SHPO - Unsupervised contact with under 16's
Notifications OFF
Hi,
My husband (separated and divorcing due to the circumstances) is currently on bail in Scotland, his bail conditions are internet restrictions and also no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 16. We have two children together, and so far I have refused contact until the full forensics come back and the full charges are made clear.
Can anyone advise me on the following - once my husband has been sentenced, will the condition of no unsupervised contact with under 16's fall under his SHPO? Will his criminal justice social worker contact me for my insight or opinions? Currently, I do not want my husband to have any unsupervised contact with my young children, and my opinion is that his SHPO should be 10 years rather than 5, due to the ages of the children in the images he has been found to have and the ages of my children right now. We are based in Scotland, so anyone that may have any insight, I would appreciate it.
Thanks.
My husband (separated and divorcing due to the circumstances) is currently on bail in Scotland, his bail conditions are internet restrictions and also no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 16. We have two children together, and so far I have refused contact until the full forensics come back and the full charges are made clear.
Can anyone advise me on the following - once my husband has been sentenced, will the condition of no unsupervised contact with under 16's fall under his SHPO? Will his criminal justice social worker contact me for my insight or opinions? Currently, I do not want my husband to have any unsupervised contact with my young children, and my opinion is that his SHPO should be 10 years rather than 5, due to the ages of the children in the images he has been found to have and the ages of my children right now. We are based in Scotland, so anyone that may have any insight, I would appreciate it.
Thanks.
There is no automatic ban on contact with under 16s under an SHPO. It depends on the judge and whether they think it is required.
But in practice the social workers regularly enforce no contact rules, both before and after sentencing.
Reading comments on here from people in Scotland, it does appear that the SW in Scotland are even more strict than SW in England. They will tell the person they are not allowed to use the internet at all, for any reason, and in some cases tell them that they are not even allowed to leave the house.
All of this is tolerated, because the laws in Scotland are extremely vague about exactly what legal powers they have.
Legally, they would have to go through the courts to enforce all these restrictions, but that only tends to happen if the person contests their rules. Most people voluntarily go along with what the SW tells them to do and do not argue back.
So you should inform your SW of your concerns and they will take that into account, along with considering what your childrens views are, before deciding what restrictions to impose.
But in practice the social workers regularly enforce no contact rules, both before and after sentencing.
Reading comments on here from people in Scotland, it does appear that the SW in Scotland are even more strict than SW in England. They will tell the person they are not allowed to use the internet at all, for any reason, and in some cases tell them that they are not even allowed to leave the house.
All of this is tolerated, because the laws in Scotland are extremely vague about exactly what legal powers they have.
Legally, they would have to go through the courts to enforce all these restrictions, but that only tends to happen if the person contests their rules. Most people voluntarily go along with what the SW tells them to do and do not argue back.
So you should inform your SW of your concerns and they will take that into account, along with considering what your childrens views are, before deciding what restrictions to impose.
My person got 10yr SHPO (which runs past when my child actually is due to turn 16) and isn't allowed any unsupervised contact; only supervised by small group of people pre-approved by social services. No overnights and no personal care. It has been this way since the very beginning at bail. I think if I'd said no contact at all social services would have been very happy. Often they'll pass the additional restriction in bail or SHPO that says "as agreed or approved by social services". So that if they deem higher risk than the police/court they can revoke contact and over-rule. If we didn't have anyone willing or approved to supervise; it would likely have been supervised at a family contact centre.
If you do have concerns and are worried as the protective parent; if you wish for him not to have contact- they are likely to enforce/support. However once the children get older they will take the kids wishes into consideration. Whether the children wants to spend their time in supervised visits.
If you do have concerns and are worried as the protective parent; if you wish for him not to have contact- they are likely to enforce/support. However once the children get older they will take the kids wishes into consideration. Whether the children wants to spend their time in supervised visits.
If its Internet only the SHPO is based on that. So only Internet restrictions (they do usually put a clause for SS to agree to unsupervised but not always). But that doesnt mean that you have to provide unsupervised contact. You can do supervisee contact as long as you feel necessary and SS will likely support that.
My husband has no restrictions with under 18s. But we have for the last 6 months done supervised contact. I chose to stay and he and I have done assessments to get to this point where we are now moving towards "normal life" and this is with SS heavily involved.
My husband has no restrictions with under 18s. But we have for the last 6 months done supervised contact. I chose to stay and he and I have done assessments to get to this point where we are now moving towards "normal life" and this is with SS heavily involved.
Are you based in Scotland? My husbands offences are 'only' internet based (as far as I am aware) - his bail conditions specifically state that he is to have no unsupervised contact with any persons under the age of 16.
Are you saying that internet 'only' offences come with no safe guarding for children in place? My husband has been found to have categories A-C of children aged 3-16. Why would they not take into account the ages of my children being between these ages, and put appropriate safe guarding measures in place within his SHPO?
Are you saying that internet 'only' offences come with no safe guarding for children in place? My husband has been found to have categories A-C of children aged 3-16. Why would they not take into account the ages of my children being between these ages, and put appropriate safe guarding measures in place within his SHPO?
The conditions of the SoR will spell out the restrictions on being with children, and after his sentencing SS, police, and probation will forbid unsupervised contact. If you dont think he should see the children, and the children don't want to see him, it's pretty clear cut really; he won't be seeing them.
