Boyfriend, social services, historic offence

[Greenbean]

Can anyone give me some advice on section 47 investigations that social service carry out please?

I have 2 children myself and social services are involved currently with regards to my boyfriend who was convicted of sexual assault against a minor back in 2000, I'd like to add that he was a minor himself at the time, there have been no convictions or allegations of any sort since the event itself. Social services are making it out that he has groomed me which is nonsense and they are putting the pressure on me to end the relationship which I won't do, however I have signed a written agreement which states he wont come to the house and he wont be in contact with my children, I respect that agreement and will stick to it.

They are currently collecting all of the information in order to do their risk assessment, and have told me 35 days which will be 2 weeks from now. Is this a realistic timescale? Also they have said that they are concerned about my response as I basically should have run a mile, but I am of the opinion that its historic, he was a child himself and I know him and that is not him! Is it likely that he will be deemed high risk when this risk assessment is in place? Surely they cant deem him high risk from one incident years and years ago when he was a child himself with nothing at all since.

Finally my children's dad has found out and is threatening to go to court for a custody order , will this have an impact on my having my children if I am fully cooperating with ss??

Any help/advice from anyone going/been through a similar situation would be much appreciated.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Green bean,

I am sorry to hear about children services involvement with your family. They are carrying out a section 47 investigation, because they believe that your boyfriend poses a risk of sexual abuse to your children.
They also say that your lack of concern or worry about him means that you might not be able to protect your children from him. You say that he cannot pose a risk because he was convicted when he was a child. This has fed their suspicion that you might have already been groomed by him.

However, until a risk assessment has been completed in respect of your boyfriend, children services have no choice but to assume that he remains high risk (even if he isn’t).
This is because they do not know whether he could still be an abuser. If he was and your children were abused, this would be too high a price to pay.

Your boyfriend would have had a risk assessment after he was convicted of the original sexual assault. Ask him to get a copy. What level of risk was he assessed at? Was he assessed as likely to re-offend? How likely? Did he attend any treatment programme? Was he re assessed after that?

However, you are fully cooperating with children services-allowing them to carry out a full assessment and have signed a written agreement which states that you will not allow him to come to the family home or allow him any contact with your children. (I assume that means all types of contact such as telephone, face time etc).
The fact that you are fully cooperating will be viewed positively. So please continue to do so.

Ask the social worker any questions you might have.

Do you knows what action to take, if your boyfriend breaches the agreement? What do you need to do if should turn up outside your home? Ring the police? Let children services know as soon as possible?

If the agreement was breached and children services found out that you had not informed them, it is very likely that children services would escalate the matter to child protection level or depending on how risky they consider your boyfriend to be, and how vulnerable your children are-due to sex and age, even consider further protective measures such as your children living with friends or family or foster care until the risk assessments have been completed.

Does the agreement say what the penalty would be? If it is not clear, ask for clarification.

You are right to raise the issue of timescales. Social work assessments should be normally completed within 35 working days. However, it can be longer if they are waiting for reports from other experts.

At the end of the assessment there will be a recommendation of what support or action is needed. So will they need a further expert assessment of your boyfriends risk? We often hear about this causing further delay as they quibble about funding. Then your boyfriend, you and your children (depending on their age) may have to do further courses and assessments.
If you can, speak to either the Lucy Faithfull Foundation or the NSPCC about these specialist assessments.

You ask about dad threatening to go for custody of the children. I am not sure of the answer, it depends on different factors. We do not specialise in private law proceedings. You could speak to someone at Rights of Women or the Coram children’s legal centre for advice.

You are, I am afraid, quite early on in a process that might take many months depending on what support your boyfriend had in the past and how he cooperates with the assessment.
I have given you lots of information, so if you have any questions, please post again.

Other parents on the board might be able to offer advice to you and share their experiences.

Best wishes,

Suzie

[Shaftesbury]

Hi Greenbean. You are pretty much in EXACTLY the same situation as I was in January 2015!! I have a thread on here with pretty much the same stuff right down to my ex fighting me for custody, CS pressure to end the relationship, suspicions of grooming etc! The only difference is the type of sexual offence my boyfriend committed and the fact he doesn't live locally to me.

Here is my thread: http://www.frg.org.uk/ParentsForum/view ... f=13&t=710

I am pleased to say 16 months on things are going really well but I do accept I can never have a "normal" relationship with my boyfriend.

I really want to PM you with my experience and advice but I'm busy at the moment. However, the most important thing you can do is co-operate with children's services fully and be open and honest with them.

I really do want to contact you and hear how you get on because I remember being in that position and I was terrified. And then I went through investigations and professional assessments and courses and counselling and, yes, my ex did take me to court, but I am now coming out the other side although last year did nearly finish me off. Be prepared for this to be a long process. However, if your relationship is important to you the struggle is worth is in the end.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!