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Original poster

Social services

28 replies

Topdaddy8 · 17/08/2017 00:41

Hello there am going to be as honest as I can here and hopefully get some good feedback.

10 years ago I was wrongfully convicted of sexual assault by touching of an adult female.
Cutting to the chase 2 years ago I met the now mother of my 11 month old daughter. She knew if my offence before we met and we went on to have our beautiful daughter. When she was born social services got involved and after 4 weeks the case was closed.
Jumping forward to a month ago I wanted to make sure all was above board nd asked if I could see my daughter and have her at weekends on my own, to give her mummy a break and chance to go out etc. They opened a case and we got a social worker that it transpires has been in the job for 3 weeks.
This social worker deemed it right that I could not have unsupervised contact, nor could my daughters mummy supervise because she didn't see the "non existent" threat that I posed to my little girl, whom is the brightest star in my galaxy I may add.
The outcome was 2 hours, twice a week supervised by my daughters nanna.
When I asked when this supervision would be assessed, the social idiot said "it won't be, it's there until she's in 18".

Surely this can't be right or fair nd has to be a crime against both a great father that's built u a lovin bond with his daughter and our human rights, our being me Andy my daughter.

I am on the birth cert so have parental responsibility and aim to seek legal advice but was just wanting a bit of feeeback from you lovely people.

Yes I am on the register. Yes on paper I am a convicted sex offender but not against a child and would walk in front of a speeding train for my little girl so how the hell can they say 4 hours a week for the rest of her child hood? That means no taking her to school, picking her up... birthdays etc.

By the way it also put the brakes on the relationship with her mummy as we were planning another baby. But these social idiots, who are merely covering their own backs say if you continue the relationship then we see it as putting your daughter in harms way!!!!!

My point finally and sorry for waffling but can they do this? THey have even stated that once the case is closed they don't care a jot.

OP posts:
meditrina · 17/08/2017 07:39

Yes you need to seek individual legal advice.

It's not clear from your post what contact there has been between you and your DD in the 10 months between the first assessment (were you living in the family home?) and the assessment at 11 months where bi-weekly supervised contact was ordered.

Yes, amount of contact and the terms under which it happens can be changed as the DC grows.

LaurieFairyCake · 17/08/2017 08:00

Have you split up with the mum then?

But you want more children with her?

If you haven't split up then why would you even need to ask if you could have her on her own Confused

LoyaltyAndLobster · 17/08/2017 11:43

So the incident happened 10 years ago and you are still on the sex offenders register?

PersianCatLady · 17/08/2017 13:14

Can you explain how you consider yourself to have been wrongfully convicted?

MrsJoyOdell · 17/08/2017 13:27

The problem you're likely to have is that wrongful conviction for sexual assault is extremely rare. Are you to remain on the register for life? If so that may have an impact.

kittybiscuits · 17/08/2017 16:57

Although if you speak to convicted sex offenders, the majority are innocent/wrongfully convicted etc.

BrandNewHouse · 17/08/2017 16:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

lookatyourwatchnow · 17/08/2017 17:23

Doesn't matter one bit whether you say you were 'wrongfully convicted'. You WERE convicted in a Court of law, and you ARE a registered sex offender. Therefore you will never not pose a risk of harm to your child. Doesn't matter how much you say you love her, it's about her and her safety, not what you want.

PersianCatLady · 17/08/2017 17:48

Although if you speak to convicted sex offenders, the majority are innocent/wrongfully convicted etc
I would go further than that and say that the majority of all convicted criminals would say that they were innocent or "set up".

prh47bridge · 17/08/2017 21:48

So the incident happened 10 years ago and you are still on the sex offenders register?

If the assault was touching naked genitalia or breasts, or if it was judged to be higher culpability, he would probably have received a prison sentence of 6 months or more. That would result in him being on the sex offenders register for 10 years.

wrongful conviction for sexual assault is extremely rare

Evidence? As far as I am aware there is no reason to believe the wrongful conviction rate for sexual assault is any lower than for other offences. I am not saying the OP is innocent. Many convicted sex offenders continue to believe in their innocence. But wrongful convictions for sex offences do happen.

BubblesBuddy · 17/08/2017 21:52

Go to a solicitor who is an expert in family children law.

lookatyourwatchnow · 17/08/2017 22:11

Bridge Behave, there are plenty of statistics readily available around the shockingly low conviction rate for sexual assaults.

PersianCatLady · 17/08/2017 22:25

There are plenty of statistics readily available around the shockingly low conviction rate for sexual assaults
I found one for you -
"Conviction rates for rape are far lower than other crimes, with only 5.7% of reported rape cases ending in a conviction for the perpetrator"
(Kelly, Lovett and Regan, A gap or a chasm? Attrition in reported rape cases, 2005)

PersianCatLady · 17/08/2017 22:27

Yes on paper I am a convicted sex offender
If you were wrongly convicted, why didn't you appeal and fight to overturn your conviction??

