'My social worker had a baby with my violent ex'

Hayley (not her real name) says the social worker is another victim of her abusive ex

A mother has said she was "disgusted" to find out a social worker who was assigned to her family was in a relationship with the "violent" father of her children, and had a baby with him.

The woman said the social worker wrote favourable reports about the father, referred to as Mr Y in court, which helped him maintain visiting rights to their children.

The relationship was confirmed by Sefton Council, which said it had contracted an agency to provide the social worker to supervise Mr Y.

The authority told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that it would take the "necessary steps to ensure a similar situation cannot recur".

Breach of trust

The woman, referred to as 'Hayley' to maintain her anonymity, now has full custody of her children and Mr Y no longer has contact.

She said she held no malice towards the social worker, referred to as Ms X, as she considered her another "victim of a manipulative abuser".

She told the LDRS: "The professional breach of trust is shocking but it just points to the wider problems we’ve faced as a family.”

Hayley said Mr Y became abusive and violent a few months into their relationship, including while she was pregnant.

Court reports showed Mr Y was controlling and humiliated Hayley on a daily basis and attempted to isolate her from friends and family.

Sefton Council said "necessary steps" had been taken

She was attacked by Mr Y after she left him and he was convicted of a serious assault and jailed, spending three months in custody, the LDRS said.

Mr Y began harassing Hayley after his release, despite a restraining order, leading to Hayley having a mental health crisis.

She said she had sought support from Sefton Council but her children were placed into foster care 100 miles away.

"Words would not be able to describe the devastation I felt,” she said.

The authority covering the foster care placement assigned a social worker to Hayley to supervise visits with her children and Sefton Council hired an agency social worker, Ms X to Mr Y.

'Anger'

Ms X was also responsible for writing reports to the family court about the father’s behaviour, his interactions with the children and his suitability for continued access.

It was soon after this that Ms X, who had knowledge of Mr Y’s history of violence and abusive behaviour, allegedly began a relationship with him and became pregnant, the LDRS said.

Hayley said: “The anger really comes in waves.

"When I think about it and realise I placed my trust in this professional, I feel sick."

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During the 11 months the children were in foster care, Hayley said her family were given less visitation days than Mr Y’s family.

Sefton Council later acknowledged the risk assessments for Mr Y’s visits with the children - supervised by his parents - were not "sufficiently robust".

A spokesperson for Sefton Council said: “Where incidents occur that are in breach of our standards, we will follow all necessary steps to ensure a similar situation cannot recur.

"Where events take place outside of our local authority, as in this case, we will work with other authorities to ensure they also have the correct checks and balances in place.”

The agency which employed Ms X did not respond to a request for comment.