Mental health and SS SECTION 47

[Equallyunamused]

Recently i experienced a mental health breakdown in which I sent the children to the co-parents as I had planned to self cancel with intent.
The AS stated the children could come back whenever they wanted to, but suggested I take time for myself, so I did. Every phone call I recorded when I contacted the children of them begging me to pick me up. Aged 5 and 13. 5 year old stated co-parent was blocking him from returning home. SS advised an emergency court order to get them home. During court SS advised children stay with co-parent and supervised contact! On the basis that my mental health hadnt been properly assessed although I did see the psychiatrist team and GP. I calmly accepted. I have an NMO against co-parent and ongoing police investigation.
AS is dragging her feet authorising persons to supervise, pulling out concerns for this that and the other. So I sought an ISW sent all details through stated she will confirm at some point at a later date if I can use ISW provided with online DBS checks, SS number etc so why should it take so long.

False allegations where made against me by co-parents partner which resulted in being brought as false information due to this i said no to said partner supervising contact. AS stated accept or dont speak to your children. Partner has spoken of the children being thir own, falsified reports stating I had abducted thier child i was arrested until proven it was infact my child not thiers and they hold no parental responsibility. I tried to contact AS for 2 weeks after this and heard nothing back, however she did have regular meetings with co-parent. I know of no meetings or such like unless I hear from a 3rd party.
Recently a family meeting was arranged in which I was not invited to nor provided any information before or after the meeting. Spoken to my solicitor and provided with all documentation solicitor feels AS is being very bias. I have self referred to all different courses voluntarily, as well as asking to be put on specific parenting courses. AS was ordered by courts to organise contact, I have done this myself such as contact centres, ISW, asking people to support with supervising. Court happened 4 weeks ago i still dont know how often contact should be, what days, what times etc she avoids this when I question her. She keeps telling me about a contact of agreement I have to sign which still hasn't been produced to me.

Co-parent made False allegation where made against my partner for abuse, CAFCASS on partner side have attempted to arrange a MDT meeting to put all these allegations to bed- partner taken ex to court for regular contact in court order which both parties are in agreement to however they live over 6hrs away and need support to manage this time. So AS after numerous phone calls and such like is not responding to thier proposal.

During court it was asked if there was any safeguarding concerns against me towards my children which AS stated there was not, court asked if there was any concerns regarding abuse towards my children to which AS stated there was not. There was nothing on co-parentd c100 to state concerns of abuse, the MDT meeting that was held without my knowledge woth professionals no concerns where raised. Now court have asked AS to complete section 47 to which she is now stating 5 year old is stating I have smacked him which I never have ever to any of them. Coincidentally enough this allegation has come about when they are completing the section 47.
AS refuses to contact my support network including my friends of a professional body such as military, doctors, educators and social workers as she states "it isnt neccessary" I stated it is to prove my defence in this. She has since not responded to me.

I have sent a statutory request for stage 1 complaint however I would like a new SW, do I have grounds for this. In the complaint is have raised concerns under the following:
Children Act 1989
Working Together to Safeguard Children
Social Work England professional standards
Human Rights Act 1998 – Article 8
Duty to gather balanced evidence
Importance of sibling relationships
Potential emotional pressure on children
Accuracy of information given to the court
Children Act 1989 – Welfare Checklist (Section 1

I have asked for a senior SW to gather the information I have requested who has had no involvement in the case.

I want to know should i wait and allow them time to deal with the complaint or should I ask for another social worker on the case. I feel no matter what I am being set up for failure and nothing I do will be good enough as they are using my mental health as a means to support there claim of "future emotional harm"

I still have a child at home they have no concerns with

[Winter25]

Hi Equallyunamused,

I am so sorry you are going through this, because what happened at the start matters and it needs saying clearly: when you realised you were in crisis and unsafe, you made sure the children were with their co-parent. That is protective parenting. That is the behaviour of a parent who recognised danger and acted to keep her children safe. Do not let anyone rewrite that as if it proves you are unsafe by default.

What seems to have happened since is that your moment of crisis has become the lens through which everything is now being judged, while the co-parent’s behaviour and the social worker’s delays are being treated as secondary. That is where the unfairness is.

The most important point in your whole post is the one right at the end: you still have a child at home and they have said they have no concerns about that child. That is a very serious inconsistency in their position. Because if they genuinely believed you were a baseline, ongoing parenting danger because of your mental health, it is difficult to reconcile that with leaving another child in your care without action. That is something your solicitor should be putting front and centre, because it goes directly to whether their current position is coherent or whether your mental health is simply being used as the easiest explanation for everything.

The second major issue is contact. The court expected the social worker to organise contact, and four weeks later you still did not know the basic terms of it. That is not just frustrating, it is unacceptable. You should not have had to source contact centres, independent social workers and supervisors yourself while the allocated social worker avoided giving you clear answers. At this point, I would stop hoping she will suddenly become efficient or fair. Keep the complaint going, yes, because her conduct absolutely needs recording, but do not wait for the complaint to fix the immediate problem. The immediate problem is contact, and that is where your solicitor needs to apply pressure.

You need to simplify the case now and stop spreading your energy across every wrong thing that has happened. Your strongest points are these.

You acted protectively during your mental health crisis.
There were no safeguarding concerns raised in court about you abusing the children.
There is no evidence of harm to the child still living with you.
You have self-referred, engaged, sought help, and tried to arrange safe contact yourself.
The social worker has delayed, excluded you from meetings, failed to communicate, and not implemented a proper contact plan.

That is your case in a nutshell.

