Revoking an sgo
Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2018 11:28 am
I apologise if this post is very long but I want to get as much information down as possible. Ive done a lot of research into revoking an SGO but am still confused on a number of things.
My daughter has been placed with my parents since January 2016, firstly under a child arrangements order then an SGO at the end of proceedings. Both myself and my partner were accused of non accidental injury. The court made a Lancashire finding but the Local Authority and judge both agreed that the threshold document was to be changed and took out the failure to seek medical attention and changed it to the injuries being unintentional. Towards the end of proceedings my partner came forward with an explanation that he felt was overlooked by everyone involved at the start, and another fact finding took place, the expert witness agreed that the mechanism was there but there were questions about the force and of course my partner couldn’t remember or explain what force was used so a Lancashire finding was made again. On the advice from our legal teams we decided not to fight the SGO to show that we could put the needs of our daughter first, although it broke our hearts to give up fighting for the time being.
The case was 1 issue and no one had concerns regarding her care, a parental assessment was carried out which our solicitors said was one of the best they’ve seen, it stated that we could meet her needs, that our interactions with her are appropriate and child focused but they cannot support a return home due to not knowing what happened to her. The social worker also stated in there that she feels my daughter would want to be cared for by her parents.
There is currently no involvement by social services, the supervision order ended over a year ago. Contact is high level, we see her 6 days a week, making a 50 mile round trip everyday after work, take her to her health appointments, nursery, parks etc. We do have overnight contact ocassionally when work is not an issue and go on holidays with my parents.
After proceedings the CPS gave a no further action to me, however due to the explanation given to family court my partner was charged with wounding with intent. He went to crown court and pleaded not guilty, but guilty to wounding (accidental) and this was accepted by the CPS and officer in charge. He was given a suspended sentence. His probation officer has stated she would do a report to say that she feels he is not a risk.
As I said I have done a lot of research about revoking an SGO and understand the two stages etc but not a lot comes up in relation to NAI, what ‘change’ can we show? My partner accepted that he caused this, has done ‘victim work’ at probation. We also were recommended triple p and put our names down at a local sure start but yet to hear anything.
Is there a way for just myself to be unsupervised with my daughter? As in the eyes of the law I was found to be innocent. My solicitor found out what happened regarding the criminal side and he believed that I could be unsupervised however I haven’t wanted to risk my parents getting into trouble as the SGO states that both parents should be supervised due to the Lancashire finding?
When is the right time to revoke? One of our barristers said that it is easier when they are a bit older as those types of injuries won’t happen, when they can speak and when they are in nursery as there’s an extra safety net of people watching her. She starts nursery in a few weeks.
My daughter has been placed with my parents since January 2016, firstly under a child arrangements order then an SGO at the end of proceedings. Both myself and my partner were accused of non accidental injury. The court made a Lancashire finding but the Local Authority and judge both agreed that the threshold document was to be changed and took out the failure to seek medical attention and changed it to the injuries being unintentional. Towards the end of proceedings my partner came forward with an explanation that he felt was overlooked by everyone involved at the start, and another fact finding took place, the expert witness agreed that the mechanism was there but there were questions about the force and of course my partner couldn’t remember or explain what force was used so a Lancashire finding was made again. On the advice from our legal teams we decided not to fight the SGO to show that we could put the needs of our daughter first, although it broke our hearts to give up fighting for the time being.
The case was 1 issue and no one had concerns regarding her care, a parental assessment was carried out which our solicitors said was one of the best they’ve seen, it stated that we could meet her needs, that our interactions with her are appropriate and child focused but they cannot support a return home due to not knowing what happened to her. The social worker also stated in there that she feels my daughter would want to be cared for by her parents.
There is currently no involvement by social services, the supervision order ended over a year ago. Contact is high level, we see her 6 days a week, making a 50 mile round trip everyday after work, take her to her health appointments, nursery, parks etc. We do have overnight contact ocassionally when work is not an issue and go on holidays with my parents.
After proceedings the CPS gave a no further action to me, however due to the explanation given to family court my partner was charged with wounding with intent. He went to crown court and pleaded not guilty, but guilty to wounding (accidental) and this was accepted by the CPS and officer in charge. He was given a suspended sentence. His probation officer has stated she would do a report to say that she feels he is not a risk.
As I said I have done a lot of research about revoking an SGO and understand the two stages etc but not a lot comes up in relation to NAI, what ‘change’ can we show? My partner accepted that he caused this, has done ‘victim work’ at probation. We also were recommended triple p and put our names down at a local sure start but yet to hear anything.
Is there a way for just myself to be unsupervised with my daughter? As in the eyes of the law I was found to be innocent. My solicitor found out what happened regarding the criminal side and he believed that I could be unsupervised however I haven’t wanted to risk my parents getting into trouble as the SGO states that both parents should be supervised due to the Lancashire finding?
When is the right time to revoke? One of our barristers said that it is easier when they are a bit older as those types of injuries won’t happen, when they can speak and when they are in nursery as there’s an extra safety net of people watching her. She starts nursery in a few weeks.