I don’t understand
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It all started May 2024 when we got the knock, investigating for upload of 1 Cat B image to the internet which my person has no knowledge of, devices taken and bail conditions set to no over night stays at home, no unsupervised contact with anyone under 18. Social services got involved and quickly closed case no further action from them following bail conditions or unless changed by police. I was able to supervise contact. Fast forward to May 2025, officer in charge requested extension of bail to November 2025 which was granted, solicitor got this revoked and changed to RUI May 2025 instead. Asked solicitor what this meant and was told no bail conditions and he’s allowed home. To live a normal life as possible and wait to see if my person gets a court summons. We asked a few times if we needed to contact social services or anyone else and solicitor said no because social services closed case earlier on and officer in charge is responsible for letting them or anyone else know. Just to mention my person was charged back in October 2016 for indecent exposure due to alcohol addiction, judge wanted to make an example of him so put him on SOR for 10 years. June 2025 he came back home, no word from anyone. My person has an officer come round every 6 months due to SOR for quick chat and when they came a few days ago they said they were unaware it changed to RUI and that he was home but that it should be okay. Social services got in contact yesterday to say the police have sent a referral to them because it’s turned to RUI, even though that was 2 months ago. She said she will speak to her manager because this case is complicated and spoke about an assessment. I’m so confused now, it’s probably my fault for not contacting social services but was told multiple times by solicitor that officer in charge is responsible. Do you know when they do assessment if they will probably say he has to move back out again? I’m at a loss and so confused. We have done everything right from our end and followed everything correctly. Maybe if we have a perfect safety plan they will allow him to stay? Is there anything else we can do? Thank you for reading, sending love to everyone going through this nightmare.
Hi Fearful - I'm so sorry that you are finding yourself maybe 'in the wrong' because of others' negligence as yes I'm sure that the police should have notified SS.
It sounds as if SS, knowing that your person was on bail and therefore governed by those conditions, didn't need to state what they saw as risk as it was covered by the bail conditions. Now it has changed to RUI they would see the risk activated and want to intervene but of course without the information would have missed that. In our case when it changed to RUI our son's children, who were on a CP plan (which had a 'circle of safety' stating that our son would be keeping to his bail conditions), had that revised to specify that he would still abide by the bail conditions but voluntarily. We knew that if he ignored that the police couldn't arrest him but we would be opening ourselves up to lots of problems with SS.
I suspect that the outcome for you will depend on how your SS see this. They are clearly in error but through no fault of their own and it's possible they will close ranks with the police rather than play a blame game. Do you have anything in writing from the solicitor saying your OH could now come home? If not, maybe they could speak to your SW to confirm they had given you that info but you might need to brace yourself for feeling judged for doing something wrong when it certainly wasn't your fault.
I do hope that I have needlessly painted a gloomier picture than necessary but as SS use 'risk' rather than 'proof' and as to date there has been no conclusion to your OH's case so they won't know for sure exactly what he has done, prepare yourself for them to be firmer than you'd want. It stinks and I'm really sorry and happy to apologise in due course for getting my take on it wrong xx
It sounds as if SS, knowing that your person was on bail and therefore governed by those conditions, didn't need to state what they saw as risk as it was covered by the bail conditions. Now it has changed to RUI they would see the risk activated and want to intervene but of course without the information would have missed that. In our case when it changed to RUI our son's children, who were on a CP plan (which had a 'circle of safety' stating that our son would be keeping to his bail conditions), had that revised to specify that he would still abide by the bail conditions but voluntarily. We knew that if he ignored that the police couldn't arrest him but we would be opening ourselves up to lots of problems with SS.
I suspect that the outcome for you will depend on how your SS see this. They are clearly in error but through no fault of their own and it's possible they will close ranks with the police rather than play a blame game. Do you have anything in writing from the solicitor saying your OH could now come home? If not, maybe they could speak to your SW to confirm they had given you that info but you might need to brace yourself for feeling judged for doing something wrong when it certainly wasn't your fault.
I do hope that I have needlessly painted a gloomier picture than necessary but as SS use 'risk' rather than 'proof' and as to date there has been no conclusion to your OH's case so they won't know for sure exactly what he has done, prepare yourself for them to be firmer than you'd want. It stinks and I'm really sorry and happy to apologise in due course for getting my take on it wrong xx
Some of the others on here who have more involvment from SS may be able to help you more with this but as I understand it SS cannot dictate where he lives, they can request he lives somewhere else as a way of managing risk but they personally have no power to enforce this, only the police (bail conditions) or the courts (court order) can require him to live somewhere else.
Thats not to say that they won't look to take action to safeguard any children at the address, this could include CIN or CP plans. Ultimatly SS could decide to escalate thing to court and ask for a court order to be put in place.
Thats not to say that they won't look to take action to safeguard any children at the address, this could include CIN or CP plans. Ultimatly SS could decide to escalate thing to court and ask for a court order to be put in place.
I was in the same situation- SS usually close the case as they see bail conditions as a protective factor. They will only get back in touch when a referral is made to them when the situation changes- either police, probation, school etc... I don't think its common practice for the parent themselves to contact SS after they have initially closed the case.
Yes they will do a risk assessment, what that actually entails I'm not sure. Your child will probably be classed as a child in need. Just make sure you are coming across as protective. Have you got boundaries in place, supervised/unsupervised access rules, support network. Just be prepared that dealing with themis not usually a pleasant experience, don't let them intimidate you or anything. Be clear that your child is your priority xx
Yes they will do a risk assessment, what that actually entails I'm not sure. Your child will probably be classed as a child in need. Just make sure you are coming across as protective. Have you got boundaries in place, supervised/unsupervised access rules, support network. Just be prepared that dealing with themis not usually a pleasant experience, don't let them intimidate you or anything. Be clear that your child is your priority xx