ICPCC after Section 47

[worried_mom]

My 6 year old son has gone to school and said I hit him, on occasions with a stick as a form of punishment for bad behavior.

Social worker called me to school and my son and daughter were medically examined. There were two bruises one on the face and another on the right forearm. School acknowledges the face bruise happened during school time when another child hit my son with a tennis racket. The second bruise was not explained properly from school, we strongly believe this bruise is also caused by the tennis racket incident.
I was arrested by the police and the “wooden cane” was looked at by the police and was granted pre-charge bail.

Now both my son and daughter (2 years) in Forster care under section 20.
Social worker is carrying out a Section 47 core assessment and our Initial Child Protection Case Conference is planned for the 27th February.

Both myself and my husband loves our children dearly and I acknowledge that I smack my son occasionally to discipline him, but this by no means could be classed as physical abuse.
We have never had problems in the past with police or with anybody for that matter, healthy, financially very stable; my son is a very good pupil at school never had issues in school for the 2 1/2 years at school.

We have made it clear to the social worker that we would work with them best to get our children back, and we have had a very good working relationship with our social worker.

Worried about the ICPCC, please let us know your thoughts as what to expect at this meeting. Do we need to take our solicitor as well, etc.

worriedmum

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Hi Worried Mum

Welcome to the discussion board.

Sorry to hear about the current difficulties you are experiencing due to the child protection investigation involving your son.

In your post you refer to the allegations of physical abuse, made by your son to professionals; admit to hitting your children (on occasion), as a form of discipline, and shared the fact that you are now on police bail, as a result of these concerns.

This agency would not support the physical chastisement of children (in any circumstances), but instead encourage you to attempt to find alternative strategies to put boundaries in place, as these tend to be more effective, and less damaging to a child in the long term.

You may find the Working Together (p.38, paragraph 1.33); our child protection, and the following http://www.nspcc.org.uk/help-and-advice ... 90712.html useful references, to help with your current situation.

At this stage, I strongly advise you to fully cooperate with the current investigation, any other assessments that may be being conducted, and be open to the offer of support that may be offered to you whilst your parenting capacity is being assessed.

In preparation for the Initial Child Protection Conference you may wish to refer to the http://www.frg.org.uk/films.

If you wish to discuss your situation in more detail, please feel free to contact our advice line between Monday to Friday on 0808 801 0366.

Best Wishes


Suzie

[ange301126]

dear worried mom, I would like to offer you some advice in good faith.

Based on past cases it may not have been wise of you to agree to sign an S20 order placing the children in voluntary foster-care.This is because the experience is likely to be very detrimental to their emotional health and some of their human rights( e.g. contact rights) may be abused. I do hope they have been placed together as separation can cause great harm.

I suggest you discuss the S20 AS A MATTER OF GREAT URGENCY WITH A SOLICITOR for your children's sake.

1. Did the social worker threaten to apply for an emergency order to Court if you did not sign it and did he or she indicate they would be granted one.
2. Indeed it is true that physical chastisement of children is frowned upon ( indeed I would not use it myself) but as you may know reasonable chastisement and smacking is not illegal in England and Wales to my knowledge. I believe the definition of what is reasonable depends on whether the child is marked or not. Thus you should ask your solicitor whether A COURT IS LIKELY TO ISSUE AN EMERGENCY PROTECTION ORDER OR NOT without any conclusive evidence that either of the children have suffered are likely to suffer harm.
3. DID THE SCHOOL FACE YOU WITH THEIR CONCERNS BEFORE CALLING IN THE C.S?
GO AND SEE THEM AND ASK FOR THEIR NOTES AS TO WHAT WAS ACTUALLY SAID BY YOU SON AND IN WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES THE CONVERSATION AROSE? Did your son accuse you of hitting him on the face with the stick? Please note that you should visit school and ask for these details BEFORE any court hearing as the CS may forbid them from supplying you with any once proceedings are in motion.