Yes, it was today. DS didn’t attend as usual, and he has formally withdrawn his consent to participate in the CIN plan and has refused to engage any further with the interventions that were in place. This means he won’t engage with any further workshops or meetings with the sw but he did say he would continue to see the counsellor occasionally (he suggested monthly). The sw said she tried to explore the reasons why he no longer wants to engage and he stated he doesn’t need it, he’s learnt what they want him to know, and the relationship is better. He believes continuing with the cin will cause problems and he finds it all too stressful, and it upsets the gf. I obviously don’t want the cin plan to be closed, so the majority of the conversation was about the current level of risk to DS, whether just attending counselling occasionally is enough, or whether the risk cannot be mitigated by just counselling.
I don’t think it’s enough and I think the risk, particularly to his mental health, is increasing despite the interventions that have been put in place. Thankfully, this was supported by the college who said they believe DS is struggling and that, whilst he has attended all counselling sessions (mainly because the college have timetabled them in to his schedule, monitor him and escort him there at times) they haven’t got very far with the actual counselling part.
The sw’s said that though there are elements of concern about the relationship, it might not be enough to meet the threshold for escalating to a child protection plan, so we’re a bit stuck if DS refuses to engage any further. They want to keep him on a cin plan but it’s a bit of a non-starter if DS refuses. We’re all in agreement the case shouldn’t be closed (apart from DS) but they seemed like they didn’t really know where to go from here. They kept mentioning what a tricky age he is and how difficult it is to manage cases with teens between 16-18. I do understand that but if they recognise there’s a risk, and part of that risk revolves around coercion and psychological abuse, there surely must be something else they can look at doing?
DS didn’t mention any of this when I saw him on Saturday. He spent a lot of time telling me how wonderful gf is, all the wonderful things she’s been doing for him lately, how happy they are and how great their relationship is. It felt somewhat pretend to me but I tried to smile along and say the right things. I don’t really know how to take this sudden willingness to talk about her and where all this happiness and wonderfulness has come from. It’s a bit of a one eighty from last week when he was practically mute and nearly in tears with the lady at the contact centre. I’m quite confused to be honest.
Anyway, the outcome of the meeting is that the sw team need to reflect on the discussions we had and determine the risk level then decide whether to step down and offer him something else like universal support things instead of continuing the cin plan or whether they need to look at doing a CPP. We have having another meeting in a couple of weeks to finalise and decide what to do. The sw is also going to try and engage with DS again to see if there’s anyway he will agree to continue with maybe just the counselling or some other support. I don’t think they’re going to do a cpp from the way they were talking so if DS says no I am expecting to be dropped like a hot potato.