Trigger Warning
Long, sorry.
A parent disclosed that his disabled child had 'inappropriately touched' his sister a few years ago, whilst we were all at a birthday party this weekend.
I was shocked that he disclosed this information to a group of relative strangers. Dad said it was a "one off" and he was "now fine", according to the police and social services.
To my shame my son was recently caught with drawn illegal images on his computer whilst at school.
These images have been shared amongst other young people including another school pupil BUT NOT the lad who touched his sister.
Rightly the police were called and they are considering what to do next. If he is prosecuted then we support whatever needs to be done. We have always done spot checks so this was a real shock.
However, my son also admitted to his social worker that he has sexual dreams about younger boys (he is gay). School have said he cannot go back to school until they can ensure everyone's safety. Fine. They have to do what they have to do.
Whilst talking to a staff member at school today I blurted out about the young man and his sister. I was going to disclose it with the social worker but he's away until next week.
Also I couldn't confirm the name of the OTHER boy who was sharing the images with my son until he gave it to us this weekend, so I shared that with staff too.
I feel so bad. I was going to tell staff but in a more controlled manner, not because I was stressed and upset. A bit like a pressure cooker I suppose.
What I am asking is, what do I do now? I don't know how to feel because I know I have opened up a can of worms. I feel both right and wrong, guilty and worried that other people's families will now have a similar stress to that which we are going through. However, I know it is a question of safeguarding other pupils. I just feel so sad and upset by it all.