Access to own children if on register

[Need help 2021]

Hi any more updates worried mum ?

[Kitty 33]

We are still wating to see if she can come home should find out beginning of next week

[gizmoxx]

Hello.
I don’t know if anyone can help me but I was in a relationship with a sex offender. He was caught looking at indecent images of children online. We not have a baby that was not planned as I never thought I would get pregnant. He wasn’t allowed at the hospital. Even the birth. I’ve told them I want nothing to do with him. Once I had the baby I was allowing him to see the baby but never ever left my baby on her own with him. We have been having a relationship again. His police worker has found out and done a referral to social services. I am worried sick. Can anyone advise me or help me on what to do? I don’t want my baby taken off me. It’s so hard because I love this man but my child means more. He also has another son who he has supervised contact with. So naturally I thought it was ok. Social services did do an assessment on me and said I was for to safe guard my baby with this new info from his police worker I fear I am in trouble. Can anyone please give me some advice. His police worker went through his Facebook and seen photos of me and the baby. This has also compromised my friend as he was around my friend too and they are taking this very seriously. The police worker even contacted my friend. Please can someone help me.

[Nothinghelps]

Hi gizmo. This is all just routine for someone who is on the sex offenders list. It does not mean they can take your child away with out good reason to do so. They will come around and do a risk assessment but if he has access to his other child being supervised then as long as your around then I can't see a problem with it. I personally am having to go through a lot worse atm. But that's my fault and a whole other story. It's all about managing his risk to the child or children involved. Hopefully he's done all CPS have asked and anything else like Horizon ect they put you through. It's all going to be very hard and stressful. But please seek advise from a family lawyer as well. You both have a right to a normal family life. We all make mistakes it's just about moving on. I hope this may easy your mind a bit. But be sure to note anything you believe social say that could be wrong or against the law as they use a lot of scare tactics that they are not allowed to do. Rather than the truth iv found they go to the extreme worst case and that's what's really scarry. Take care.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Hi gizmo. This is all just routine for someone who is on the sex offenders list. It does not mean they can take your child away with out good reason to do so. They will come around and do a risk assessment but if he has access to his other child being supervised then as long as your around then I can't see a problem with it. I personally am having to go through a lot worse atm. But that's my fault and a whole other story. It's all about managing his risk to the child or children involved. Hopefully he's done all CPS have asked and anything else like Horizon ect they put you through. It's all going to be very hard and stressful. But please seek advise from a family lawyer as well. You both have a right to a normal family life. We all make mistakes it's just about moving on. I hope this may easy your mind a bit. But be sure to note anything you believe social say that could be wrong or against the law as they use a lot of scare tactics that they are not allowed to do. Rather than the truth iv found they go to the extreme worst case and that's what's really scarry. Take care.

Dear gizmoxx

Welcome to the Family Rights Group parents’ discussion forum and thank you for posting. My name is Suzie, online adviser at Family Rights Group and I will be responding to your post.

I see from your post that you are very concerned about your current situation. A referral has been made to children's services (the new name for social services). You wish to know what action might be taken by children services regarding your partner who is a sex offender and father of your baby.

You say in your post that children's services were involved prior to the birth of your baby. The father was not able to attend the hospital or the birth. Children’s services did an assessment of you. At the time, you informed them that you no longer wished to be in a relationship with the father and, I believe, that for this reason they may well have taken the view that you were being a protective of your baby by separating from the father so there were no safeguarding concerns for them to remain involved.

Your partner as a sex offender is likely to have a SHPO, he would be aware of restrictions (if any) that being in a relationship with you or anyone with a child could lead to children services becoming involved and it may well be that it was a requirement that he should inform his supervising officer of any relationship he has where there is a child involved. Unfortunately, it appears that neither you nor he were open about your resuming your relationship. This is likely to lead children’s services to consider that you cannot be trusted to put your child needs before your own to keep baby safe.

The fact that your partner may not have told you of the restrictions to which he is subject because of his conviction would also be a concern for children services. Also, of concern is the fact that you resumed your relationship with him. you say that your baby’s father has supervised contact with another child and children services may wonder why you did not consider it necessary for him to have supervised contact with your baby rather than resuming your relationship since you told children's services that the relationship had ended. He would have been aware of any restrictions about being around children or starting a family. It seems he has put you in a difficult position
From your post it appears that you are saying that you thought it would be okay to allow contact. However, you do not say or it is not clear why you felt that resuming relationship would not be a concern to children services because of the previous involvement with you and your partner.

Children’s services is not able to remove your baby from your car without carrying out appropriate assessment which can include section 47 child protection enquiries. I have included a link here to information about child protection. The first step in the process would be the social worker ing you about te referral, arrange an appointment to meet with you. The social worker should explain the concerns and how the case will be managed. It is important that cooperate with the enquiries being carried out by the social worker. You may have to consider whether you wish to continue in your relationship with your baby’s father and the social worker will then be able to tell you what their view is about this. The fact that he was not allowed at the hospital or at the birth and it may have been suggested that it was not safe for him to be with you suggests that there are significant safeguarding concerns about him as well as your ability to keep your baby safe.

If children’s services consider that you are not able or need additional support to keep your baby safe it could be recommended, after the s47 investigation ends, that there should be an initial child protection conference to consider a child protection or other plan for your baby. It is very important that you work openly and honestly with children services to have the best outcome for yourself and your baby. I have included a link HERE for information about the steps children services carry out when they receive a referral and I hope that this will give you a clearer picture of the procedure that children’s services is likely to follow.

