ICO Blues

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Naivein***
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 9:27 pm

ICO Blues

Post by Naivein*** » Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:50 pm

Hi

This my first posting and my children are in foster care. This is destroying my wife and I (we've been in touch with the Samaritans).

All the reports produced by Social Services are full of innuendo and insinuation. They all lack substance but repeat tired old phrases, though they still seem to be good at condemning us. Can we commission our own report for the Family Court based on actual evidence? If so, can anyone recommend anyone? Is there any emotional support we can get?

Our children do not present as abused children, because they are not, but this is not enough for Social Services. They are wonderful people and I miss them so much. Social Services have not demonstrated any harm that I can see; quite the contrary at times the children are described in glowing terms.

The only people who don't believe us are Social Services and the police. A piece of advice never trust a police officer who says the matter has been dropped.

We will fight back and have complaints that can be substantiated about both the police and Social Services.

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Suzie, FRG Adviser
Posts: 4207
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:57 pm

Re: ICO Blues

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Fri Oct 06, 2017 3:02 pm

Dear Naivein

Welcome to the Parents’ Discussion Board.

My name is Suzie, online adviser at Family Rights Group. I can see from your post that both you and your wife are having a difficult time as a result of children’s services involvement with your family.

Unfortunately, you have not given enough information regarding your situation and how children’s services came to be involved. As your children are in foster care and there are court proceedings, I am going to assume that an application has been made by children’s services for a care order and your children are currently in foster care under an interim care order. This may not be the case, as your children could be in foster care under a voluntary s.20 agreement. However, in either case the children would be considered looked after children and, as such, children’s services have particular duties to children in the care system. To provide you with more information about these duties I have included our advice sheet for you to read.

You say that the reports that have been provided by children’s services are ‘full of innuendo and insinuation’. If there are factual inaccuracies in the reports you should point these out to your solicitor who will be able to bring these matters to the attention of the social worker or the judge. If you are in care proceedings and believe that you have not been fairly assessed, you should ask your solicitor to request on your behalf that an independent social worker carry out an assessment.

As you are in care proceedings you and your wife may have different solicitors but if you want to be considered as a couple to care for your children this is something you have to let your solicitors know. A copy of our advice sheet about care proceedings is here for your information. Unfortunately, it is not possible for me to recommend anyone to do an assessment but your solicitor will know or have details of independent social workers.

The police is mentioned in your post, are there ongoing criminal investigations regarding any harm your children may have suffered? If the police decide not to continue with their investigation this will not stop children’s services continuing their own safeguarding enquiries. The reason for this is that the police are looking for evidence that will result in a prosecution but children’s services are concerned about the children being in a safe environment where they will not be at risk of harm.

You may wish to post again giving more information regarding children’s services involvement and why they are concerned about your children and the alleged harm. It is important that you engage and work with children’s services to achieve the best outcome for your family.

In any event, it will be for a judge to decide at a final hearing whether children’s services have provided the evidence to prove that your children have suffered or at risk of suffering harm in the future because of the parenting they receive.

I hope this is of help but should you wish to speak to an adviser, please telephone our free confidential advice line on 0808 801 0366. The advice line is open from 9.30am to 3pm Monday to Friday.

Best wishes

Suzie

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