First contact with Social Work - supervised access

[mbluefin]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the adding me. My 7 year old daughter was removed to my mothers-in-law house from May 13 by the local Social work department, and I have had a limited contact with supervised access as a mum since then. The case is still being 'under investigation'.
I have been accused of smacking my child (which I admitted to happening some 6 months ago as an isolated accident), one time grounding and one time leaving her with two neighbours kids in our back garden unsupervised while going grocery shopping. The rest is my husbands words who we have argued with - he accused me of hitting him (which I said was a lie) and hurting our daughter ( I am not even sure what he said as I did not witness this but it must have been pretty serious?). He has also lied about not knowing that my daughter was left unsupervised because he went shopping with me. All the time my husband has been at home with me - as we both work from home. he has almost never stepped in to help me discipline and did see the time I smacked her for bad behaviour but did nothing to step in and help.

I have been my daughter's primary carer since she was born, and we have been very close. My husband would never wake up for her in the night, take her to nursery, do crafts, visit museums with her etc etc. He has also been tight with money being on a good wage as an IT manager, and shouted at me which resulted in me contacting Womens Aid over the course of the last two years by email and phone. Womens Aid said I was not 'in immediate danger' and advised to contact the police if anything happens. I have kept a journal since then following their advice and recorded any incidents like him breaking dishes and locking me and our daughter out of his car, etc.
Anyway, I told the social worker that I had always looked after my daughter, said I was sorry I smacked her ( which is now a criminal offense in Scotland) and that my husband witnessed everything that has happened but he did nothing about it as he was not seriously concerned at any time. We have never had the police involved.

The police has interviewed my daughter together with social services at her school following 'someone else reporting me' . However, nobody from the police has contacted me since then.
I have not told the social worker about my communication with Womens Aid, because I decided that they could deny him contact with our daughter as well. I have only told them he drinks regularly, 1-2 bottles of beer everyday or a bottle of whisky a week which the social worker said was normal ( I have kept loads of receipts to prove how much alcohol he buys). I have also asked them to stop him driving our daughter long distances due to his emotional state 'for the time of this investigation' which they have ignored. His mum has never been concerned about his drinking as well.

6 weeks on, I have been having supervised contact 2 hours a week. Needless to say, these have been going well - my daughter runs towards me, hugs me, tells me she misses me and stays close by. She did not want to leave at first. During our last meeting, she was clearly worried she had to go and kept asking how much time was left with mummy. She has developed an URI two weeks into her stay at granny's, which she has never had with me before. Today, her URI has returned. GP said it could be stress. I have also observed she did not have her hair brushed a couple of times and her ears were not cleaned when she visited. I am so worried about her! I have been supplying her with her favourite food, books, clothes, other things she likes through my husband's mum and call his mum to ask about her.
I have also engaged a family law solicitor with legal aid. however, she's not doing much - she told me we could raise a court action against xxx if I moved out. but I cant move out because we have started a divorce, and I cant afford to move out with my 2 day a week part-time job.
She has also told me there is no legal order in place raised by Social Work and it is most likely 'a conflict between parents' . Yet, my best option is to cooperate with them for the time being.

Two weeks ago I have talked to Womens Aid again, and they contacted Social Work. Now the new long-term social worker tells me they could apply for social housing for me as a victim under domestic abuse - I have agreed to this. They further said my daughter could move with me and settle into a new school because she is a confident child. This week, however, I am still having supervised contact with her through 'either my mother-in-law or my friend', so there has only been a little progress. His mum, my MIL, totally supports my husband and has even backed him up that he only drinks 'half a pint on weekends'.
Unfortunately, my own family is not from Scotland and they cant help me.

My main question is, when will this 'investigation' will end, do they have any timeframe? I have not seen anything in writing so far, and my solicitor has applied for a subject access request. Should I be looking to move out to a temporary accommodation ( I don't know how long social housing will take) to be reunited with my daughter? I cry every time my daughter after leaves me and it affects my work and general wellbeing.

My husband is very rude to me and he is only concerned about how to pay me less money in a divorce and is not willing to discuss the future arrangements about our daughter. In other words, he does not care how she feels without her mum.

thank you for any advice.

P.S. I understand this forum is mostly for England. however, I could not find a similar one for Scotland. my understanding is the social services are very similar in both countries.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear mbluefin

Thank you for your post. My name is Suzie and I am Family Rights Group’s online adviser. I am sorry to hear about the difficulties that you and your family are experiencing.

Unfortunately, we are not able to advise you as you and your daughter live in Scotland. Family Rights Group advises families in England or where an English children’s services department is involved. There are differences in the law and procedures in the different jurisdictions.

It is good that you have a family law solicitor and support from Women’s Aid. You may be able to get some additional advice or information from the Scottish Child Law Centre , however, please check if they can help as you already have a solicitor. You may find Children 1st Parentline helpful too.

I hope that you are able to get the right help and support.

Best wishes

Suzie