Has anyone had any experience of an Ability to Protect Assessment from Childrens services?

[ButtercupOfFlorin]

My ex-BIL (sister’s ex husband) has had an allegation made against him (not from his own children I might add). He hasn’t been arrested and I won’t go into detail in case of outing. But the police are investigating and children’s services are involved as they have kids, and he has agreed to see them on a supervised only basis. The social worker in question is seemingly batshit crazy, as if my sister so much as farts at the wrong time it’s listed down as ‘a concern’. DSis split with her ex 5 years ago and there is a court order in place for contact she can’t break so there’s nothing much she can do but sit and wait for an outcome! There’s no bail conditions, The supervised-only agreement was at the request of children services but the family courts don’t give a shit about that, if she breaks the arrangement she’s in trouble.

Anyway, because she hasn’t fought to withhold contact (because she can’t, she’s consulted her solicitor and with a lack of arrest or formal conditions there’s no point fighting it) the social worker has said she wants her to go on an Ability To Protect Assessment - apparently this is 10 x 2 hour sessions that patronise tell mothers who haven’t abused children how to look after them. I will add that exBIL has not been ordered to go on any kind of course at all. Anyway, my DSis is a nurse in A&E and works several shifts a week, if she’s on nights I have her DC (exBIL lives several hours away and has EOW contact), she doesn’t have the time to give 20 hours to something that she (and I) don’t feel she Should be doing.

Does anyone have any experience of these assessments? She was told it can be unpleasant and distressing. She was raped as a teenager and doesn’t want to reveal that or to have any triggers, she’s spent a lot of time in therapy dealing with the assault and this can undo a lot of work. Help, I’m so worried about her she’s hanging by a thread

Bump?

I'm assuming they are not on any kind of plan child in need or child at risk?

Child in need plan

What are the school assessments saying? positive towards the mother?

Yes, only issues at school is the odd late homework assignment but that’s largely due to DSis being a single parent doing lots of shift work

Her solicitor has given her the wrong advice, she absolutely could stop contact with their father who has had allegations made against them. If social care have advised she does this and she does not she will be seen as failing to protect the children. Social care advice is always taken seriously by the courts, she wouldn’t be arrested for doing what a child protection SW has told her.
It sounds like she does not believe the allegations and therefore again may not be protecting the children. If she has said the social worker is crazy, who is doing her job to protect children whose father is alleged to have harmed children, then again she would be seen as failing to protect.
Neither of you are taking this seriously and therefore may not be protecting the children.
No wonder children continue to be sexually abused at the rate they are when families themselves do not want to do anything to protect them.
She should just do what the social worker says and take it seriously.

I've never heard of an 'ability to protect' assessment. The child is on a child in need plan? It's not compulsory to engage with them under that level of intervention.
A social worker should not be criticising her for following a court order, however she can definitely apply to court to vary the contact order if she has concerns about their safety.

An ability to protect assessment is to assess whether the non abusing parent can keep their children safe, when there are allegations of sexual abuse against the other parent or a family member.
The sw should also be doing a risk assessment of the alleged sex offender.
Social workers often ask parents to stop following court orders when the circumstances change as children’s safety is more important than following a court order. Contact can always be restarted when the sw is satisfied that the children are safe.

I don’t want to go into details about the case or allegation because it’s really outing however I word it! But the social worker I can assure you is not in this planet - for example, my DSis was a victim of assault during COVID y a patient and a court case is pending (she was punched in the eye by a man twice her size). She didn’t mention this to the SW, not because she was hiding anything but because it’s not relevant. SW said that because she didn’t disclose this that she’s a ‘dishonest person’ she is looking for problems where there aren’t any, and I am not just saying that, not every social worker is a good one.

Because exBIL lives in another county the SW has never met him or assessed him, he has a SW locally who hasn’t given him half the hard time my DSis’s SW has given her.

i chill tell her to get a second opinion legally but her solicitor said due to the lack of arrest and the details of the allegation, whilst the police HAVE to investigate, family courts won’t see it as something to withhold contact for when he’s agreed to have supervised contact with the kids and no overnight stays, until some sort of conclusion is reached.

This is the long and short of an ability to protect assessment learning.nspcc.org.uk/services-children-families/women-as-protectors

I’m furious that she’s been told to do this or “we will take you to court” (social workers words) and exBIL doesn’t have to do fuck all. Sounds like blaming women for men’s fuck ups to me 🤷‍♀️

@Winnietherose

An ability to protect assessment is to assess whether the non abusing parent can keep their children safe, when there are allegations of sexual abuse against the other parent or a family member. The sw should also be doing a risk assessment of the alleged sex offender. Social workers often ask parents to stop following court orders when the circumstances change as children’s safety is more important than following a court order. Contact can always be restarted when the sw is satisfied that the children are safe.

Social workers should NOT ask parents to stop following court orders. They should advise the parents to make an emergency court application or in extreme circumstances they could make an emergency application themselves but they should never advise a parent to ignore a court order without additional plans to support the parent.

From that link -

Women as Protectors is suitable for any woman who is either:

currently in a relationship with a man who may cause sexual harm to her child
expecting the return of a man who may pose a sexual risk to her child

Does this apply to her OP?

@CloseYourEyesAndSee no it doesn’t - which is why I want her to formally challenge it as IMO she doesn’t meet the threshold one bit.