Social Services say i need to quit job

topaztiger1983

I have not spoken to SS about this myself as I have been working, I work in a fast food restaurant at a large shopping centre in Sheffield, so getting time off around Christmas is not possible, I have 2 days off this week (Tomorrow (Tuesday) & Saturday), so they need to come tomorrow really if they wanna talk to me personally

Also we have a CPP case conference on 23rd December so need to see her before that

missbiggles1

topaztiger1983 wrote: »

They were gone but got involved again when partner got pregnant

But why, did someone express some concerns about the pregnancy?

topaztiger1983

Just because we had involvement with our son, they have to be told

jetplane

missbiggles1 wrote: »

But why, did someone express some concerns about the pregnancy?

It is not unusual for social services to become involved with an unborn child if a previous child has been removed. No one has to contact social services and express any concerns.

OP if you have not spoken to SS personally then perhaps your partner misunderstood, the question of whether you can give up work may have arisen as an option but not as a condition. Do you have an advocate or solicitor?

TBagpuss

Have you had a letter from Social Services? Normally if they are considering becoming involved they should write to you, inviting you to a meeting and (normally) recommending that you take legal advice and (often) giving contact detaisl for local solcitors.

Look here http://find-legal-advice.justice.gov.uk/ to find a solicitor local to you who provides legal aid (filter for family law / public law)

If the local authority does sek to remove your child then you would become entitled to Legal Aid which is not means or merits tested.

Social Services can take a view that there is a risk to your child and can then work with you and your partner to adress that risk. They should communicate clearly with both of you to try to work out how to adress any issues.

If your partner has learning disabilities she may also qualify for support from the Adults with Learning Disabilities Team who might, for instance, be able to ensure that she has a support worker, and that any expectations / requirements tha the Children Team has are communicated to her in a way which is clear to her (in my experience Social Workers can be incredibly bad at this - they shoudl, for example, be consider whether, if there are things which they feel your partner isn't doing, whether it is sufficient for them to tell her or write down what is needed, or whether they need to work with her so she can learn by watching / working with someone, whetther a pictorial low chart would would bette than a writen list etc.

If they consider that your child would be at risk of significant harm as a result of neglect or abuse if left unsupervised with your partner than they would be able to apply to the court to remove your child unless you were able to make arrangemetns to ensure that your partner was not left unsupervised, which in practuivcal terms might mean you hd to giveup work.

owver, Social Servies should be providing you and your partner with very clear information and advice about exactly what their concerns are, and what they would ned to se to be satisfied. It may be that you could push for them to provide support such as regualr visits from a social worker, parenting / mother and baby classes or use of a family centre to provide your partner with access to support and advice about caring for the child.

You should be invited to any meeting and it is not unreasonabl to ask the social services to try to schedule these at a time when you can attend, *particualrly* given your partner's disability.

But sep one is to see a solicitor.

FBaby

Everyone will know that I am not the most sympathetic to people who give up work for a life of benefit once they have children, however, your situation is different and your priority has to be to your child at this stage.

Do go and talk with SS before you do anything though. They might come up with different suggestions. Surely if they are adamant that you will need to stop working, they should be saying that to you not your partner to relay.

If however they do believe that your child is at risk alone with your partner, then you will need to take on the role of the main carer. It could very well be though that your partner shows that she is much more capable than she was at the time and that as the baby gets older, that she copes well so you could go back to work before they start school.

Take it step by step and the first one is to meet with them.

Mojisola

topaztiger1983 wrote: »

I have not spoken to SS about this myself as I have been working

TBagpuss wrote: »

Have you had a letter from Social Services? Normally if they are considering becoming involved they should write to you, inviting you to a meeting and (normally) recommending that you take legal advice and (often) giving contact detaisl for local solcitors.

Do take Bagpuss's advice. It seems very strange that they don't consider your partner to be competent to look after a child but are happy to have meetings with her alone. She should have someone else with her if you can't get to the meetings and they should be putting everything in writing for you.

duchy

If your workplace are willing would it be possible for you to effectively take paternity leave for the first year and then return to work using a nursery or childminder for all or the majority of your working hours. A year down the track Social Services once having seen you are very different people now may take a more flexible view.

Your employers sound very supportive so that'll probably help.

Could your partner be having a bit of a panic and misinterpreting what SS are actually saying because she feels she needs more support or is scared to be the primary carer (mix of fear of what happened before and pregnancy hormones) ?

topaztiger1983

duchy wrote: »

If your workplace are willing would it be possible for you to effectively take paternity leave for the first year and then return to work using a nursery or childminder for all or the majority of your working hours. A year down the track Social Services once having seen you are very different people now may take a more flexible view.

Your employers sound very supportive so that'll probably help.

Could your partner be having a bit of a panic and misinterpreting what SS are actually saying because she feels she needs more support or is scared to be the primary carer (mix of fear of what happened before and pregnancy hormones) ?

I don't know how that would work as I am only on a 4 hour contract, I thought paternity is only 2 weeks

Also I have spoken to my partner and she said that they said "he has to give up work to be the primary carer for baby & care for you (my partner)"

Sncjw

There has to be more to it than your previous son being removed due to autism. Many families have children with autism. Could you not cope in that last and felt he would be better off in care.

They would want to check ypu could cope with your next child and would be involved if any history of child being taken from you.

I would have thought they would try and support you first like give you guidance before taking drastic descion to remove child.

Have you got family around you to help.