA. You should submit evidence demonstrating your rehabilitation, such as character references, proof of stable employment, and a lack of reoffending.

I presume you are on the journey of a PLO? I'm sure your solicitor will get you to err on the side of caution. Being responsive to the LA will gain the recognition you need. At this stage it is all about risk and trust. Especially trust in you where you can put your child first and partner second. You really have no choice but follow their demands.

I am sure someone with more experience and knowledge will reply soon.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear SoFiDe

Welcome to the parents’ discussion board. Thanks for your post. My name is Suzie. I am Family Rights Group’s online adviser. I am sorry to hear about your difficult family situation. I hope the advice and information provided below will help. I am sorry I cannot recommend a solicitor to you, but I will provide links to how to find/ how to work with a solicitor. My advice will focus on the child protection process.

You explain that you are in a relationship with a registered sex offender. You now have a baby together. This resulted in children’s services becoming involved with your family. They are concerned your partner poses a risk of sexual harm to your baby. Please see our advice about sexual abuse for information about what happens when there are concerns about sexual abuse. They asked your partner to remain in your flat while they placed you and your baby in a hotel. They also recommend your partner currently has no contact with the baby.

Have you done a Sarah’s Law application to have full information about your partner’s history? You say he is still on the sex offenders’ register but that his offence/s were 30 years ago when he was a teen. Registration is for a defined period of time mostly, and for a maximum of 10 years. Finite notification periods are halved if the person is under 18 when convicted or cautioned. However, some people can be subject to indefinite notification where their sentence was one of the following: life, imprisonment for public protection (IPP), imprisonment of 30 months or more, admission to hospital under a restriction order or when subject to an order for lifelong restriction.

Your partner can contact the charity Unlock about his criminal record.

I understand that this is upsetting. You are new to the country so you may be unaware of child protection procedures here. I would recommend that you read our child protection information here ; it explains children’s services’ duties to investigate a child’s circumstances if they receive information that the child may be at risk of significant harm.

Children’s services are the lead agency in child protection; their role is to look at risk to a specific child in their family. So, although the police said your partner can be around a child and is a low risk to the public, children’s services are the agency responsible for assessing the specific risk of harm to your baby and they do not agree that it is safe, at present.

You make the valid point that you (as the non-offending parent) and your partner (whose offending history is the concern) have not had a full assessment at this stage. You can ask children’s services to conduct a protective parenting assessment of you and your partner can request that he have a specialist risk assessment. It is good to hear that he had therapy and hasn’t re-offended. It is best that your partner advocates for himself as the baby’s father and as the parent who children’s services are recommending should not have contact with his child at the moment. It is a recommendation (if there is no court order in place) but I would advise you both to comply. It may be best for you to focus on keeping the baby safe in your care while they are investigating further.

You may want to ask the social worker to confirm the reason why they recommended that you and your baby move out, not your partner. Usually the child stays in their own home and the person of concern is asked to stay elsewhere.

You and your partner are getting mixed messages from the social worker. The social worker told you that they would seek to remove your baby if you allowed your partner to see your baby. This FAQ sets out the only situations in which children’s services can remove a baby from their parent/s care. Your partner told you the social worker said their goal was to try and let you be together. The social worker’s role is to promote the child's welfare and safety.

The social worker indicated that they are starting legal proceedings, which you understood to be against your partner. You should ask them to clarify what legal process they mean. Any legal process/application is for the child and involves both parents i.e. if they begin pre-proceedings or care proceedings for the baby you will both be parties (if your partner is on the baby’s birth certificate) to the proceedings and entitled to legal aid.

You can search for a solicitor via the Law Society’s find a solicitor website for a solicitor with children law accreditation . Our guide to working with a solicitor may help you get the best out of this working relationship.

If you and you’re your partner have friends / family who can support you and your baby then you should ask for a family group conference (FGCs) to be arranged – family members abroad can be included online!. You can find out much more about FGCs here.

You may already know about the Lucy Faithfull foundation and their Stop It Now helpline and advice service but I will have added links to them as they may be worth contacting also as a specialist prevention of child sexual abuse charity which works with anyone affected by this.

I know there is a lot of information here, you are dealing with a great deal at present and you may have more queries. Please post back if that would be helpful or you could ring the freephone advice line to discuss your situation in more detail with an adviser to receive more targeted advice. You can find all the advice options by clicking on this link.

I hope this has been helpful.

Best wishes

Suzie

[SoFiDe]

Thank you both.
I have been given a disclosure by the police as to his offense, I believe this would be the same information I would receive from a Sarah’s law application. We are aware he can apply to come off the registry when the time comes and the police officer that manages him said they would support it. There is a whole story to what happened, but the LA doesn’t care. He was legally an adult when he was sentenced and everything came out years after, so unfortunately we can’t do it just yet as the required time is still a year away.
We have reached out to a handful of solicitors, but are waiting to hear back. Meanwhile they have already got legal proceedings started.
The reason the SW gave for not letting us stay in the flat was that it was his home as we (myself and the baby) have been living in my country. That he has keys to it, so me and the baby wouldn’t be really safe. But, they won’t approve him renting another place for us either and I’m not allowed to as I don’t have the right to abode. It seems like they are just trying to make our lives as difficult as possible so we will give up. I am just concerned that the SW/LA are not approaching this with an open mind. They seem to have made their decision from the minute they read a bit of paper and are hell bent on punishing my partner for life. We tried to go through this whole process when I was only pregnant, but they kept putting us off and now I found out it was just because they couldn’t go to court until the baby was born. We were initially told there would be assessments and I would do the protective parenting classes and only if those failed would we move to court. Now that I’m back with our child we are immediately in pre-proceedings. Like I said the SW outright said no matter what the assessments say they believe he is a high risk. So we feel like the assessments and everything are going to be as negative as possible just to prove their side in court, so we feel like anything we say will be twisted. Right now they haven’t started the assessments yet, just keep coming by my hotel to see if my partner is here and asking us questions like they are trying to catch us lying.
We are supposed to have supervised visits, so we can see each other, but as of yet nothing.
This whole thing is making my partner and I feel like this may be the only time he will ever get to see his kid and we will get to see each other again. Our hearts are breaking and we are finally not separated by an ocean and yet can’t see each other. I know I’m supposed to “put my child first” which in their eyes is keeping him away, but in mine he is a loving, devoted dad who my child is being deprived of.
I’m sorry I’m not really asking for anything specific I guess I’m just getting it all out. I’m just stuck alone in a hotel crying and wishing I knew what the outcome of this was going to be. Can he really be told he can never see his kid when he has never done anything to his kid? This is just mind boggling to me as that is pre-crime and would never fly in my country.

[VD2ER]

It's not uncommon for the owner of a property to allow and agree their partner and child to live in his property without attending the property themselves. It happens in messy divorces for instance. The only issue is where maintenance perhaps needs to be carried out.

I see no reason why a court won't allow a recital for him not to enter the property when the child is there. Courts do it all the time. If he should attend then he'll be in contempt of court and be subject to sanctions up to 2 years in gaol.

I also see no difference between him entering his own property and another property you might live at.