Scoial Services Case Handling

4 weeks ago I contacted social services because my daughter told me her mother (my partner at the time) strangled her and had left pinch marks on her neck.


The social worker described the marks as not warrenting concern and nobody asked my daughter (3.5yrs) who hurt her neck.

The social worker waiting 3/4 days to take her to a medical centre for a check. Nobody asked her hurt her neck.

Amongst the social worker denying I said thing to her in an unrecorded enviroment which I cannot prove I said. She has made an unqualified assessment in the child protection board meeting and described me as mentally unstable (I was recovering from the abuse I received from my partner and from the traumatic thing my daughter told me) I beleive this to be slander.


I have photo evidence of the marks and the social worker has been rather hostile towards me through the whole proceedure. (understandable as she beleives that we both abused our daughter....)


I have also only been allowed 2 see my daughter twice in 4 weeks, while the mother has had unrestricted unsupervised access to my daughter at her family home (family have also lied about things) I beleive my ex is being allowed full access without permission, as family protect each other) The family are rather neglectful (my opinion) with another abusive daughter who has stitched up her ex''s.

My daughter''s mother has now had permission to move into the family home and due to all the abusive and neglectful behaviour she has shown towards my daughter which is here''say on my part but I would stand in crown court and stand by all my accounts.

-The current contract signed by all parties states ''''daughter'''' to remain in the care of ''''family member'''' at ''''address''''

''''Daughter'''' to not be left unsupervised with either ''''father'''' or ''''mother''''

My questions:

Am I right to beleive the unqualified assessment of me being mentalliy unstable is slander?

Am I right in beleiving that any reported abuse is warrented an immediete check as a medical centre within hours?

Am I right to beleive that my daughter is not safe at the hand of this social worker who refuses to step down after expessing my concerns?

Am I right to beleive that as the father I am being pushed out by this social worker?

Am I right to beleive I can go to the property (protected by personal recording device for my protection) and request to see my daughter and if my daughter asks to see me they cannot refuse me?


If there are any questions or further suggestions then please express these because I have been completely stone walled by the lying ex who I have made a police statement against and all my witnessed accounts have gone to social worker on paper. Even in the meeting there was fake tears and full lies by the ex and lies by the current carer (step mother)

I have plenty of things that only a spouse knows about a partner but very little evidence, facebook transcripts where my ex in past avoiding incriminating herself when ive mentioned the violance.

There is proof that she had been abused by her mother and had not attended a mental health team appointment. I have photographs of a face slap, item used to lock my daughter in bedroom and the marks on her neck.

I am incredibly worried abotu my daughter and prepared to do anything.

Generally it’s difficult to make a case for slander. This is not only because of the problem of proof (a record of unrecorded speech is more difficult to establish than that of, say, a written publication) but also because a claimant is generally required to show damages in order to bring a claim for slander. In effect, this means a slander claimant has to show that the slander caused them some kind of measurable financial loss.

Social workers are trained and qualified to carry out assessments to identify not only the child’s developmental needs but also parents’ difficulties which may have an impact on their parenting capacity. An honestly held opinion isn’t slander. The general court rule that the unsuccessful party to a court action applies so a claimant in a slander case could be ordered to pay the other side’s costs (which can easily mount to 10s or even 100s of thousands of pounds) should they lose their case.

As a general rule of thumb the best advice is to work with social workers and keep focused on the needs of children. Allegations can take many months to investigate and in the meantime the social services may need to treat them as though they may be true. From the legal point of view abuse is considered to have happened when someone''s actions have caused a child to suffer ‘significant harm’ to their health or development. When there is evidence children aren’t surviving satisfactorily the first consideration is what measures can be put in place to ensure that parenting is good enough.

Although strictly speaking you do have the right to see your daughter if you try to force the issue it is likely to escalate matters. IT may be seen as evidence your behaviour is controlling and aggressive. The mother or social services could then successfully apply for an injunction against you or an order regulating your parental responsibility. IT’s the family courts rather than the crown court that decides these matters.

The correct way to proceed would be to seek advice from a family solicitor and if necessary apply for a court order. A judge then independently reviews all the evidence. Without factual evidence the judge will have difficulty choosing between two versions of the same “truth.” Court is the best place to challenge social service errors.