On the new allegation from your 5-year-old, I would not use words like coaching or alienation in direct dealings with the social worker unless your solicitor advises it. I completely understand why the timing sets alarm bells ringing, but the stronger position is this that you deny the allegation, the timing is deeply concerning, and you expect it to be investigated neutrally and fairly rather than simply folded into an existing narrative about you. Keep it there.

I also think you should stop trying to prove your case with professional friends. I understand why you want those people contacted, but social workers often dismiss that as character evidence rather than safeguarding evidence. What is much stronger is objective evidence from your GP, psychiatrist, crisis team, or any other clinical professional showing that you sought help appropriately, engaged with treatment, and are stable enough to parent. That is the kind of evidence that is much harder to shrug off.

So if I were you, I would now focus on three things only.

1 First, ask your solicitor to consider going back to court urgently on the issue of contact and the contradiction in their position about the child still in your care.

2 keep all communication with the social worker in writing, short and factual. One issue per email if possible. No emotional essays. No trying to correct everything at once.

3 keep your complaint running, including the exclusion from meetings, the lack of updates, the delays in authorising supervisors, the failure to organise contact, and the one-sided communication.

But I do think the stage you are at now is beyond “please work with me better.” You have done that. You have tried that. At this point, you need to push this through the court route and through hard written evidence, not through hoping the allocated social worker will suddenly start doing things properly.

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For full transparency, I am not an official adviser. I am a parent with lived experience of the family court system, offering strategic guidance. Always consult with a solicitor regarding ongoing court proceedings.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Equallyunamused

Thank you for your post and welcome to the discussion board. My name is Suzie, I am an online adviser and will be replying to you today. I am sorry to hear of your situation; it must be a stressful and difficult time for you.

You recently experienced a mental health breakdown. You put plans in place to ensure your children were cared for during this period whilst you sought support for yourself. One child remained at home (I will assume this is the child of your current partner) and you asked your other children's co parent to look after them. Children’s services have no concerns about this child who remains living with you.

Your have tried to be proactive in supporting yourself and your children at a difficult time, but feel that no matter how hard you try, you are being ‘set up for failure and nothing I do will be good enough as they are using my mental health as a means to support there claim of future emotional harm.’

Your understanding of the arrangement made between you and your ex partner was that the children could come back to you whenever they wanted to.. You say that whilst the children were living with their co parent they were unhappy and wanted to come home to you (you have recorded evidence of this) further, that your five-year-old child told you that their co parent was blocking their return.

You have a non molestation order (NMO) against you ex parent and an ongoing police investigation. I will therefore assume domestic abuse is an issue. I hope you are/have received support for this. I have added HERE a link to Women’s Aid. A charity that supports women who are or have experienced domestic abuse.

You contacted children’s services for advice regarding your situation. They advised you to seek an emergency application to court for the children to be returned home. You did this, with the support of a solicitor which, from the information provided, you still retain. During this process (known as private law proceeding), the court directed that the children should remain with their co parent and have supervised contact with you . The court was concerned that your mental health needs had not been properly assessed.

A Section 47 child protection enquiry has been requested by the court. During the information gathering process, the social worker informed that your five year old child has said you smacked them. You deny this, saying you have never smacked any of your children.

I have added HERE information, Law and guidance from Child Law Advice regarding physical chastisement of children.

The court directed the allocated social worker to arrange contact however, this has been a slow and frustrating process, there has been disagreement about who should supervised due to allegations and counter allegations between parties and some four weeks on, family time between you and your children has still not started and you have no details of when it will.

When you raised your concerns to the social worker you were told you need to sign a contact agreement document before contact can proceed however, this has not been produced. You have made enquiries about an independent social worker (ISW) to facilitate contact and are waiting to see whether this will be agreed.

You know of several meetings that have been held between the children’s co parent and the social worker, including a recent ‘family meeting’ that you were not invited to nor provided with any details of the outcome.

You have made a formal complaint to children’s services and within this you are asking for a different social worker to be allocated. You are seeking advice on whether you have grounds for making the complaint and whether you should wait for the outcome of the complaint or go direct to the department to ask for this.

At Family Rights Group we provided information, advice and guidance to support parents/carers family member and friends to self advocate when children’s services are involved or when parents/carers wish them to be involved. We do not provide advice under private law proceedings. This is outside of our funding agreements. Given this, I would suggest you continue to work with your solicitor to ensure the court has all of the information before them to make an informed decision about your children’s living and contact arrangements.

When a Section 47 child protection enquiry is undertaken, children services are obliged by law and guidance to include and provide information to parents and carers who hold parental responsibility for their children. However, in some circumstances, due to safeguarding concerns/potential safeguarding concerns, some information may be reducated.

I have added HERE comprehensive information and guidance regarding this process which I hope you find helpful.

When contact has been court order, it is the responsibility of the Cafcass worker or allocated social worker from children’s services, to put this in place. Waiting over four weeks for this to happen and without any of the documentation being completed to progress, does seem to be overly long. I would advise you to continue you with your Stage 1 complaint to address those concerns. At a Stage 1 complaint, children’s services have 10 working days to try to resolve the complaint so hopefully this matter should be resolved quickly. If it is not, then you may wish to consider taking to a Stage 2 complaint which is a lengthier process. I have added HERE
information and guidance regarding the complaints process.

It is difficult to give a definitive around 'grounds' of a complaint because I do not have all the information before me. However, from the information provided it does seem that communications have been poor and that delays in setting up contact between you and your children have been protracted therefore as previously stated, I would advise you to continue with your complaint.

Lastly, I have added a link HERE to some guidance we have created when working with social workers. This offers ‘top tips’ to work well with social workers and what you may wish to consider if things are not going so well.

Best wishes, Suzie