There is information HERE about child protection and child in need child in need These are the two plans that children’s services can put in place when there are concerns about a child.’s welfare. You may also find it helpful to read our guide GUIDE about working with social workers

You may find it helpful to contact the Lucy Faithful Foundation parents protect service on 0808 100 0900. They offer advice to perpetrators as well as family in respect of sexual offences.

I hope this is helpful, but you should wish to speak with an adviser on our free confidential advice line on 0808 801 0366. The advice line is open from 930am to 3pm Monday to Friday (except Bank Holidays).

Best wishes

Suzie

[Millq209]

Hi, I’m looking some advice. I was recently in a relationship with a man who has now gone to prison for a year because of sexual assault on a 13 year old while he was 16 (now 30). He has been told he will be on the sex offenders register for life.
I have a 3 year old daughter and just wonder what Input social services would have when he gets out of prison if we began our relationship again.
He was deemed in court as a low risk to ever reoffend but I’m concerned about social services and would they have to contact my daughters biological father to inform him?
Any advice would be appreciated

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Hi, I’m looking some advice. I was recently in a relationship with a man who has now gone to prison for a year because of sexual assault on a 13 year old while he was 16 (now 30). He has been told he will be on the sex offenders register for life.
I have a 3 year old daughter and just wonder what Input social services would have when he gets out of prison if we began our relationship again.
He was deemed in court as a low risk to ever reoffend but I’m concerned about social services and would they have to contact my daughters biological father to inform him?
Any advice would be appreciated

Dear Millq209

Welcome to the parents’ discussion board and thank you for your post. My name is Suzie and I am Family Rights Group’s online adviser. I am sorry that there has been a delay in replying to your initial post. You have posted similar queries on a number of threads but I will respond here as this is your most detailed post.

You are wondering what will happen when your partner is released from prison where he is serving a sentence for sexually assaulting a child fourteen years ago when he was 16. You state that he will be subject to police notification requirements for life (often referred to as being on the Sex Offenders Register). You don’t say how long his sentence is but this would indicate that it is a lengthy sentence.

I can see that you are worried about what a resumption of your relationship would mean for your daughter. It is good that you are thinking ahead, seeking advice, and not rushing into any decisions.

If you do renew your relationship with your partner on his release from prison then children’s services will be notified by the police, the prison or probation. They are likely to want to do an assessment as you are the mother of a young child. Your partner is not your daughter's father therefore he has no rights in relation to her. However, as he has a conviction for a child sexual offence then any specific risk to your daughter would need to be assessed. Children’s services will want to be satisfied that you, as your daughter’s mother and a parent with parental responsibility for her, understand that there is a risk and that your are able to act protectively. Although you say that the court deemed him to be at low risk of reoffending, children’s services’ role is to assess your daughter’s specific needs including to be kept safe from the risk of sexual harm.

Please see our information on how children’s services work and on child sexual abuse too.

The outcome of the assessment will depend on the specific concerns and risk, the contact your partner has and how able you are to be protective of your child. Please see our information on child in need and child protection for more details about this.

When children’s services assess a child’s circumstances they should involve both parents. Your daughter’s father would be entitled to know if/why she has a social worker. He would need to be aware if there was a possibility that she would be in contact with a person convicted of a child sexual offence. He would also be expected ensure that his daughter is safe from harm and to be aware of any safety plan in place. If he was worried he might want to consider if he needed to do anything further to safeguard your daughter.

There is a lot of relevant information on the Parents Protect website and you can also get in touch with the Stop it Now charity if you would like to get some specialist advice from them, as the partner of an offender.

I hope this is helpful.

Please do post back or call our freephone advice helpline on 0808 8010366 if you have a further query. Our lines are open from Mon to Fri, from 9.30 am to 3.00 pm , except bank holidays.

Best wishes

Suzie

[Millq209]

Thanks for your advice! He has only gone to prison for 1 year.
I am just very stressed about social services informing my child’s father as he is very difficult so I know he will cause havoc when he finds out

[Nothinghelps]

I only went away for 14months and trust me iv been out now for just over 2 weeks it's really hard with all these stupid things they put on you. Your bf is really going to need you when he gets out. And you can't control what the ex does. Just make sure you keep your child safe and that's all that matters. My ex was by my side the day I went in and promised me a lot of things but when it's come down to it now she can't even act like a adult and talk to me saying we have to talk through lawyers. If I can help in any other way please do ask. I'm going through what he will. Getting real support is hard. They say people are in place to help you but really they are in place to throw you back in prison if they can.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Thanks for your advice! He has only gone to prison for 1 year.
I am just very stressed about social services informing my child’s father as he is very difficult so I know he will cause havoc when he finds out

Dear Millq209,

Thank you for your further post.

I understand that it will be difficult for you if children’s services become involved and inform the father of your child of their concerns, however they have a duty to do so, and it would be extremely poor practice for them to not inform him. As I explained previously he would be expected to ensure that his daughter is safe and if he was worried he may need to consider if there’s anything further he could do to safeguard your daughter.

I can see that Nothinghelps has offered some advice and I would agree that the most important thing is for you to ensure that your daughter is safe. However I would caution that this may mean that you will need to make difficult decisions, including how you will demonstrate to children’s services that you will prioritise your child’s safety over your partner. Ultimately if children’s services feel that you are unable to adequately safeguard your daughter from potential harm then their involvement will escalate and could result in child protection procedures or care proceedings. For this reason I would encourage you to work in partnership with children’s services and take their recommendations and concerns seriously.

I hope that this is of some help. Please post again if you have further queries or you can call our helpline on 0808 801 0366 (Monday to Friday, 9:30am – 3pm).

Best wishes,
Suzie