Re: Talking to children about parents convictions
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 12:09 pm
Dear May12345
Thank you for your updating post and for sharing with other parents your family’s experience of telling your children about their father’s conviction and the work that you have both undertaken since you last posted.
Your children continue to be on a child protection plan and you have a review child protection conference coming up shortly. There are a number of issues you are concerned about – not yet being able to supervise your husband with the children publicly, no funding agreement yet around your husband’s proposed psychological assessment, what children’s services mean by your situation being “unique” and their attitude towards you seeking legal advice.
You can find some helpful information about child protection conferences here. The purpose of the review conference is to decide if your children continue to be at risk of significant harm or not. The protective parenting assessment you have completed, the work your husband is doing and how you have both been keeping to the current plan will all be taken into account. Do make sure you arrange an appointment with the social worker to go through their report in advance of the review conference so that you can consider their recommendations, ask that any factual errors be corrected and seek further advice as needed.
There is likely to be a core group meeting before the review child protection conference and this is a good opportunity for you to raise the queries you have noted and to ask about timescales especially as you think that progress is slow. You could put this is writing (perhaps some short bullet points) and provide this to the social worker in advance of the meeting to ask that they be further discussed there. As you have been in touch with a solicitor perhaps they could help you with this.
Every family’s situation is unique to them and children’s services should consider you, your husband and each of the children as individuals. However, you are right to ask the social worker to explain exactly what they mean when they talk about your ‘unique’ situation so that you can clarify what work they see as still outstanding and what you can do to move forward.
You are entitled to seek advocacy or legal advice any time you want when plans are made for your children; this is your choice and not down to children’s services. Accessing advice and information can help you better understand the processes, consider your options and make informed decisions. However, the difference with the Public Law Outline (PLO) process is that if you have been given a formal letter before proceedings you do not have to pay for the solicitor to give you legal advice, help with negotiations and to come to the PLO meeting with you. It is not unusual for social workers to discuss issues with their managers and they can liaise with their legal department when they need to.
It is important that you are properly involved in the plans for your children and also that you continue to work with the core group, as you have been doing, to be a protective parent. Your husband can also contact children’s services in his own right, as the children’s father, about any of his queries.
You are very welcome to post back if you have any new queries or ring the Freephone helpline 0808 80 10366 Mon - Fri 9.30 - 3.00, if you would like to speak to an adviser.
With best wishes
Suzie
Thank you for your updating post and for sharing with other parents your family’s experience of telling your children about their father’s conviction and the work that you have both undertaken since you last posted.
Your children continue to be on a child protection plan and you have a review child protection conference coming up shortly. There are a number of issues you are concerned about – not yet being able to supervise your husband with the children publicly, no funding agreement yet around your husband’s proposed psychological assessment, what children’s services mean by your situation being “unique” and their attitude towards you seeking legal advice.
You can find some helpful information about child protection conferences here. The purpose of the review conference is to decide if your children continue to be at risk of significant harm or not. The protective parenting assessment you have completed, the work your husband is doing and how you have both been keeping to the current plan will all be taken into account. Do make sure you arrange an appointment with the social worker to go through their report in advance of the review conference so that you can consider their recommendations, ask that any factual errors be corrected and seek further advice as needed.
There is likely to be a core group meeting before the review child protection conference and this is a good opportunity for you to raise the queries you have noted and to ask about timescales especially as you think that progress is slow. You could put this is writing (perhaps some short bullet points) and provide this to the social worker in advance of the meeting to ask that they be further discussed there. As you have been in touch with a solicitor perhaps they could help you with this.
Every family’s situation is unique to them and children’s services should consider you, your husband and each of the children as individuals. However, you are right to ask the social worker to explain exactly what they mean when they talk about your ‘unique’ situation so that you can clarify what work they see as still outstanding and what you can do to move forward.
You are entitled to seek advocacy or legal advice any time you want when plans are made for your children; this is your choice and not down to children’s services. Accessing advice and information can help you better understand the processes, consider your options and make informed decisions. However, the difference with the Public Law Outline (PLO) process is that if you have been given a formal letter before proceedings you do not have to pay for the solicitor to give you legal advice, help with negotiations and to come to the PLO meeting with you. It is not unusual for social workers to discuss issues with their managers and they can liaise with their legal department when they need to.
It is important that you are properly involved in the plans for your children and also that you continue to work with the core group, as you have been doing, to be a protective parent. Your husband can also contact children’s services in his own right, as the children’s father, about any of his queries.
You are very welcome to post back if you have any new queries or ring the Freephone helpline 0808 80 10366 Mon - Fri 9.30 - 3.00, if you would like to speak to an adviser.
With best wishes
Suzie