Help with social services and CFA.

[TrishyLou1111]

My 17 year old daughter was sexually abused by a male in november 2025.
She was living with her nan at the time it happened and returned home a week later.
I immediately called the police and my DD stated she wanted to press charges. Legalities began and she did a video interview ect. Bail conditions put in place for this young man and investigation still ongoing.

I have 4 other children and I am currently pregnant. My question, why are social services doing a children's and families assessment? They've checked bedrooms, contacted schools etc etc, im obviously not concerned but I feel as though ive done something wrong? Like im the perpetrator.

Is this standard procedure? Or AIBU and completely stressed for no reason?

I get you OP, I had a similar situation last year, my DSs dad was accused of sexual assaulting his step daughter. They live 300 miles from us yet social services insisted on inspecting my home, checking DSs bedroom and my other children’s bedroom.

I had been separated from the man for ten years it was very intrusive and I wasn’t happy that I was being thoroughly investigated.

In our case it was all dropped pretty quickly as they were happy enough with what they found, I hope you find the same.

Sorry for what your daughter is going through and sending thoughts for her.

I didn’t claim to know what the terminology is, I clearly stated I didn’t know what it was called.
And I’m sorry you think it’s bollocks but it’s people’s lived experience with social services no doubt it’ll be accredited to a few bad apples and I was just incredibly lucky to get two of them 🙄

Well, by all accounts they don’t have consent to do assessments for anything and yet here we are …
With them doing assessments

It absolutely is standard for all children to be assessed as part of a s17 assessment
https://childlawadvice.org.uk/information-pages/child-in-need-services/

What I don't understand is he has bail conditions but she's not allowed to go to college.

I must be missing something.

Well, the OP says she was assaulted in her home. It was her grandmother's home, true, but her home at the time.

Yes I thought this too. Surely his bail conditions are that he can’t be near her therefore it’s him that can’t go to college?

A ss check is nothing to be scared of. Your dd was harmed and I like that we're living in a country where someone checks dc are ok and safe, even if it isn't needed in your case. I imagine ss are concerned about whether she's at risk of exploitation, and I imagine it will be a quick visit and you never hear from them again.

Me too.

this is rape. Why is the op calling it sexual assault.

hes admitted it. But hes allowed to go to collage and she isn’t.

and the ops concern is why are my other kids being looked at.

there is clearly something missing here. No woman calls rape sexual assault.

This is absolutely incorrect. The child has been harmed in a criminal attack. Not as a result of the parenting or care she is receiving at home. This does NOT meet the remit for a section 47 enquiry unless the parent was in some way implicated in the attack!

Edited because I misread the OP and see she was at her grandmother's home while this happened. The point still remains.

They CAN do an assessment of the 17 year old only, they CAN do an assessment of the whole family IF there is a reason to do so, but they don't have to do either. They haven't explained anything to the OP nor asked for her consent.

IF there is a valid reason to assess the whole family yes, and with consent. If the only concern is the 17yo being attacked out of the home then there is no apparent reason to assess the whole family. Probably if they had explained this to the OP properly and sought valid consent she would have agreed to it, but they have not.

It absolutely does. The law says the threshold for section 47 is the child has been or is at risk of significant harm. The child has been harmed, threshold is met. The assessment is required to determine if the child is at continuing risk of harm or if the siblings are at risk. Without assessment how are professionals to know if the harm occurred due to a parents failure to protect? I previously commented saying that the OP shouldn't worry so I'm not insinuating it is due to the OP, but professionals rightly need to be assured that it isn't otherwise the children could slip through the net and be harmed. Then everyone would be up in arms about how shit social services are for not investigating after the first incident.

ETA- The rape happened in her nans house (who parents had entrusted with the care of DD) whilst she was asleep. This isn't a random attack outside the home.

It's relevant, because as much as we don't like to think it, some children make better victims than others and perpetrators of lots of types of sexual abuse are good at spotting them. By assessing the whole family they can a) assess that this was a "one off" type event b) that dd is at 'normal' levels of risk of further abuse and that c) other children in the home aren't at risk and d) dd is being honest about the perpetrator of the SA and isn't actually being abused by someone in the family home.

There's other reasons as well but those are the most pertinent I think.

OP - I would contact Family Rights Group. They should be able to explain to you what your rights are in this situation.
https://frg.org.uk/

I will catch up this evening. Been out with the family. Honestly so stressed about it all. But i appreciate all responses

I make these decisions all the time and unless there was some obvious involvement of the parent or carer in the assault this would not meet the threshold for section 47. Just because it happened in the grandmother's home does not mean she was responsible or caused/allowed it to happen. sadly teenagers do experience assaults fairly regularly and unless it's as a result of the care they are experiencing it would not be a section 47. Section 47 is very invasive and MUST be proportionate. In this case there is a criminal investigation and the role of children's services will be to ensure the teen is provided with sufficient support. Opening a s47 enquiry would be disproportionate and inappropriate.

HANG ON where did OP actually say it happened in the nan's house? I can only see her say it happened while she was living with the nan. Have I missed that or is that a misread on people's parts?

Well there clearly was enough reason in this case. And I don't think refusing SS access to your home when you've nothing to hide is a very good idea.

This post.

It does seem strange that they would contact schools/gp.
Was the boy staying at her nans with her? Maybe they wondered why she lived elsewhere and he was staying aswell. They may have jumped to conclusions and thought something bad happened at your house to make her move out .

There's a comment saying that she was asleep in bed at her nans house. Are you a social worker? Surely you wouldn't make the decision that this doesn't need investigating if you are? If you would, I'd chat with your colleagues and manager because your threshold is way too high.

They shouldn't be jumping to any kind of conclusions! They should be asking first!

I agree. But realistically they do make assumptions . And probably because they see so much on a daily basis.

I am a social work manager, yes. I am fully aware that we don't have the whole picture and there may be a lot more going on that OP has not said. I never said this shouldn't be investigated - the police ARE investigating. I also agree that a CFA for the eldest child is appropriate IF she herself consents to it (she doesn't have to!). I don't agree that a section 47 is appropriate just on the basis that a criminal assault happened at her nan's house. That would be oppressive practice and completely disproportionate. I also don't agree that OP should be coerced into an assessment of her other children on this basis without proper consent being sought!

And there we have it. The threat.