Strategy meeting

[SAE0524]

Hi All,
To cut a long story short, as a family we have struggled over the past year with my daughter’s challenging behaviour. My daughter is 15 years old and has recently made false allegations against me and disclosed them to her school. Her school done a front door referral. I have previously spoken to the school and reached out for support so they are very aware of how difficult things have been for us.
The referral went in on a Friday, I heard nothing until the following Tuesday when 3 police officers and a social worker knocked on my door. I was home alone with my 6 month old baby and they asked to come in, they told me they couldn’t discuss anything with me but said I needed to come to the station as my daughter had chosen to press charges against me for ABH. They refused to give me any more details but asked if I could come to the station on Friday for questioning. I asked them if there had been a strategy discussion and they confirmed that yes there had been and informed me that there was joint enquiries for section 47.
They advised that I’d need a solicitor.
I attended the police station and was questioned under caution on the Friday.
The weekend passed and I assumed I’d be spoken to by a social worker. I assumed they’d want to see my house and speak to my husband and my other daughter who is 10 years old. The outcome strat is tomorrow and I have not heard from anyone, no outcome from the police and not a single word from a social worker.
The social worker who attended my house with police knew me professionally as I work in a similar role and she shadowed me for 30 days when she was a student.
I have not spoken to one professional, I assume there are no concerns for my other two children as they have not seen or spoke to them Either.
Is this normal??
As I say, I work in a similar role so I am aware of the system, I’ve attended many strategy discussions as a professional and I have to say, I have never known things to go this way.
Any advice would be great!
I’m losing my mind if I’m honest, no idea what is going on!
For reference- my 15 year old is not currently living with me, she is with her dad at his house.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear SAE0524

Welcome to the parents’ discussion board. Thank you for your post. My name is Suzie. I am Family Rights Group’s online adviser.

I am sorry to hear of the difficult situation you and your family are going through.

You have explained that you have struggled in the last year with your 15 year old daughter’s challenging behaviour. She has made an allegation of physical abuse against you. This has led to a strategy meeting where a joint investigation by children’s services and police was agreed.

Your daughter is currently staying with her father while your baby and 10 year old are at home with you.

Police are leading the criminal investigation. Your daughter intends to press charges against you for actual bodily harm. You were interviewed under caution at the police station. I hope you managed to get some legal advice and representation from a criminal solicitor.

Children’s services lead the section 47 enquiries and the assessment of your children’s welfare.

At the strategy meeting, the professionals agree the strategy, identify who does what and in what timescale and also what information will be shared with parents and children.

When there is a criminal investigation also taking place there may be some information that they decide not to share if it might compromise the police investigation. This may explain, to some extent, why you have not been told much. A review strategy meeting is due imminently and this should make matters clearer.

Understandably, this situation is causing you and your family a great deal of distress and anxiety as has the lack of update from both police and children’s services. I would recommend that you contact the social worker directly, by email if possible, to ask them to confirm that they will give you feedback as soon as possible following the strategy meeting.

You have raised a concern about a potential conflict of interest as the social worker who attended your home with the police is known to you and shadowed you in your professional role for 30 days previously. I don’t know if you are a social worker or work in a related field in the same local authority area. You may want to flag this issue urgently with the social worker’s manager or the service manager to see if an independent social worker or a different local authority can complete the enquiries.

As you are probably aware, children’s services have 45 working days to complete an assessment. However, if there is to be a child protection conference this must be held within 15 working days of the strategy meeting which began the child protection enquiries. So, I would expect that following the imminent review strategy meeting, you will be told whether or not a child protection conference will be held.

You are wondering about the assessment of your baby and your 10 year old’s needs. You are right that the needs of all the children in a family must be considered, however, it seems that the primary concern at present is for your 15 year old daughter so her situation is taking priority. If the allegations made are not substantiated children’s services will want to consider what is going on for your daughter to prompt this. Of course, they also need to hear from you and I can see how frustrating it must be not to have been contacted yet.

I hope that you hear from children’s services as soon as possible and that the situation moves forward. As you are a professional, you may want to get some advice / support from your union or professional body. The Local Authority Designated Officer(LADO) may be/become involved if you work with children or vulnerable adults.

Please post back on this discussion board or contact the advice service by phone, email, or webchat if you need to.

Best wishes

Suzie

[SAE0524]

Hi Suzie,

Thank you for your reply.
I have now heard back from the police and the case has been filed with no further action.
I am aware that the outcome strat was Friday 3rd.
To this day, I have still not heard from a social worker.
Nobody has seen or spoken to my 10 year old daughter, nobody has been to my house.
In terms of ‘enquiries’ following the strategy discussion, I’m not sure what’s been done.
I’ve never known social services not to make contact with parents, regardless of a police investigation.
I’m not a social worker, but I do work very closely with the social work team in my district, I’m very aware of the system and the processes.
I really feel mis treated here, the lack of communication has caused me unbelievable amounts of anxiety and stress.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear SAE0524

Thank you for your response, I hope by now you have heard what was decided at the strategy meeting on the 3rd.

For your information Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 has some helpful information, do start reading from page 86.

I hope this document will be useful.

Best wishes
Suzie