Cut out by Children's Services

[Ra123]

Hi all

My children were subject to Children Protection Plan for approximately 4 years due to me commiting DV against my 4 older children and receiving cautions from the subsequent Police investigation for it. Childrens Services finally closed the case in Feb 2021 as I wasn't living in the home and was the risk to my children had deemed to diminished to the extent we were looking at me having 1 unsupervised contact per month.

Then during a Family Court hearing back in June 2021 it was mentioned in the CAFCASS report that CS has re-engaged with 3 of my children. This was brushed off in court by the judge as CAFCASS hadn't spoken to either myself or my estranged wife nor my children, choosing only to quote a report from a Social Worker who wasn't even involved in our original case.

Fast forward September 2021 and I made contact with each of the schools that my children attend to make sure they had the right contact details for myself so they could send me reports etc when one of the schools said they would interact with me and said to speak to the Social Worker involved in the case. I wrote back stating that as far as I was concerned CS had closed the case and were not involved with my children anymore and they replied back with the name of the Social Worker I should contact. I contacted the SW and she confirmed that they had re-engaged with 3 of my children on the grounds of mental health but due to the wishes of my children I wouldn't be receiving any more information.

I have no problems with my children making that decision not to let me know details as that is their right, what I am more annoyed about is CS re-engaging with my children and I wasn't informed even though I had full parental responsibility at the time. Are CS allow to just block me out like that? I wouldn't have even minded if they had said to me, that they had re-engaged with some of my children but due to their wishes I wouldn't be receiving anymore information about. It is more being kept in the dark about it and they way I eventually found about it. It seems extremely unfair to me to totally block me like that

Many thanks in advance for your advice

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Ra123

Welcome to the discussion board and thank you for your post. My name is Suzy and I will be responding to you today.

I am sorry to hear you are annoyed by children’s services lack of communications with you. It is advisable to agree a method of communication with the social worker moving forward. You may find this link HERE useful. It is our 'top tips' guide to working with social workers.

Your children were subject to a child protection plan for four years due to domestic abuse. This was investigated by the police and you received a caution. In February 2021 the child protection plan ended because the risk you pose was reduced. In June 2021 you made a private law application seeking contact with your children. CAFCASS completed a report and noted that children’s services were back involved with three of your children. You say this was ‘brushed off’ by the court and not explored by the CAFCASS officer. It is not clear from your post whether contact was granted.

You say that you were made aware of children’s services involvement again in September 2021 after contacting your children’s schools. One of the schools informed you that children's services were involved and suggested you contact them. The social worker advised their involvement was related to the children's mental health needs. Respecting the children’s wishes and feelings, the social worker said they would not be sharing any further information with you a per the children's wishes. You accept this but are annoyed that children's services did not inform you at the start of their intervention and, as a parent with parental responsibility you want to know whether this is acceptable.

Children’s services have responsibility for supporting children and families. And for keeping vulnerable children safe. Children’s services should work in partnership with children and their families to do this. This includes parents. Government statutory guidance called Working Together 2018 , makes this clear (see page 9 at paragraph 11). Parents includes all birth fathers who have parental responsibility and birth fathers who do not. You may this link HERE helpful.

On this page you will find information about:
• Partnership working and parental responsibility
• Five big topics: contact, child protection, care proceedings, the care system,
adoption
• Where fathers can get further help and support

Do you know in what capacity children’s services are involved with your family? If not, it would be a good idea to contact the social worker to clarify.

Practitioners should share all relevant information with parents or carers. Unless doing that may place the child at risk or jeopardise any police investigations. However, there is a balance that needs to be reached between this and children’s wishes and feelings. A child's wishes and feelings should be taken into consideration in light of their age and understanding. Children's services need to ensure children's views, wishes and feelings are periodically reviewed to ensure plans made are child focussed and meet their needs.

I hope you find this information useful.  Should you wish to speak to an adviser please call our free advice line: 0808 801 0366 (Mon to Fri 9.30a.m. – 3.00p.m.) Or you can of course post on our forum again.

Best wishes, Suzie