Police or Social Services?

[removed]

Hi, I hope someone can guide me in this matter: I was interviewed under caution in relation to a child sex offence case, and removed from my home and family, under conditional bail. My children were placed on a child protection plan and I was allowed supervised contact with them. I have recently been informed by the police that they are no longer proceeding with the case, and that I am free to go. They have said that I can go home, but have to abide by the social services plan. The social service worker is taking longer than I would have thought in making her decision about my return to the home.

What I would like to know is whether I can go home since I wasn't charged with anything, the case has been dropped, I have absolutely no previous convictions in anything and obviously, my bail conditions have been removed?
Will social services intervene if I go home now? If so, how will they do this

This ordeal has been dragging on for four months now, during which time I have been paying two rents, two council tax payments and paying for other expenses related to my family and myself, because my wife doesn't work. I'm in huge debt because of this.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear removed,

Welcome to the parents forum. I am sorry that there has been this disruption for you and your family.

You say in your post that there has been a joint investigation with the police and children services due to a criminal allegation against you. Bail conditions prevented you from returning home.

The police have now made a decision to close their case and have advised you that you can go home but to continue to cooperate with children services.

You want to know whether you can return home or not?

I am glad that you have sought advice about this before returning home. Have you asked the social worker this question?
Although no one can prevent you from returning home, if you did, without first discussing the matter with children services, it might have implications for your children.

If children services did not know whether or not you could be dangerous (because they had not completed their risk assessment of you) they could be worried that your children might be at risk of serious harm and take steps to protect them. This might include asking you to leave the home again or a threat to remove your children.

There is a difference in the burden of proof between the police and children services. The police need to prove “beyond reasonable doubt” that a crime has been committed. This is difficult to do. However, children services need only show that on the balance of probabilities (that might be 60 per cent you are still a risk-to 40 per cent#
you are not).

So even though the police are not proceeding with their case against you, children services may still see you as a potential risk.

Do you know when the social worker will finish the assessment of you? Make sure you have an idea when this is-you do not want the assessment to drag on. Ask when s/he and the team manager will be making a decision about your return home. Is there anything you can help make it quicker? Do they need to see you again? What else need to be done?

They may want a specialist assessment of your risk to be undertaken. Or to consider courses or self-protection work that you and members of your family could do to lower any potential risk.

To find out about specialist assessments where there are concerns about sexual abuse, you could contact the Lucy Faithfull Foundation for advice and support.

If children services do not want you to return home immediately, you could ask that everything like timescales, review dates are put in writing, your contact be supported, whether or not you are allowed home when the children are not present? So you have everything written down.
In the meantime, still cooperate with the child protection plan.


Here is information about child protection that you might find helpful.

I hope this helps but please post back if you want further advice.

Best wishes,

Suzie

[removed]

Thank you for your reply.
I attended a core group meeting last week, where the social worker stated that I would have to sign a contract to the effect that I will not be with my children unsupervised or be involved in their personal or physical care. My wife and I have signed this contract and I have returned home yesterday.
Last evening, the SW turned up at home and gave me and my wife notice for a meeting at the end of this month, called a PLO. She said that this is partly in order to facilitate funds for a formal assessment with the Lucy Faithful foundation and partly to give a legal grounding to the agreement we had signed the day before at the core group meeting. However, the letter she submitted does not mention any of this.

Do ALL PLO's progress to care proceedings?

[Bee*]

Do ALL PLO's progress to care proceedings?

No, the PLO is your last chance to make the improvements they want before they consider going to court to remove the children. They don't have to go to care proceedings, that only happens if by the end of the process, they aren't satisfied that the risks haven't decreased enough. Youre progressing into the kind of territory that you have to be very careful, the things laid out in the agreement you will get (or already have) are things you need to start doing, and doing them now.

Also, if you don't have a solicitor, get one now.

[removed]

I have been abiding by their recommendations from the start, and still am abiding by them. So has my wife.
I will be contacting a lawyer from the list that they provided, tomorrow.