ASauvingnonADay · 17/08/2017 22:34

The social idiot. Really? 😒

meditrina · 17/08/2017 22:38

That low conviction rate is one thing, but isn't really relevant to prh's point about the wrongful conviction rate.

Or can you show that the wrongful rate is greater (more convictions struck down) for some types of crime than for others?

Though of course, that might be beside the point as well. OP says his offending was against adult women. That may or may not indicate a sexual risk to children and would be need to be individually assessed.

If OP thinks the assessment is incorrect, he need proper legal advice looking at the specific circumstances of his case, in order to challenge the assessment and ensuing child protection measures.

It might also help him to have a professional go through the paperwork to date with him. I doubt very much he has been told that the current level of supervised contact will be in place until DC is 18. It is more likely that the DC will be subject to plan until they are legally adult, and that these are the current conditions.

Speaking generally, it makes more sense like tha to met, because if sexual offending is against adult women, a DD would be at greater risk around or after her puberty.

prh47bridge · 17/08/2017 22:40

I am behaving.

The conviction rate (as in the number of cases that get to court which result in a conviction) is rising. Of the cases that get to court 61% result in a conviction. This is similar to the conviction rate for robbery, for example. And we know there have been some huge miscarriages of justice related to sexual offences - for example, the innocent man who served 17 years for attempted rape.

The conviction rate quoted by campaigners is the reported cases that lead to a conviction. Those figures are low but the problem is not reluctance of the courts to convict. The problem is the number of cases that don't get to court, the most common reason being the victim withdrawing from the case.

prh47bridge · 17/08/2017 22:46

That low conviction rate is one thing, but isn't really relevant to prh's point about the wrongful conviction rate.

This.

If you were wrongly convicted, why didn't you appeal and fight to overturn your conviction

It isn't that simple. You cannot appeal just because the jury got it wrong. Unless the trial was legally flawed you need new evidence. And, if you are appealing on the basis of new evidence, you are unlikely to succeed. The Court of Appeal has a long record of reluctance to overturn convictions despite compelling evidence that the conviction was wrong.

NoMudNoLotus · 17/08/2017 23:04

It matters not that your allocated SW has been in the job 3 weeks.

She will have discussed this with and will have taken guidance from her Manager.

It really isn't about you want ... it's about the safety and wellbeing of little one.

Anecdoche · 17/08/2017 23:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PersianCatLady · 18/08/2017 01:06

It isn't that simple. You cannot appeal just because the jury got it wrong. Unless the trial was legally flawed you need new evidence. And, if you are appealing on the basis of new evidence, you are unlikely to succeed. The Court of Appeal has a long record of reluctance to overturn convictions despite compelling evidence that the conviction was wrong
I do know that but if he didn't commit the crime that he has been convicted then surely there is something wrong with the evidence that was used to help convict him.

I am not buying this at all.

He is a SEX OFFENDER and he is talking about his human rights in relation to a child, what on Earth was the mother of the child thinking in the first place??

One positive thing for me from this thread is that at least SS are taking on board the risk that he poses and acting accordingly.

kittybiscuits · 18/08/2017 06:09

Oh yes, blame the Mum.

That's not my idea of 'behaving' @prh47bridge

To the OP - your comments about the social worker are abhorrent. It seems you have problems behaving respectfully towards women. Do you think a more experienced social worker would think you are no threat and give you unsupervised contact? Finally, I simply cannot imagine what gaveyou the hairy-brained idea to post this on Mumsnet. Hmm

NoMoreDecorating · 18/08/2017 06:36

If you don't live with the mother of your child then how do you plan on having more children with her? Why were you not living with her in the first place?

You're a sex offender, SS have a duty of care towards your child regardless of if you were convicted of a child related offence or not.

Jellybean85 · 18/08/2017 06:43

Like everyone else has said from their point of view you are a sexual offender, not an innocent man.

As someone who works for the legal department for social care I would say right now change your attitude and think about the way you talk about this. Calling them social idiot makes you look ridiculous and won't make people take you seriously.

Decisions aren't made be one social worker alone they have to be approved by a manager so regardless of how long that woman has been on the job someone much higher up thinks you're a risk..,

Can I ask why you didn't appeal at the time? Or why It wasn't successful??

Contact arrangements can change over time if you prove you're not a risk and can work well with social services. Doesn't sound like you've proved either so far...

FabulouslyGlamorousFerret · 18/08/2017 07:55

I'm a little confused.

Your daughter was born 11mths ago and up until now you have been having contact with her daily, presuming you're in a relationship with her mum?

Why now have you sought permission from SS to have her alone? Surely you've done this in the past 11mths?

I've made the assumption that you and the mother are in a relationship as you are planning another child.

I also assume the child's grandmother doesn't believe you are a wrongly convicted man if SS have deemed her capable of safeguarding your daughter from potential risk.

I don't think your post is clear enough, or that we are aware of the 'ins and outs' enough to advise you correctly.