Can DB take social services to court?

[BabySkates1980s]

DB and his ex wife have a 4 year old child.

They separated when their child was a baby.

He would spend every weekend with his child fri-sun.

His ex got a new boyfriend, DB asked to meet him if he was going to be around their child. She refused saying her was being controlling.

It turns out he had a long history of convictions and violence and wasn't allowed contact with his own DC. His ex was fully aware of all of this and refused to separate from him despite warnings from social services and the police.

Social services got involved after worried neighbours said he was selling drugs from her house.

DB's child was put on the child at risk register because of his ex's continued involvement with the man. His ex requested social services not tell DB his child was on the register or involved which social services "because he'd take it the wrong way". They agreed not to tell him.

The relationship was violent and they regularly attacked each other. DB found out the extent of the situation after a YEAR from a worried friend of his ex.

He refused to hand his child back after contact. He contacted social services who informed him his child had been for a year and still was on the at risk register.

His ex's relationship ended with a very nasty violent scene with eased by his child.

He allowed the mother a visit, she ran away with the child and a lengthy court battle ensued costing DB over 15k.

His child now lives at the opposite end of the country as the court decided the mother had done enough to prove she was clean and wouldn't enter into any more inappropriate relationships.

We really feel this could have been avoided of social services had informed him of the risk his child was at rather than hiding it from him. Was this even legal? Can he take them to court?

Would they not 'close ranks' during the internal complaints procedure rather than put their hands up and apologise?

Internal complaint then ombudsman if you aren't satisfied with the response to the complaint.

If you have written evidence of a social care decision not to inform DB his child is on a CP plan just because his ex requested this, then they cannot deny that.

Complaints are usually dealt with by a different dept, or by a manager from a different team, and they are taken very seriously. As Stripyhoglets says, if you are not happy with the complaints procedure, you can escalate to local government ombudsman - they are very even handed.

Firstly I don’t think this is something to put on here where people will not pick over words and make outrageous presumptions.

Secondly go through the complaint route but also seek independent legal advice. A quick consult with CaB could set you on the right path.

Thirdly I believe you. I’ve seen them and carcass do horrendous things (not to me) and yet everyone’s too scared to challenge them.

What year was this?

There hasn't been an "at risk register" for some years.

"Complaints are usually dealt with by a different dept, or by a manager from a different team, and they are taken very seriously"

As someone who was a CP SW and has cause to complain about a SW, they aren't taken seriously and the law is often broken around complaints.

By your logic OP, filing a complaint ANYWHERE would be useless as the other party will just ‘close ranks’.

In reality it’s the first point of call. The specific social worker(s) involved with your complaint wouldn’t be the ones handling your complaint. It would be a different department or management.

I would not expect the complaint route to have any effect however you do have to explore all reasonable avenues of resolution before resorting to legal cases.

OP I'll go through it though.

Why did it cost your BD £15k? SS will have known where the child was and it should have cost no more than around £500, as the child was already subject to Court Orders and would have had a Guardian.

Has he asked the SW Manager why the decision was made to not involve in in the CP assessment? That would shape the way to go with this.

If the Child was subject to a CP plan, but allowed to change Local Authorities, then there is a trail for that and he would have had to be given a reason for allowing that.

But yes, start with the complaints procedure, but get clear the questions that you need answering, because it will be a timed meeting and you wouldn't want to go off track.

What did DB do when he contacted SS, did he hand the child straight back?

During the court proceedings, did he ask for joint/sole custody? Was there a reason for it being refused?

Has he got PR for the child in question? If so, he absolutely should have been at least informed of the actions SS were taking, if not assessed as a part of the proceedings.

"During the court proceedings, did he ask for joint/sole custody? Was there a reason for it being refused?"

That's the bit I'm confused about and why it's cost so much.

When a child is subject to a CP plan and it has come to light that the child has another Parent, who wants to be assessed for residency, it doesn't cost anything. Likewise any involved relative can also make an application and SS will assess, so if the child needs to be removed, so they have Kinship Carers already passed, as such.

SS can decide who the child should be placed with and an explanation will be given. If SS has assessed that the child is rightly placed, then, often, it is a waste of money to bring about Court action.

Normally cases like this arise because the non resident Parent doesn't accept the channels that they have to go down.

""Has he got PR for the child in question? If so, he absolutely should have been at least informed of the actions SS were taking, if not assessed as a part of the proceedings.""

That's decided at Conference level. There are occasions when the other Parent won't be informed, they are always Safeguarding reasons.

However those Safeguarding reasons wouldn't stand if SS knew that the child was having weekend contact with the other Parent. They would stand, if contact was done in secret.

Which is why OP it will take a lot of written questions and why they are wrong, on your/DB's part.

But either way, the Court route isn't appropriate and will cost a lot more than £15k.

So while DB had his child the mother separated from her partner and moved out of area to be with her family. Social services did a third and final report at DB's request and decided that because she had separated from her partner that they no longer needed to keep the case open. DB contacted social services in her new area who said they couldn't do anything unless a file was sent to them from the original authority.

DB allowed a visit after 1 month and his ex then withheld their child. He started court proceedings for full residency as more details of the mothers behaviour emerged.

Social services weren't directly involved in the court proceedings, cafcass were who were bloody awful, didn't even visit DB and only spent 15 minutes on the phone to him throughout their investigation.

If he had known a year before that she was subject to a CP plan he could have applied for residency and saved his child from an awful lot. This is the problem.

Was his daughter placed on a child in need plan? Because thats less serious than child protection

No it was a child protection plan/child at risk register

DB allowed a visit after 1 month and his ex then withheld their child. "He started court proceedings for full residency as more details of the mothers behaviour emerged."

If SS reassessed and decided that even a CIN plan wasn't needed, then the Court wouldn't have granted residency. He should have gone for access alone.

"If he had known a year before that she was subject to a CP plan he could have applied for residency and saved his child from an awful lot."

It would have been up to SS, not via a Court application.

It looks like he has had really bad legal advice.

SS seem to be under the impression that the child is best residing with the Mother and being allowed to move by supportive family, makes sense, then

But your DB needs answers. He won't get them in Court.

Go down the complaints route, with questions.

He needs to drop the assumption that the child's harm wouldn't have been as great from the emotional harm done by being taken from the Mother at such a crucial stage, than what happened within the house.

Op

I absolutely agree that your brother and his daughter really have been let down by the system here. Since his child was on the CP register he certainly should have been made aware. The fact she was on the register for one year means the risks were not eliminated and were ongoing. I disagree with kids being on the register that long and think the parent should sort themselves much quicker!

I know your brother is so angry but I highly doubt that he will have a case against the state. They had the child on a CP plan so were trying to protect her.

Obviously at their discretion they can contact various other family members but there’s no where that I know of that says they have a duty to. It’s sort of common sense though. As a SW you’d feel pretty happy knowing the child was having regular contact with a person who was capable of managing their welfare.

How much contact has the judge awarded your brother?

Also when a child is open to one LA and move to another it is the duty of the LA to inform the other. However if the old LA truly believed the relationship to be over (and that was the only risk) then it makes sense to close the case.

It is good that your DB has alerted the new LA to her past because if she gets in with anyone else then they will now have her previous LA details and they can contact them if required.

Your brother could have kept his daughter for much longer if he’d known about this from the start. If your child is at risk of harm then the advice is to keep them safe including not returning them to the parent who posed the risk.

Go down the complaint route first. Ask for it to be a STAGE 2 complaint them it has to be investigated by an independent social worker.