Social services involvement being kept secret

Post Reply
COLLAR12
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2022 9:56 pm

Social services involvement being kept secret

Post by COLLAR12 » Mon Aug 08, 2022 10:19 pm

Hi,
I’m looking for some advice to see if there is any legal action or steps myself and my partner can take against the mother of his child/social services. They have been broken up for over 10 years now. Things have never been civil or easy between the two of them however a couple of years ago, his ex girlfriend met someone and they are now married. This man has his own children who he is legally not allowed to see unless supervised due to a number of reasons.
However, my partner has recently been made aware that social services are now concerned about his child living with this man and that they have visited the home multiple times, and more recently called a meeting with his childs school. My partner has never been invited to these meetings or made aware that social services are even involved until it becomes a possibility that they “might want to talk to him”. A child in need plan has now been put in place.
I find this really hard to get my head around as he is the father in this situation, not his ex girlfriends husband. Therefore legally, I would have thought if there was a welfare concern about his child he has has a right to know. He has parental responsibility from a legal stand point and from what I have been reading online it looks like he should definitely be involved in all of these meetings.
Can someone maybe point me in the right direction of who he should speak to or where we can find some answers about how to take action against the social services involved or his ex? Or if there would be a reason why he has been excluded from so many important conversations.

User avatar
Suzie, FRG Adviser
Posts: 4210
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:57 pm

Re: Social services involvement being kept secret

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Mon Aug 15, 2022 11:42 am

Dear Collar12,

Welcome to the parents' board and thank you for your post.

You say that your partner has been split up from the mother of his child for over 10 years. His ex-girlfriend is now remarries to someone who is only allowed to have supervised contact with his own children. You do not state the reasons for this. Your partner has recently become aware that children's services have concerns about his child being around this man and there is now a child in need plan in place. Your partner has not been to any of the meetings convened by children's services and was not told of their involvement initially. You are concerned about this and say that he has PR and should have been involved. You would like to know you can take action against children's services or his ex-partner.

Firstly, you are correct in saying that your partner should have been notified of children's services involvement and included in any meetings that have been held. Children’s services have responsibility for supporting children and families. Children’s services should work in partnership with children and their families to keep children safe. 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. The only exception to this is if including a parent may put another parent or a child at risk - if this is the case, the social worker should try and take steps to manage this.

It is important that your partner is updated about children's services involvement and is included in any child in need meetings. He should have a copy of the plan and should have an active part in keeping his child safe. I would advise that your partner write to the social worker to express his concern that this had not been the case and to request that he is involve going forward. If he wants to, he may want to make a complaint about this. Please see here for more information. He may also find it helpful to visit our page for fathers, which may answer any other questions he has.

In regards to your partner's ex-girlfriend, if he has has concerns about the safety of his child in her and her partner's care, he may want to consider applying to the courts for a child arrangements order or a prohibited steps order. For more advice on this, he can contact Child Law Advice on 0300 330 5480

I hope you have found this helpful.

Best wishes,

Suzie.

Post Reply

Who is online

In total there are 2 users online :: 1 registered, 0 hidden and 1 guest (based on users active over the past 5 minutes)
Most users ever online was 318 on Fri May 28, 2021 9:04 pm