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hi guys, been on here a while
so my current court order is since sept 17. i varied the original in aug 17 as it went from every weekend to alternate but mum wouldnt give any holidays in exchange so had to apply to get it in writing. Child lives with mum, now aged 7. enforcement in jan 17. SPIP course done. mum agreed to fully and wholly comply but has since breached court order 20+ times. almost every 5/6 weeks since aug 2018.
he was burnt in may 16 at age of 2 with an iron. quite bad on his palm, social didnt bother to investigate. police saw no criminal aspect to it and refered to social but they fobbed it off saying as police didnt see a concern, they didnt need to.
various other injuries noted and reported to nspcc who made a referal in jan 17. sandwell said they were rough and tumble. they spoke to nursery who said he was ok. the same nursery that didnt see the next burn 6 months later
he got burnt again with an iron, i took him hospital and this prompted section 47. he was placed on child protection plan sept 17 to july 18. mums account was he plugged it in whilst she was in bath and climbed on his trike and tried to iron. they believed it. it was under category of emotional harm. work was done with mum.a) teach her not to leave a hot iron on near a child. and iron when hes asleep or at nursery b) a communication diary was impletemented for parents even though we communicate via text. the section 47 revealed that medical attention was not sought for at least 3 days by mum although it was later as he was with me the weekend and non for the second burn. The diary phased out of 2 months as mother wouldnt write in it or not bring it to handovers. as he wasnt burnt in that time CPP case closed. he used to cry and not want to return to mum but i was told it was normal, even would pickup on the route etc even if not going somewhere else he would break down in tears.
during the child protection plan he was crying on the way to nursery once and as the location of meeting was nursery..he told me his aunty had smacked him in face. social worker took notice.
i had to make a complaint about the section 47 report as it was not factually accurate, the social worker didnt follow procedure etc. i have a written apolofy off them,
March 19 he had another burn on right forearm. i took a photo but it was almost healed up due to gap in contact i couldnt see how sever it was so i didnt report it. and i was told to excercise discretion when reporting.
since 2018 then i have noticed his behaviour was odd. if he spilt something he would burst into tears. dropped something accidentally start crying . like he was scared of being hit . i re assured him etc and asked why he was upset but wouldnt say.
eventually he opened up in dec 2020 stating his mum pulls his ears, mainly when teaching him to read the quran. saying if he gets it wrong , she gives him 2 mins to practise the word and if he gets it wrong again she starts pulling his ears/twisting them. he states they feel like they are going to come off and burn. he also stated she regularly smacks his face, smacks back of neck and back of his head whenever she loses her temper.
i discussed this with nspcc and they made a referal to sandwell social services in Jan 2021. The social worker called mum, told her about referal, she denied it and said i love my son i would never hurt him. she stopped wednesday contact as a result. then when i saw him the following weekend he was very upset, starting crying "saying why did u tell them" why did u tell them" . i told him if i dont tell anyone..it will get worse and he needs to tell me if it happens or he can tell the teachers.
march 2021 he had redness on his hear where it had clearly been twisted . i photographed it, but he wouldnt say it was his mum (too scared from consequences). i reported it to nspcc. they made a referal again. This time social worker just took her time. spoke to mum, she denied it saying it happened in a park. she asked my son whilst at mums if he was ok (of course he wont disclose abuse at the place hes being abused) he said yes. i was told school would do some work with him.
April 30th he messaged me via gaming app stating shed hit him again and pulled ears. i called 101 and text social worker . she said "she would speak to mum" as i was at work. police didnt do a welfare check. but came to speak to house. he gave a formal statement and i was told to keep him in my care. a week later social worker rang saying police had no evidence to prosecute and it was decided to do some work with mum around chastisement. he remained in my care from 7th may to 25th
i asked them to put it in writing that despite the history, despite the disclosure they felt it safe to return him without putting measures in place. she refused to do that so i kept him in my care. made an urgent/emergency appliation to court submitted on 14th still awaiting court date.
mum went and collected him from school 25th, school facilitated it to be done 45 mins early. when i asked they said social worker authorised it. social worker said i spoke to your son and he said he didnt want to go to mum but she came and took him as she sought legal advice and denied authorising it.
