Section 47, how long?

[Charlenejade]

Nearly 4 weeks ago I drove a friend to Birmingham as a favour. My nan was going to pick both of our kids up if we didn't make it back in time. I got a phone call from ss saying that my child had made allegations against me and that they had asked my parents to collect her. After several days of ringing round we still didn't really have a clue what was going on. I was told it was a section 47 and that the police would b investigating. I told ss that I have smacked my daughter before, but it has been months since the last time that happened as she just used to laugh at me and I realised it was absolutely pointless. I was stopped from seeing or speaking to my daughter and started to think that the allegations must be more serious than a smack for it to go that far. The police interviewed my child twice and then eventually interviewed me. It was at this interview that I heard all the allegations for the first time and they were pretty awful, however they are all quite easily disproved as my daughter has implicated so many other ppl in these allegations. I was finally allowed visits supervised by my mum last week, there were no restrictions on the amount of days or time. But now a week before Xmas ss are trying to tell me I can only have 3 hrs with her on Xmas day. I am innocent of all the allegations made and the police have had 4 weeks and haven't even called one person implicated in the allegations. How long can they get away with dragging this out for? Surely they can't just take as long as they like whilst an innocent mother and child are being seperated till the investigation is complete. I don't know what to do. Is there anything I can do legally to make them hurry up. As soon as the police can prove these allegations are false I should be able to bring my daughter home but they don't seem to b in any rush to carry out this investigation. Any help would be much appreciated.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Hello

I am so sorry that you are going through this distressing experience.

You mention that you have been interviewed by the police and I wonder if your contact with your daughter is currently restricted by any bail conditions or if it is simply that the social worker is putting restrictions on your contact?

Even if the police do drop the matter, there is no guarantee that Children’s Services will end their involvement. They may continue to have concerns about your daughter’s welfare and to advise that she lives with your parents until they have completed their own child protection assessments.

Unless the courts have been involved in your situation, Children’s Services do not have any parental responsibility for your daughter. This means that the social worker does not have the legal authority to insist that your daughter lives elsewhere or to insist on a certain level of contact.

Because serious concerns about your daughter have been raised, however, Children’s Services do have a responsibility to safeguard and protect her. They have a right and a responsibility, therefore, to strongly advise you about the action they feel you should take until the matter is fully investigated.

If you do not agree with Children’s Services, you have the right to ask for your daughter to be returned to your immediate care or to insist on more contact. If you do this, however, and Children’s Services do not feel able to agree with you, this may have serious consequences. Children’s Services could apply to the court for a care order, which would give them parental responsibility for your daughter and allow them to continue to make plans for her against your wishes.

I would advise you to continue to co-operate with Children’s Services as much as you can. At the same time, however, it is right for you to raise your concerns about the current situation with the social worker.

It may be helpful for you to put your position in writing to the social worker. Emphasise that your daughter is your priority and that you only want to do what is in her best interests. Ask the social worker to be clear with you (preferably in writing) about the current position and the short and longer term plans for your daughter including timescales for assessments/ decisions etc. You might also raise your specific concerns about contact, set out your view about what contact arrangements are in your daughter’s best interests and ask that the social worker approves these or sets out clearly why your plan is not in your daughter’s best interests.

I would advise you to have a look at our advice sheets for further information. I would also advise that you seek some legal advice about your situation from a child care law solicitor. You can find a solicitor specialising in this area of law on the law society website

I hope this is a helpful start. Please do come back and let us know how things are going or if you have any further questions. You can also ring our free and confidential advice line (0808 801 0366), which is open from 9.30am- 3pm, Monday- Friday. The line will be closed for the Christmas period between December 24th and January 2nd.

Best Wishes

Suzie
FRG Adviser

[Charlenejade]

Thanx very much for your advice. Things have started to progress now and my whole fily is concerned. My daughter has admitted to my parents that she lied and they called social services to notify them of that and to ask that the information be passed on to the police. I don't know if that has been done and haven't been able to get through to the police for a week. They have also given me a letter to day they have other concerns and are starting care proceedings. Looking through this letter they have still raised the false allegations as a concern of physical abuse. They have also added emotional damage to that by taking things my parents have said and twisting it for thier report. My parents are really upset that social services have done this and want to know if there is anything they can do to rectify the rubbish that has been written. Can they still drag my family through court based on opinions and false allegations, even if I am fully cooperating. I know going to court is not set in stone, but I want to make sur I am prepared. Thank you.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Hello again,

Given that Children’s Services have given you a letter stating their intentions I would strongly recommend you find a solicitor as soon as possible, if you haven’t already. In my last message I explained how to do it.

The system which guides the courts on how to manage care proceedings is called the Public Law Outine (PLO).

Related guidance elsewhere says that social workers must work with the family to try to find solutions to the problems before proceedings start (unless there is an emergency).

Part of this process is sending you a letter before proceedings, which seems to be the letter you have received. This letter is sent to parents when a social worker is so concerned about a child’s safety and well-being that they are planning to ask the court to make an order to remove a child from a parent’s care.

The letter should first be sent to the parents/others with parental responsibility and should explain what they need to do to stop the child being removed from their care (unless there is an emergency). It should also invite you to a meeting to discuss the situation and you can normally take a solicitor with you to this meeting.

If you receive a letter before proceedings, you should immediately see to a solicitor specialising in family law. The solicitor can represent parents for free under a public funding certificate (previously known as legal aid).

The PLO says that the court must check that this family work has been done at the first hearing. It must also check to see if there are any family or friends carers who could care for the child (if the child is unlikely to stay at home). The PLO also says how the court should manage the case and the timescales which should be followed up to the final hearing.

There is more information in our care proceedings advice sheet here: http://www.frg.org.uk/images/Advice_She ... edings.pdf.

I hope this answers your questions and you find a solicitor who can help you quickly. If you have any more questions do get back in touch.

Best wishes

Suzie

[Barr11]

Hi, we received a report on an inquiry into an allegation made against us. In the report it states social have placed a section 47 on my children.
1 we was never told verbally or in writing about this.
2 The children’s social worker has never come to see me.
3 When my wife asked the children’s social worker about the section 47 she has said there is no section 47 on the children and yet we have it in writing in a report.
My question is should we have been informed a about this in writing. And is this misconduct on their part

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Hi, we received a report on an inquiry into an allegation made against us. In the report it states social have placed a section 47 on my children.
1 we was never told verbally or in writing about this.
2 The children’s social worker has never come to see me.
3 When my wife asked the children’s social worker about the section 47 she has said there is no section 47 on the children and yet we have it in writing in a report.
My question is should we have been informed a about this in writing. And is this misconduct on their part

Dear Barr11

Thank you for your post.

From what you write, a social worker has been involved with your family and has under taken an assessment. For clarity I suggest that you ask the social worker why in her writing up she has suggested that the matter led to a section 47 inquiry.

Section 47 inquiries (or child protection investigations) take place when Children’s Services are worried about a child or children. If your children were under ‘investigation’ because of the allegation you mentioned against you and your wife it should have been made very clear to you that this was the case by the social worker: you have said that she has denied this but you have evidence of it in the report.

There is a good deal of information on the subject of child protection inquires, a good place to start is Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018, please start reading from page 31. You may also read our advice sheet about Child protection procedures and our advice sheet about Family support. Lastly, here is our advice sheet about Challenging decisions and making complaints.

Best wishes

Suzie