Involve Social Services in contact issues following Domestic Violence?

[ilovemilton]

Since I split with dh last October, after ten years of domestic violence, he has made no attempt to contact dd (6) and ds (3).I have recently had a letter from his solicitor stating that I have refused all requests for contact and he wishes to have the children each weekend, at an unknown address, where he is sleeping on his mates sofa.
After leaving, DC have disclosed that they don't want to see him because they are scared of him, that dh smacked them, made them sit in the dark and didn't feed them while I was at work.
I am attempting to divorce him, but need to clarify contact arrangements as part of the divorce, and it is looking like we will need to go to court to arrange this.
Would it be helpful to refer myself to social services at this point - would they be able to assist in preventing contact, or would they try to put contact arrangements in place that the DC don't want?
If I did, what would their likely involvement be? Would there be risk of having DC removed?
Or does anybody have another suggestion of how to deal with my DC not wanting to see their dad?

They would want you to seek help at something like the freedom programme. They would be concerned at the prospect of contact taking place unless all the risk factors were carefully considered. The wishes if the children count for something too.

Doing this on the iPhone app so couldn't see the kids are 6&3 (can't see when I type).. Too young to have their opinions count, but their experiences do count.