To be panicking about social services? *possible triggers?

[extremepie]

I reported a rape to the police recently and have been getting a few calls lately from people to set up a video interview, ask questions etc.

The latest phone call I had the woman on the phone asked some questions including were the kids in the house at the time, I said yes they were but they were upstairs asleep as it was quite late at night and there is virtually no chance they saw or heard anything.

Carried on with the questions then at the end she said she would have to tell social services about it as it was a 'safeguarding incident'. What does this mean?! I actually do already have a social worker involved and have told her about the incident but I'm really worried now that they will use this negatively against me?

I know it sounds paranoid but I'm just panicking that they will say something like 'because you allowed a virtual stranger in your house and then this happens it shows that you don't have your children's best interest at heart' or 'you may put them in danger in the future by allowing something like this to happen again' or something like that :/ Or even 'because the offender knows where you live and lives close to you, now you have reported this to the police your children could be in danger if they stay with you'?

Aibu? Am I just being overly worried for nothing or do you think I actually have reason to worry?

Would they use this to take the kids away from me?

I know SS aren't monsters but still....

I am a single parent with MH issues and when I was feeling very ill last year Ss were informed even though there was no effect on the kids. It's just procedure.

If you have already told the SW about the incident and that the children were in the home then the police reporting it will have no additional impact. They are just going to be reporting something that is already known. Try not to worry.

It's just mandatory reporting that's set in place to protect children. It just needs to be reported to make sure the children are kept safe.

In the US something like this is put in place for things like domestic disputes. It may not be a woman's fault that an ex comes into her house repeatedly, but her children still have to be protected. It's not a punishment against her though, it's strictly for the welfare of the children. But that is only extreme circumstances.

Something like your situation is just to follow procedure and make sure that the children aren't in further danger. That's all.

Phew! Ok that's reassured me, it just worried me because when I told the social worker she didn't say anything about it really so I was surprised when the police said they would report it to SS again :/

I really didn't want it to come up in any written reports of SS but the most recent one has come through recently and it was on there. Feel quite upset about that as I don't want other professionals that will see that report (such as ds2's ed psych, speech therapist, school head teacher etc) seeing that, I didn't really want them to know as I don't feel it's something they need to be told :(

The woman on the the phone didn't ask any details really, just things like were the kids at the house, where did you meet him, has he contacted you since, that kind of thing.

Thank you for all your support, my video interview is next Thursday, they gave me the option of giving it in writing but I want my face to be recorded, I want them to see my pain when I talk about it so that if it ever gets played in court they will all see it too and know how much it has affected me. Hope that makes sense! Wish me luck!