Contact with Sex offender!

[Lalalahehehe]

I am curious as we have children on a supervision order and we are apart until he completed his assessements. As they are taking us to court over care if the kiddies stop with me could the court place restrictions on fathers contact me and well as with his kiddies
Is the family court allowed to place restrictions on parents and how often they see each other in an family court setting. I don't think they can but how will SS see us stopping in contact

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Lalalahehehe,

Thank you for posting back on the forum.
It is not clear to me what the legal arrangement is at the moment for your children. Can I clarify this with you first?
Are your children under a care order but placed with you (Mum)? Dad lives elsewhere but he has a contact order in his favour. This is for supervised contact? Have I got this right? If I haven’t can you please post again setting out the arrangements? My advice may then be different.

If I have got the arrangement right then this is my advice- the court CAN impose a contact order which sets out contact between dad and his children. Here is our advice sheet about contact when there is a care order.
contact with children in care

It is very important that you stick to the contact order. It is also very important that you understand what the court order says about contact.
Sometimes the order will define the type of contact (for example supervised-it might say who will supervise the contact, direct-ie face to face, or indirect-by telephone or letter).It may also say when and how often and where contact takes place.

If you are not sure-please ask your solicitor about it. Or you could call our advice line (which is confidential) for further advice. (Have your court order in front of you so you can read it out to our adviser if you decide to phone).

There can be very serious consequences for not sticking to a court order. Not only that-because the local authority have a care order-(which gives them legal parental responsibility in respect of your children)-if they thought you or Dad were breaching the contact order-they have the legal power to remove your children from you. To ensure this does not happen-make sure that you know what the order means to you and your family.
I know this may sound scary-but it is very important that you understand the court orders that have been made. If you have any further questions please do post back .

Best wishes,

Suzie

[Lalalahehehe]

Yeah you have that right what i'm trying to gather is nothing to do with the boys just me and him nothing to do with a relationship or anything just offering support and friendship. just wanting to know if a family court stop me and him having contact or would this be private law and not something children's services have to right to control.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Thanks for clarifying- I understand your question now.

The answer is that neither Children’s Services nor the court have any legal control over the amount of contact you and the boys’ Dad have with each other. The two of you are adults and, as long as the children are not present, the court cannot dictate when/ how you see each other.

Having said that, Children’s Services can make recommendations about your contact with Dad. They may suggest, for example, that breaking all contact with him is the only way to completely safeguard the children.

While Children’s Services cannot enforce the above advice, I would advise that you think carefully before going against it. If your actions raise any additional concerns for Children’s Services (e.g. that you do not fully understand the risk posed by Dad and/ or that you may allow him to have unauthorised contact with the boys) this could have very serious consequences for you.

As I advised above, under the care order, Children’s Services share parental responsibility for your boys with you and have the legal power to remove them from your care if they feel this is necessary.

I hope this helps Lala

Best Wishes

Suzie
FRG Adviser