I understand the concerns they have in terms of risk of harm to the children, but I want to know if they will remove me (or the children) from my home after having let me come back albeit with a contract of supervision.

I also have other worries in this matter: they have now suggested that my wife is being "groomed" by me to allow access to the children. I also wonder if there is an element of racial stereotyping going on here.
(I had not mentioned the incident that triggered all this: this involves inappropriate comments made by me about a teenage girl to her mother (who is considered vulnerable) over Whatsapp. There has been no direct or indirect contact with the child, and absolutely no direct contact with the mother. There are no previous convictions.)

It seems to me that the SW is escalating the issue despite the fact that I have been doing everything as they advised. The SW is, of course, doing the best in terms of protecting the children, but she is, complicating matters and as a result decreasing the chances that my children can have a decent level of living.

Sorry if that seemed like a rant.

Is there any authority I can take my concerns to? Or do I (or my wife) have no voice at all?

Thank you for your replies.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear removed,

Thank you for posting again.
Beth has given you the right advice about the public law outline. Not all cases that reach the public law outline (PLO) stage will go to into care proceedings because this is the last chance (generally) before care proceedings are issued. The hope is to avoid care proceedings. Often, this stage is also missed out-for example, when children need protecting urgently.

See page 4 to 11 of our advice sheet about care proceedings which explains the pre- proceedings process.

The good thing about the public law outline stage is that you will now have access to free legal advice. You could seek a solicitor who specialises in children law at The law society-find a solicitor.

The PLO stage is a step up from the child protection level. So I am surprised, that on the one hand, they have decided that your wife is safe to supervise your contact with your children and have allowed you to return home-where she will have to supervise you 24 hours a day. But, on the other hand, they are worried that you are grooming her to allow access to them. This suggests that children services think she cannot protect your children from your potential risk. Yet they have allowed you home.

In light of their worries about you possibly grooming your wife, I would have expected a specialist assessment of your risk by the Lucy Faithfull Foundation to have taken place before you could come home.

Taking the matter up to the public law outline stage only to get funding does not seem to me a valid reason. However, I would check this with your solicitor.

Best wishes,

Suzie

[removed]

Update and more questions:

After beating around the bush for the last 6 months, the LA have finally arranged for NSPCC to undertake a risk assessment for me (and most likely my wife, too). I have a meeting with the NSPCC assessor in the next two weeks along with the social worker, where they intend to explain the assessment process to me as well as obtain my consent for it.
I should also mention that a few weeks ago, the social worker was changed and so was the team manager. I'm not clear if this has any significance, but when I asked for the reason for this change, I was told that it is routine, and the previous SW had moved on to another team.
The LA and SW are still not giving me direct answers about what the possible outcomes are, in case the assessment concludes that Im a low risk. The PLO that is currently in place ends on the 16th of June, and my first meeting with the NSPCC + SW is on the 31st of May. Assuming that the NSPCC case worker doesnt have sufficient time to complete her assessment, would the LA extend the PLO or adjourn the meeting a few months?

ONe question that is burning in my mind is regarding the assessment itself: what does it involve? What exactly do they assess? Is it a subjective assessment or do they have tools to do an objective assessment?

ANy advice would be much appreciated. If there is anyone reading this who has attended similar assessments with the NSPCC, please could you get in touch?

[removed]

Just bumping this up, again.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Hi Removed

Thanks for the update.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any direct experience of the assessment model you are referring to so can’t be much help. There is some brief information on the NSPCC website that might be useful.

The best source of information is obviously going to be the scheduled meeting with the assessor so do ensure that you prepare as best you can for that. Make a concise and clear list of questions that you would like to be addressed including, for example,
• How many sessions will the assessment involve?
• What is the format of the sessions and what will be covered in them?
• What is the timescale for the assessment and for any recommendations?

In addition, if you have questions for children’s services about the possible outcome of the assessment and the implications of this, you might want to raise these in the same meeting or via a separate letter to the social worker. In either case, emphasise that the children are your priority and that you are only seeking clarity about the process in order to move forward effectively in their best interests.

I hope this helps.

Best Wishes

Suzie
FRG Adviser