Child access

[AN1032]

Hi,
My son and his ex partner split up just over 3 years ago. They had a 6 year relationship in which both was awful to each other and it was toxic with silly games. However after they split up his ex made many false allegations to the police who found these all to be false even including an allegation of rape.

During this time she applied for a child arrangement order and prohibited steps order, the whole process took a year & he got access to his children. Then last year his son and daughter arrived for a visit and the little boy had bruises to his arms, neck and collar bone, his sister stated that their moms boyfriend had squeezed the little boy by the neck until he couldn’t breathe. The little boy got upset as he was told by mummy not to tell anyone or she will make him homeless.

This is currently going through court and for 7 months the children was placed with my son and doing well at school and settled. However at a hearing in November 2023 the social workers pushed for the children to return to the mum and her partner, both of them have and continue to refuse PNC checks. The children returned to the mum with a supervision order in place.

My son had some visits with the children and the social worker and no concerns and the judge said the contact was to move forward to him having contact every weekend from Friday to Monday. However the social worker then stated she wasn’t following this and he needed to be at a children’s centre. My son couldn’t get a children’s centre and an independent social worker with a PHD in child protection and safeguarding supervised the contacts and completed reports at the end of each session. The reports are glowing and the children still keep telling the social worker they want to live with their dad. Also the little boy has been hurt again with bruises noted by the school that he stated his mums boyfriend picked him up and squeezed his arms and threw him on the stairs. The social worker said that the mum has explained the little boy is a liar and dismissed it.

My son was due to see his children this weekend supervised by independent social worker and then on Saturday he got a email from the independent social worker to say that my sons ex partner had contacted him to say that the social worker allocated has said she won’t authorise anymore visits and she never told my son or his partner even though she had seen them on the Friday and spoke to them both on the Wednesday. My son and his partner are devastated.

My son and his partner have a 6 month old baby who is not part of the child in need process and lives with them both and my son never has to be supervised around.

Please can you advise if the social worker had the right to cancel the visit and how we move forward please.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear AN1032

Welcome to the forum and thank you for your post. My name is Suzie, I am an online adviser and will be responding to you today.

Your son and his partner separated three years ago. Following the separation his ex partner made allegations against him that you say were false. This was investigated by the police. No charges were made. At this time your son’s ex-partner made an application to court for child arrangements order and a prohibited steps order. Both were granted. The child arrangements order gave a ‘lives with’ to the mother and ‘contact’ to the father.

Whilst your grandchildren were having contact with their father, he noticed that his son had bruises to various parts of his body and his sister said that their mother’s boyfriend has caused these.

Court proceedings are underway. Your grandchildren were living with your son and made good progress at school however, at a Hearing in November 2023, it was decided that the children should be returned home to their mother with a Supervision Order in place. You say that the mother and boyfriend refused Police National Checks (PNC). This matter should have been dealt with in court therefore I will not comment on it here.

Contact was due to take place between your son and his children. This was to be supervised by an independent social worker. The social worker says the mother contacted him at the weekend to advise the social worker will not be authorising anymore contacts. You are seeking advice on whether a social worker can stop contact at short notice.

If an order for contact has been made by the court, then children’s services cannot override this. They can stop contact for a short period of time if they feel it is not in the child’s best interest whilst they seek direction and guidance from the court. I have added a link HERE to further information and guidance that you may find helpful.

I think it would be a good idea for your son to speak to the social worker direct. To inform them of the discussion they have had with the independent social worker and to seek written confirmation. I have added a link HERE that you may find helpful. It is to our ‘top tips’ social worker guidance. It provides information and guidance about how best to approach communications with social workers and also has information and guidance about what you may wish to consider if you are not satisfied with the service you are receiving.

If you would like any further advice please contact the advice service again. You can:

• Call our freephone helpline on 0808 8010366, Mon to Fri, 9.30 am to 3.00 pm (except bank holidays), to speak to an adviser.
• Send an advice enquiry advice enquiry
• Post another query here, on our kinship carers’ forum.
• Use our webchat facility web chat facility

Best wishes, Suzie

[AN1032]

Hi Suzie,
The prohibited steps order was never granted by the court. The main concern is that I have proof of the lies the social worker has told and continues to tell in their reports. I have sent these to the local authority and they say they won’t look into any of this until after the court hearing.
The police have also stated the social worker is misrepresenting their views and information they share. How do we move this forward if we can’t trust the social worker and if the local authority won’t look into anything until after the court proceedings have finished?

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear AN1032,

Thank you for your further post.

I hope that the previous advice was useful to you and answered some of your questions.

You now raise a further question about the complaints process and how the local authority have advised that they will not look into the matters raised until the current proceedings are concluded, and I will address my response to this question specifically.

Information about the complaints process is here and specific information about when complaints can be made is here.

If a court case about a child is ongoing, it is advisable to seek legal advice before making a complaint, so I would advise that if your son has a solicitor representing him in the ongoing proceedings he takes this matter up there.

It may be the subject of the complaint is best dealt with as an issue by the court. It may be a complaint could affect legal arguments within the court. Or it may be the complaint is best made shortly after the case has finished.

A complaint can still be made during the court case. But children services may decide not to look at the complaint if the same issue will be investigated and decided by the court.

You and your son can read what the law says on this issue
HERE and the statutory guidance contained in ‘Getting the best from Complaints, 2006 is
HERE.

I hope this information is helpful.

For further ways to seek advice from Family Rights Group please go to this link. Further ways to seek advice from Family Rights Group


Best wishes,

Suzie