Continuing cpp

[Coffeeaddict]

My children ended up on a cpp after it emerged that two of them had been sexually abused by their brother 8 years ago. He no longer has any contact with any of us. We had the review meeting last week and one thing that is bothering us is that they agreed that the children are not at risk of future sexual abuse, but scored based on the fact that one child is having a mental health crisis, which we have been fighting to get him help with for 6 years now. They insisted it's a holistic approach, so although they aren't at risk of sexual abuse in the future, it still needs to be in place and they can't change the category. This really doesn't seem right to us, as it states that to meet the threshold they must have evidence of past harm, AND that harm is likely in the the future in the category it is under.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Coffeeaddict,

Welcome to the Parents forum, I’m Suzie, FRG’s online adviser. I am sorry for the delay in responding to your post.
I am sorry to hear about the sexual abuse that two of your children suffered. It must have been a very difficult time for your family. You say that both children have been kept on a CP plan for a further 6 months even though children services have admitted that they are not at risk of future harm from sexual abuse. However, is your child’s ongoing mental health difficulties related to the abuse they suffered? If so, children services might be arguing that the category should not be changed as the children are still suffering the after- effects of the abuse. However, there could be other categories that could be used.
You could write to the chair of the CP conference and ask that s/he explain why they are still using the category of sexual abuse. Also ask them to explain why it has been kept at child protection level when you say there is no future risk. You could also ask what needs to happen to enable the case to go down to “child in need” or to close. If you do not agree with the chair’s response, then you can challenge this via children services complaints. Please see here for information and advice sheet about complaints.
I hope my advice helps. If you have any questions, please post again.
Kind regards,
Suzie

[Coffeeaddict]

Well I thought this was coming to an end, but seems that a change in social worker has messed things up again. Old social worker wrote report for the rcpc before she left, recommending it steps down to cin, but we have just got the report which now says that they recommend that it continues due to outstanding actions regarding children's education. Being that one of them needs the ehcp reviewed as he is about to start college, and the other can't make up his mind if he wants to go back to school or continue home education IF we get moved closer to his friends school. Oh, and also that the ATP assessment still hasn't been completed after 9 months, mainly due to old social worker being off sick for about 6 weeks. New social worker said to me today that cpc is nothing to do with education, but then sends me the report recommending continuing cpp due to outstanding education concerns. I just don't know what to do, seems that they are making excuses to keep us on a cpp, starting to think that it's due to both my husband and I having disabilities. This just doesn't seem right, that we are being kept on a plan for another 6 months because the council, in various departments, can't do their job. Any advice on how I can fight this? The only people going to be present at the rcpc is us and the social worker, as no other professionals are involved with the family.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Coffeeaddict

Thank you for your post, I am sorry for the delay in responding.

Child protection review case conferences are always attended by a chair of the conference and you should have the opportunity to speak with this person before the conference. You can find out more about the process in Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 see pages 49 to 53. Our website has some helpful information too, you can find it here.

It may be a good idea, when you speak to the chair, to ask whether it is appropriate that your children remain under a CP plan, as the social worker suggests, because they need services that are yet to be provided by the council and which relate to education and not child protection concerns. You may want to say that on these grounds you would be happier if you were stepped down to a child in need plan.

I hope this information is useful.

Best wishes

Suzie