To ask what happens - social services

[cincocinco]

Close friend recently broke up with his partner (not married). They have a DD aged 5. Quite a toxic relationship - broke up and got back together repeatedly and when together argued a lot (both sides acknowledge this and that they are better off apart). Sometimes arguments were when DD was in the house but there was no domestic violence or any abuse of DD by friend or his ex. DD is a happy, friendly sweet girl.

His ex has told him he is not allowed to see DD because she contacted social services and there are safeguarding issues.

But would SS themselves not want to see him/talk to him/understand family history
before saying this? He is going along with it because he doesn't want to further risk not seeing his daughter but not sure if ex is telling the truth? He's contacted SS and they said they don't have any record of the family but he's also not sure if they'd tell him anyway?

Posted in AIBU for traffic and just looking for info about what happens in this sort of situation because I can't find anything online. Thanks!

If there is no record then sounds like she is lying, but yes ss can tell you not to allow certain people to have contact.

If he is the father of the child (and has parental responsibility) then Social Services will give him information on what they are doing. They will want him to be actively involved in their processes.

If he has PR and they're saying they have no record of his family, then they have no record of his family. They won't lie about this.

She’s lying. Court ordered access might be the best way forward.

If she has said no contact on text or email he needs to keep them. If she’s denying access then he might need them as evidence.

Probably best to get advice from a family law solicitor

If your friend has PR he has a statutory right to know if his DD is subject to social care enquiries - the only exemption is if he poses risk of significant harm towards his DD by knowing it is an open case.

CSC would not tell him the family are not known to them if the case is open, they would have advised your friend to contact them through a solicitor. It sounds like he will need a solicitor anyway as if his ex is restricting contact and he wants to maintain contact he will need to apply for mediation or family court.

That is not what social services would say based on a call from a parent
He needs to contact them himself and ask what they have on file. It's remiss of them not to contact him in the first place.

Tell him to apply for a CAO, if she is playing these games now

To give you a bit more context - if CSC are doing a S47 enquiry (child protection) or applying for PLO - they don't need parental consent but it is best practice to get this from both parents and they always ask for consent from those with PR.

S17/Early help - Child In Need - is consent based. They have to seek consent to work with the family.

OK, this is all really helpful, thank you everyone who has responded. I think his next steps will be to speak to a solicitor, he was hoping to keep things amicable and arrange contact etc between themselves but it doesn't look like that will be likely.