Pre proceedings / PLO
Notifications OFF
I'm having difficult time getting my head around proceedings and would like to ask how pre proceedings went for people who has been through it.
Short summary, we had the case closed following the knock. Living all together with supervision in place. Husband RUI for possession/distribution. Have a teenager and baby on the way.
When police had informed SS that there were evidence recovered panic grab hold off the authority and they started PLO proceedings alongside CPP, in every meeting they moan about how it was wrong to close back last year. This seems to be major error from their end and they are now heavy handling the process to make up for it. I was told the outcome of CPP conference before conference took place, and that it is going to go to PLO despite CPP meetings minutes says it is to be decided. I do feel awfully wronged. I never stood a chance. Not sure why I went to those gruelling meetings at this point.
Am I naive to think plo may be ok as I will have legal representative, at the moment I am unable to defend myself or my family (not husband but family!) as I am otherwise miniming/groomed/clueless/ so I'm doing whatever they ask me to do at all times blindly even when I am not comfortable.
(and although I'm informally told they aren't trying to remove children I do not trust this info)
What I really want to ask is, how was your experience with pre proceedings / PLO ? As I'm struggling to find similar cases.
Thank you.
Short summary, we had the case closed following the knock. Living all together with supervision in place. Husband RUI for possession/distribution. Have a teenager and baby on the way.
When police had informed SS that there were evidence recovered panic grab hold off the authority and they started PLO proceedings alongside CPP, in every meeting they moan about how it was wrong to close back last year. This seems to be major error from their end and they are now heavy handling the process to make up for it. I was told the outcome of CPP conference before conference took place, and that it is going to go to PLO despite CPP meetings minutes says it is to be decided. I do feel awfully wronged. I never stood a chance. Not sure why I went to those gruelling meetings at this point.
Am I naive to think plo may be ok as I will have legal representative, at the moment I am unable to defend myself or my family (not husband but family!) as I am otherwise miniming/groomed/clueless/ so I'm doing whatever they ask me to do at all times blindly even when I am not comfortable.
(and although I'm informally told they aren't trying to remove children I do not trust this info)
What I really want to ask is, how was your experience with pre proceedings / PLO ? As I'm struggling to find similar cases.
Thank you.
Hi Flower,
We've been in Pre -Proceedings and are now heading towards a Care Order hearing but our circumstances are different from you as our grandchildren's safety is being put at risk by their mother despite their father (our son) also being considered a risk because of his offending. However, our understanding of pre-proceedings was that it was meant to be a last ditch attempt to sort out any issues which might suggest that the children were at risk if they stayed in the family home. From how things worked for us it certainly looks as if SS closed your case far too quickly as they are meant to work on 'probability' so someone being investigated for a sexual offence would suggest to SS that their children might be at risk of harm right from the start - until assessments could be carried out in the future to assess this properly.
We have always attended the child protection reviews and the chairperson is the one who decides the outcome at the very end of the meeting after all the professionals have given a score of risk as they see it. So if your outcome was decided before the conference was even held that is very wrong.
I empathise with how you manage expressing support for your person whilst not making it sound as if you're minimising the offence. I think that the fact we did the LFF Inform course counted there as we referenced that as showing we had a clear understanding of the risk however we felt about the offender - but perhaps it's easier for us as we're parents of the offender and not partners.
If Pre Proceedings turns into full blown Care proceedings SS have to fund a family solicitor for you who will talk to you about your wishes and then represent those wishes for you in court. So you do have agency at that point so yes, it's better than a CP conference, if you've felt unable to defend yourself there.
And to reassure you, it's true that SS can't just swoop in and remove your children unless there is an emergency and a real risk of imminent harm. If the risk is there but it's not an emergency they still have to go through procedures (section 20 which requires permission from those with parental responsibility ie both you and your OH; or a Reg 24 which is an interim care order and has to be granted by a family court judge or magistrate and is only a temporary order for 16 weeks to bridge the gap before Care Proceedings. And you would have a solicitor funded for that to represent you.)
There is so much to say about all this so do send me a private message anytime you want. I'm so sorry your experience of Child Protection has been traumatic - it certainly sounds like you're the victim of SS own carelessness - but a solicitor can reflect this as part of proceedings so if it comess to that do make it clear how unfairly you've been treated.
We've been in Pre -Proceedings and are now heading towards a Care Order hearing but our circumstances are different from you as our grandchildren's safety is being put at risk by their mother despite their father (our son) also being considered a risk because of his offending. However, our understanding of pre-proceedings was that it was meant to be a last ditch attempt to sort out any issues which might suggest that the children were at risk if they stayed in the family home. From how things worked for us it certainly looks as if SS closed your case far too quickly as they are meant to work on 'probability' so someone being investigated for a sexual offence would suggest to SS that their children might be at risk of harm right from the start - until assessments could be carried out in the future to assess this properly.
We have always attended the child protection reviews and the chairperson is the one who decides the outcome at the very end of the meeting after all the professionals have given a score of risk as they see it. So if your outcome was decided before the conference was even held that is very wrong.
I empathise with how you manage expressing support for your person whilst not making it sound as if you're minimising the offence. I think that the fact we did the LFF Inform course counted there as we referenced that as showing we had a clear understanding of the risk however we felt about the offender - but perhaps it's easier for us as we're parents of the offender and not partners.
If Pre Proceedings turns into full blown Care proceedings SS have to fund a family solicitor for you who will talk to you about your wishes and then represent those wishes for you in court. So you do have agency at that point so yes, it's better than a CP conference, if you've felt unable to defend yourself there.
And to reassure you, it's true that SS can't just swoop in and remove your children unless there is an emergency and a real risk of imminent harm. If the risk is there but it's not an emergency they still have to go through procedures (section 20 which requires permission from those with parental responsibility ie both you and your OH; or a Reg 24 which is an interim care order and has to be granted by a family court judge or magistrate and is only a temporary order for 16 weeks to bridge the gap before Care Proceedings. And you would have a solicitor funded for that to represent you.)
There is so much to say about all this so do send me a private message anytime you want. I'm so sorry your experience of Child Protection has been traumatic - it certainly sounds like you're the victim of SS own carelessness - but a solicitor can reflect this as part of proceedings so if it comess to that do make it clear how unfairly you've been treated.