She didnt send him to school next day and has now deleted his account on the app where he messaged me about abuse, i have screen shots still. he messaged me the day he got collected saying i didnt want to go , mum dragged me and head teacher forced me to go with her. mum has now told social worker she wont be allowing any contact as advised be her solicitor..which is bull sh2t as there is no reason for them to instruct her to breach order.
awaiting court date.
need some advice as to how to proceed next please
Unfortunately it looks like you are going to have to enforce order , but also stop raising allegations. Theres a long history of them and social services and nspcc are doing absolutely nothing or even backing you. If your son is generally being badly treated seems like you may have to try and increase your time with him every other weekend and some midweek and wait until he decides enough is enough himself . Maybe you could do your own diary with photos and evidence and keep them until the day social services do decide to act. Also even the school are supporting mum so you facing an uphill battle or perhaps if theres a court order they had no choice , but to let mum take your son 45 mins early. The last bit was probably advised by a solicitor if she/he had site of court order in place
nspcc agree that everything i report is of concern and constitutes child abuse or cruelty but all they can do is refer it to sandwell social services, they cant physically do anything themselves other than to refer or advise. Sandwell social services dont give a [censored] unless hes beaten black or blue but id rather not let it get to that stage
social services want to keep trying different things in the hope she will learn but at the expense of my sons welfare. Now they want to put him on a child in need plan. knowing that the child protection plan didnt work. she will comply for now but return back to it as soon as plan is closed
i have to report it cant just keep it buttoned up hoping it will go away. He himself has disclosed details of the abuse to the police, what more do they want?
i am preparing my position statement detailing the referrals pictures of injuries and evidence of my son telling me on a message thats shes pulled his ears.
my current order is alternate weekends froday to monday. midweek wednesdays
full week may half term
summer hols a week each
xmas full week
birthday half day each
eid half day each
shen she complies , as i say ive had 24 odd breaches since last enforcement
hi,
I think the way court/cafcasss operates, they won't consider ear pulling as a significant safeguarding concern. They might be interested to know whether the child is being forced to take religious lessons and then being punished in this way. I know that behavior is not tolerated at all in state schools. I think you should use the court hearing as opportunity to gain more time with your child. You do have a great arrangement already. You could ask for 50/50 arrangement and see how it goes.
you could also ask court to consider a change of residency, if she breaches in future.
I think you're best to let the court deal with it all, apply for the enforcement and present your safeguarding concerns. If the court considers it necessary, they are likely to order either a Section 7 or Section 37 & could also give consideration to appointing a guardian to represent your child during the proceedings.
If you have significant evidence of breaches and risk of harm to your son, you should refer to this in your initial position statement for the first hearing. The ps should also lay out what you are asking the court to do.
Any allegations of physical or emotional harm towards the child should be taken seriously by a court.
Best of luck.
He was with me since 7th may as it was my weekend. and i was told by the police to keep him with me for safeguarding. i applied to court on 14th may to vary the court order for residence based on the safeguarding concerns and abuse disclosed.
shes stopped contact since 25th. blocked him from messaging on the app where he told me about the abuse and yesterday i went for my contact session as its mean to be my full week this week. Didnt show. the social worker who arranged for her to collect him early from school on 25th said mother is saying her solititor advised her to stop all contact.
evidence i i have is pictures of the 3 burns, a picture of the mark on his ear from being pulled and there is his statement on police file . i could hear from the other room.they asked him if he had 1 wish at dads what would it be? he replied i wish i could stay here forever. 1 wish at mums: she stops hitting me. they asked what he likes at mums it was only 1 thing...his tablet. they asked on a scale of 1 to ten how much it hurts he said 7/8/9. The court needs to get his statement from police.
i am awaiting a hearing date, i called the court and the operator told me last friday it was down as an urgent within 10 hearing so it should be very soon.
is there any templates on here for the position statement ?, i have prepared one, anyone can look over it for me please?
Hiya. Fingers crossed you can get this hearing early. Make sure you have your evidence to hand in case the court would like to see it but don't attach to the PS.
There's a link here that you might find helpful;
https://childlawadvice.org.uk/information-pages/writing-a-position-statement/
yoda, yes i have the pictures of the injuries and the most important of text from her re breaches saying "go to court if you want its free for me my solicitor said nothing will happen i will just get a warning like last time so what big deal".
Do you think its best to get them printed via a photo print service or just colour printer as they will show better via photo print?
i applied for urgent without notice hearing ie for my son to remain in my care based on police advice and safeguarding concerns and to prevent mum removing him from my care. but my position has changed since as shes already took him from school , and blocked all contact since 25th may which i will highlight at hearing
social services are now saying he will be placed on a child in need plan but my concern is that they have put the mothers needs before childs time and time again. they didnt take these allegations of abuse seriously despite the referal from nspcc and didnt speak to my son alone they have only now stepped up and come forward since the police involvement otherwise they would have brushed it under the carpet. when i text the social worker that my son had messaged me telling he his ears had been pulled again and hed been smacked...she wasnt too bothered and said "il speak to mum" thats why i contacted the police.
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