SS advice
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We're currently 11 days before the end of the 45 days that SS get to do their assessment and so far she's onky seen me, and been off sick for the rest of it. I currently have a very upset son who just wants to see his dad, as well as a step daughter to my OH who doesn't want to see him the longer it goes on. I don't know what happens next. OH is counting down to the end of the 45 days but the way it's going, it's going to go over that. I'm worried that if I continually chase for updates that the social will dig their heels in and take longer which is going to be heartbreaking. I'm really struggling trying to keep everyone positive to the end of this, but I'm not the one holding the cards.
Any advice would be appreciated x
Any advice would be appreciated x
What assessment are you meaning - is it a risk assessment on your partner or an assessment on how well you can protect your children or something else? Our experience of SS is that things always take much longer than they state unless it's something in law (like the timing between child protection reviews, for example.) If the time frame is just a 'suggestion' then they often take much longer and there isn't much that we can do about it although it's hardly fair on anyone and especially the children involved.
Have you come across the Family Rights Group? They are excellent for giving advice either from the info on their website or you can ring their helpline, and they also have templates which you can use to draft a letter of complaint about the treatment you are receiving from a social worker. There's a forum too where you can ask other people for advice.
https://frg.org.uk/get-help-and-advice/
It's understandable that you are worried about making things worse if you chase up too often but sadly it's the loudest voices that are often dealt with first and anyway, if you've been told something you have a right to expect that 'something' to happen as promised. Maybe you could say that you appreciate things have been delayed because of the social worker's absence but that you'd be grateful if SS can give you an estimate of when things will now be concluded re the assessments so you can explain to your children and minimise any more distres for them. It's always best to write rather than just ring as then you have a paper trail of what you were told.
Hope things work out soon, there is nothing worse than feeling ignored especially when it's the children who are the ones suffering most.
Have you come across the Family Rights Group? They are excellent for giving advice either from the info on their website or you can ring their helpline, and they also have templates which you can use to draft a letter of complaint about the treatment you are receiving from a social worker. There's a forum too where you can ask other people for advice.
https://frg.org.uk/get-help-and-advice/
It's understandable that you are worried about making things worse if you chase up too often but sadly it's the loudest voices that are often dealt with first and anyway, if you've been told something you have a right to expect that 'something' to happen as promised. Maybe you could say that you appreciate things have been delayed because of the social worker's absence but that you'd be grateful if SS can give you an estimate of when things will now be concluded re the assessments so you can explain to your children and minimise any more distres for them. It's always best to write rather than just ring as then you have a paper trail of what you were told.
Hope things work out soon, there is nothing worse than feeling ignored especially when it's the children who are the ones suffering most.
Rainy Day thank you for your reply.
It's an assessment to see if I'm ok to supervise contact between by OH and kids due to his bail conditions saying that he can't have contact with under 18's. The police interviewing him when he was originally arrested told him not to worry as he'll be able to see the kids within a few days so just lied to him. There's been no contact for 6 weeks and it hurting everyone. It's just so frustrating that there's no urgency at all when the impact to families are huge.
It's an assessment to see if I'm ok to supervise contact between by OH and kids due to his bail conditions saying that he can't have contact with under 18's. The police interviewing him when he was originally arrested told him not to worry as he'll be able to see the kids within a few days so just lied to him. There's been no contact for 6 weeks and it hurting everyone. It's just so frustrating that there's no urgency at all when the impact to families are huge.