Long story short... Ive two small kids. My ex walked out 6 months ago after 20 yrs together. Found a younger woman and she was pregnant within 2-3 weeks of him leaving.... (that's a whole other matter which I'm finding hard)
But my kids dad tends to get himself into bother when drinking. He was off it for 10 yrs with my help as he got himself into a lot of drunken fights and a drink driving etc
So when he left here he went back to using alcohol at the weekends as a coping mechanism when he didn't have the kids. Got himself into a few brawls one if which he's due in court for in a few months. He's since settled down again as the new gf is expecting but a few weeks ago after coming home from night in the pub (having manners) the car he was going home in was stopped and he was taken out and given a hammering by two men with bats. The pregnant gf and her mum witnessed the event. He's been unable to obviously see the kids as he's now in a leg brace and crutches. This was a planned attack for one of the brawls he was involved in
Now these men obviously didn't care who was there to witness the attack. I'm being told by people surrounding me if social services heard this and I was still sending kids every other weekend to their dad I would be seen as not safe guarding my children because it was an extreme attack, and because the men clearly wouldn't care if there had have been kids in the car. Their dad very much loves them, I've no doubt about that. But with hearing this about social services and that I'm not safe guarding my kids I'm unsure what to do.
What if this were to happen again? What if this isn't the end of this? Yes that coukd be an exaggeration but what if??? Should I be withhold the kids for a while?? Yet if I do ill be seen as the bad guy for stopping kids seeing their dad. Their dad isn't a danger to then but the consequences of his actions led to what happened to him. I'm petrified of if they ever witnessed something like that and their safety and I'm also afraid of being the bad guy and being bad mouthed by the kids dad and his family for withholding contact. I'm really unsure what to do and if this is true would I be considered not safe guarding the kids???
I need some strong advice/opinions on this or where to go from here. I'm at my wits ends not knowing what the correct action is to take. The man loves his kids and he loves them but this was so extreme I'm just worried incase something more comes of this and then part of me thinks I'm over thinking