Dear 1980LibraG
Welcome to the parents’ discussion board. Thank you for your post. My name is Suzie and I am Family Rights Group’s online adviser.
I am sorry to hear that you have recently had safeguarding concerns about your 9 year old child who lives with their other parent. As you were worried, you raised your concerns with the school receptionist. You were expecting to be contacted by a teacher but instead the school contacted your ex-partner. You want to know if the school had the right to do this.
You have since been told by your ex-partner that children’s services are already involved. They told you that a social worker has been doing unannounced home visits. You were not aware of this and understandably are questioning why children’s services did not tell you that they were involved with your child.
I am assuming that you are a parent with
parental responsibility for your child. You don’t say whether there is a
Child Arrangement Order in place for your child to live with their other parent, or whether this is by agreement between both parents.
Either way, as you were worried about your child, you did the right thing by letting their school know. I think that it would have been better if the school had told you what action they were going to take before they got in touch with the parent the child lives with. You have not said that the safeguarding concern was. I cannot comment on whether the school acted appropriately or not. We do not advise on school issues. However, this has caused you some distress and concern. I would suggest that you contact the safeguarding lead at your child’s school to ask for a copy of their policy and also to ask them to let you know why they took the decision they did. You might want to ask for a meeting to discuss this or you may prefer to ask in writing. If you would like more advice about working with your child’s school or if you are considering making a complaint you can contact
Child Law Advice Education by calling 0300 330 5485, Mon to Fri, 10 am to 4 pm, by
email, or by webchat.
Children’s services are required to work in partnership with parents when assessing children’s needs or where there is a plan in place to support them. So, they would be expected to let a parent know that they are involved and to include them in any assessment or support plan, if they have their contact details, unless there was an exceptional reason not to. Also as you mention that the social worker is conducting ‘spot checks’ this suggests that there may be a
child protection enquiries or process taking place.
My advice is that you contact children’s services directly, provide your contact details, confirm that you are the child’s parent and ask that they provide you with information about the length and nature of their current involvement and how you can be fully included in the process, as a concerned parent. You can ask children’s services to clarify why you were not informed that they were working with your child.
I am enclosing a link to
how children’s services work and also to our
parents’ pages too to assist you.
If you need any further advice about children’s services then you can contact the advice service in one of the following ways:
• Post again on this forum
• Call our freephone advice line on 0808 8010366, Mon to Fri, 9.30 am to 3.00 pm (except bank holidays)
• Send an
advice enquiry
• Use our
webchat facility
I hope that your child is safe and well and that you are properly updated about their situation so that you can support them.
I hope this helps.
Best wishes
Suzie