Arrest and PPO - what next?

[Sinequa]

Has anyone’s teen been arrested for assault occurring within the home and then been subject to a 72 hour PPO? Did they come home after and if yes how did it go? Thanks.

Hope someone Will come along with some advice and answers.
In the meantime, hope you are OK or as ok as can be
Take care.
Xx

Why is your child under Police Protection? Sorry its late to respond.

A child will only be PPO'ed if it is unsafe for them to return home. They can keep a child under PPo for up to 72 hours. But they need to be supervised with a police officer. Unless the local social work team can source an emergency Foster carer.

Why were they arrested.

Sorry Re-read your post. If your child has assaulted you or one of their siblings. Then it's likely they can't return home as the other children will be at risk of harm.

The LA (social services) will need to decide whether to apply for an order when the police powers of protection expire (often it's referred to as a PPO but it's not an actual order). They should be speaking with you about section 20 consent if you want your child to be elsewhere after the 72 hours expires.

Thank you. The teen assaulted both parents so the police protective custody is really for the sibling’s safety. The teen is with an emergency foster carer. We want the teen to come home though. I just wondered if anyone had been through the same. I cannot believe that I am writing this over a holiday weekend. It’s not how I imagined this year. Will the teen hate us forever for ‘abandoning’ them to police custody/foster care? Is this the beginning of the end for our family unit? I am so distressed but need to keep it together for the younger one. Sorry, just ranting now. Driven to the edge by photos of happy families all over SM.

@Sinequa
Don't beat yourself up!
Sometimes, things need to hit rock bottom so you can rebound.
Hope you have some support to get through the day.
Sending you best wishes and good thoughts.
Xx

Pls don't beat yourself up. I was a front line Adolescent Safeguarding Social Worker for over 20 years. Left last year a d we dealt with stuff like this all the time. You need to consent to work with the social work team. Agree on a safety plan which you must stick too. Then the child could plausibly return home. If you want you can ask for them to remain in Foster care under a section 20. This is when a parent asks for their child to be accommodated. As it's the Easter Break. This may make more sense as you don't have th3 safeguards and structure of school to scaffold the child's return home. Is there a family member the child can stay with? But ultimately its up to you.

Unfortunately nothing will get sorted till tomorrow at the earliest as the day teams are all on leave and the emergency duty team won't give you any answers.

Good luck with it.

Agree with @DarkChocHolic please don't forget the younger child in all of this.
Does the teenager who assaulted you both have remorse? Happy to seek help so they never do this again?

Re the teen hating you. I think this depends on what motivated the assault and how long its been going on for. If the incident is drugs fuelled then you need to think very carefully about how you will manage this with a younger child in the home. Pls do lean on the social work team they will assist you with this. No one wants teens in Care least of all the social workers. Good luck.

Will the teen hate us forever for ‘abandoning’ them to police custody/foster care? this is the consequence of their actions. They physically assaulted the parents which I am assuming one of them is you, Assault is a criminal offence. I know they are your child and you love them but they need to understand that they choose their behaviour and someone else chooses the consequences.

Hopefully this is the wake up call the teen needs. Work with the professionals, do not go against their advice out of guilt for what happened. I am sorry this is happening to you.

It sounds as though the teen is having to face the consequences of their actions. How an earth can they hate you for anything to do with this unless you were deliberately goading them in the first place?

I have to be pedantic and point out that its a PP (police powers) there is no order, I have no idea why it keeps being referred to as a PPO, I see this at work all over case notes and hear people saying it too.

Anyway, thats out the way, teen can come home if all agreed and you dont give s20 consent, but there should be some sort of safety plan, how is behaviour going to be managed, what is being agreed to, where is there a safe space, what family/friend networks can step in if he/she gets violent again, is there a need for GP/CAMHS involvement, is medication needed, is counselling/emotional intervention needed

What is the plan for all of that (or there may be some or all of that already in place in which case what isnt working?)

I think people are getting mixed up with EPO and PPO. It is PP. Anyway. Good luck. Sounds very difficult. You have good advice above.

Thank you all. Pedantry is something I relate to so thanks for the clarification. The police referred to the temporary arrangement as a PPO and so I adopted the terminology because I have no experience of this type of situation but it is the protective custody described above. I’m going to research the legislative framework.

Yes, both parents assaulted and, yes, one is me. Our primary concern is the younger one but the teen is just 13 so still very much a child and regardless of the actions which led there, the idea of the teen sitting alone in a windowless cell on a Friday night with potentially serious criminals/drunks being processed is very distressing.

We have all the services engaged already and I just don't know what will happen next.

There are many thread on MN from parents with violent 15/16/17/18 etc year olds, and those parents are disparate to get the perpetrator out of their house and away from them and younger siblings.

Think very carefully about allowing 13 year old back. This could be you a few years down the line

@Sinequa I don't have any advice for you but I remembered your username. I'm so sorry it's come to this. From what you've said you've done everything. I'm only here to give you a handhold.

@Sinequa they may only be 13, but that doesn't mean they get to assault BOTH parents and terrify a younger sibling and still claim victim status.

@Sinequa
Hope things start moving forward today.
Must have been frustrating waiting for the bank holiday jolly to be over when it's anythinh but at yours.
Thinking of you what ever may be the outcome.
Xx

I hope you get it sorted today. I know the bar for socail services help is very high so make the most of it while they are still interested.

I'm really sorry your in this position

Sometimes they will be ppo because they are risk to others in the home and if they are at risk of assaulting someone then by virtue they are themselves at risk - if that makes sense?

They will likely ask if there’s a friend relative they can stay with whilst things calm down and support is put in place to help.
children services will want to help you resolve the situation

Hiya @Sinequa , just thought I'd check in and ask if you're ok. I hope everything's going as well as it can for you all 💐

Thanks @AlwaysTheRenegade. It’s been calm since the events of Easter weekend but still stressful as none of us knows what is around the corner. After an initial flurry of activity by the local SS team, we seem to have been forgotten (that said, I know that any intervention was to be offered based on priority and so assume that more ‘urgent’ cases have come up). I hate my life and would love to turn back the clock 2 years.