Can he work with kids?

[kittyfat]

TW: SA
I wasn't sure where to put this.

I was in an emotionally and sexually abusive relationship when I was a young adult for under two years.

I have been so haunted and numb it has taken me 10 years to go to the police with it.

He isolated me from my friends and family. He controlled everything. He used my body despite me saying no.

Safe to say he's a horrible man.

He seems to have built a happy life for himself and has a partner he likes but no kids yet and he volunteers with scouts, and other kids organizations. I have no idea what he does for work.

The police arrested him and questioned him. Ultimately theres a lack of evidence and it looks like the investigation is drawing to a close. It's unlikely he will get convicted.

It was always his plan to foster children.

Will he be able to do scouts still? Will be be able to foster children? Is there anything else beyond what I have done that I can do?

To work with children you need to pass an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. An enhanced check will show spent and unspent convictions and cautions plus any information held by local police that’s considered relevant to the role.

However, as far as I am aware if he has not been convicted of a crime then there is nothing preventing him working in any area. If he has no convictions then (without meaning to be unkind) the fact that you say he is 'a horrible man' and have reported him to the police 10 years after your relationship ended shouldn't be enough to condemn him.

I appreciate your feelings, and am sorry for what you went through, but there has to be protection for people against vindictive and vexatious accusations. In this country people are innocent until proven guilty.

so even someone who has been accused of rape and arrested for it can work with kids?

Considering there are such a small number of rape cases that go to court, this is really shocking.

Will this even show up on his DBS check?

Well it depends. There is no pass/fail on an enhanced DBS check.

The police will consider the position he is applying for and the information on someone's records. Not just convictions/cautions, but also "intelligence". This change was brought in after the Soham murders, where Ian Huntley got a job as he had no convictions/cautions but had been arrested and questioned several times on sexual offence charges.

The police may look at this person's record and see that in the decade since you split, several other women have reported similar offences. Or they may look at his record and see nothing. So the police may decide that one allegation, with no evidence because it was 10 years ago, no charge, no prosecution is simply not worth disclosing.

I'm not disbelieving what happened to you. But someone who was controlling towards you does not necessarily pose any risk to children in organisations such as Scouts.

Also think about it logically. If there was an automatic ban on anyone who had ever been accused of a violent or sexual crime, that is very open to abuse by people wanting to get even with ex-partners, isn't it?

As a foster carer, when we were undergoing assessment the social worker contacted all of our former boyfriends/girlfriends/husbands/wives but I would imagine he would be 'clever' enough to leave you off the list. I know the process was very thorough, I can't imagine you will be his only victim though.

The police believed me.

This did really happen to me and it took me a while to realize I was raped. I told the police exactly what happened and they confirmed it was rape even though it wasn't in a dark alleyway with me kicking and screaming.

There just wasn't enough evidence. I know there was one other victim because the ex told me how he forced himself on her. But she didn't bring anything up when questioned by the police.

Agree with others. He may be horrible, and I don't doubt what you say, but people are innocent until proven guilty, and there is no proof of your allegations. People may be arrested, but being arrested does not mean they are guilty. They must be convicted in a court of law. He would not be barred from working with children based solely on an accusation.

The only option I can think of would be to contact the child safeguarding team in the area he registers to foster and state you have concerns about his capacity to safeguard children and state what happened. I would only do this if I felt absolutely necessary as they would probably discuss it with him that the information came through and he would obviously know it came from you.

Otherwise you may need to move on and accept that you are safe and concentrate on your own future.

have you explored whether you could bring a civil action.

@alexdgr8 no , what do you mean?

I think that they can disclose the information on his check and let the employer decide on what to do

imagine someone accused of three sexual offences but not prosecuted due to lack of evidence then surely the police will tell them employer this information so that they can make a decision

I am sorry that this happened to you. I hope that you get appropriate help so that what this beast did to you does not interfere in you living a good life

On the form they are asked if they've been arrested, questionned about sexual offences from memory.

Have to warn you that Greater Manchester police don't regard it as an offence to lie about this. I know if a vicar who's done this and no action been taken. It's not a perfect system.

It is up to the police to decide what non-conviction information, if any, to disclose on an enhanced DBS check (within limits set down by national guidelines). Most enhanced DBS checks do not include any non-conviction information. If the information is disclosed, it is then up to the recipient of that check (scouts, employer, whoever) to decide if the information disclosed precludes them from the role.

It will show up on Clare's Law. And some SWs are suspicious of scout leaders so with that and the arrest it might prevent him from fostering.

Oh and if they want to speak to previous partners and he leaves you off but they have that information from you it won't look good on him either.

On the DBS form? I don't remember that, thought it was just names and addresses.

You are correct. The DBS form is all about confirming your identity. If there is a form with questions about arrests and sexual offences, that is separate from a DBS form. Lying on a job application is rarely dealt with as a criminal offence, but the job offer could be revoked, or the employee sacked.