Advice please
3 answers /
Last post: 27/12/2022 at 6:04 pm
A family member's ex-partner took their son out of school and away his dad (where he was living with her verbal consent) to a new school and home 45 mins away to a new school.
She is now living with a domestic abuser who is banned from seeing his own child from a previous partner with the son and their newborn.
A few weekends he was arrested as they were beating each other up which the son saw.
The father (family member) has a steady job, is not violent, is a great dad when he can see his son and has done nothing wrong. Why has social services allowed the son and new born to stay with the mother and abusive partner. Really trying to make sense of it as it feels to me they have put the child in danger. What am I missing?
If he was arrested a referral to SS will be made and the school would have been informed ASAP if not the next day to support the child. This will remain on school records now and the school have a duty to monitor the child if they were not already monitoring them due to previous SS contact.
The father should ensure the school sends him the same information the mother receives to keep him in the loop and wait to see what SS do next.
Moving schools can also be a trigger for SS depending on the situation.
All SS involvement is now on school records and monitored separately.
There is no way to know what information is held or even shared between agencies.
Hello Vanessa. If your family member is worried about his son's safety and wellbeing and feels that he can offer a more stable home, then he needs to take urgent action. He can apply to the Family Court (it's quite a straightforward process) and ask for the son to be in his care. The Family Court will make checks with the police and Social Services for their information. You ask how Social Services can be allowing this but it's really not within their control as it sounds like the child's mother took the child back into her care with the father's agreement at that point. Or if it was not with his agreement then he hasn't taken any Court action following it happening? Your family member could try to get some free legal advice to navigate the Court process and there is quite a bit of information on the gov.uk website to take him through it. I hope it works out.