[2024] UKUT 379 (AAC)

We heard evidence from LM about this allegation. LM admits and has received a police caution for slapping his son in 2019. He explained to us that his son had been the subject of reprimands at school, having behavioural problems which caused the head teacher to have to attend to deal with his son and for TM’s mother to have to go to school to discuss TM’s behaviour. He said that as an “African parent” (his words), he was firm in his belief that you should respect your teachers and that not listening to the teacher was serious. He also explained that he did not understand in 2018/19 that his problems at school may be related to the fact that he did not like transitions, was too intelligent and so was bored. He identified that he had undertaken a parenting course after receiving the caution and his involvement with Hampshire Social Services. He describes himself as being negative and angry at having to attend the course, but the 10-week course taught him empathy and it transformed his attitude towards parenting. Following on from this he has done a further course in talking to teenagers. This is consistent with the information from Hampshire Social Services who identified that parents worked well the child protection plan put in place for TM and his brother in 2020 and made changes to their working lives to meet their children’s needs.

He also explained that TM was the first child he raised in England. On several occasions during his evidence, he identified that he was an “African parent” at that time so that he was influenced by those mores and values. During the November 2019 CAF assessment (set out below), the social worker records that LM identified he was from Africa and experienced significant chastisement as a child, however, he demonstrated an understanding that this was not normalised in England. We note that the children’s services risk assessment of 2020 records information gathered from TM’s school. TM disclosed to the school that when his father slaps him, the calls it “real discipline” and says that this is how he got disciplined when he grew up in South Africa.

The CAF assessment in November 2019 said that LM and his wife had identified that physical chastisement was not normalised within the family and were open however about the troubles they were having in managing TM’s behaviour at home.

He also stated that he has had no problems with the children since 2020, despite being their primary carer since 2022, showing how he has grown and that he shows no evidence of disposition to harm children now.

The suggestion made was that his son, TM, had suggested that he may have been “dreaming” when suggesting that his father had slapped him prior to 2019. He gave evidence that his son was very intelligent but was also very good at talking and exaggerating things. LM said he could not remember the incidents from 2018. The information within the Child Assessment Framework (CAF) identifies that TM disclosed to his school in June 2020 that he had been kicked by his father and that:

“This was not the first time dad had hit him: dad has slapped him twice in 2019 and three times in 2018”.

This assessment also identified that TM worried about being hit by his dad, and that his father made constant threats to him that he will be in trouble. The same assessment also described LM saying that the kick to TM in June 2020 was a “soft kick” because he had shown defiance when LM had spoken to him about the mess that the younger child had made.

In November 2019, during another CAF assessment, the Appellant has stated that he had “admitted slapping [TM] and put it down to not being in the right frame of mind to deal with the situation as he had just returned from a night shift”.

The s47 investigation and risk assessment of June – July 2020 has a section which describes the social workers views and analysis, which includes commenting upon the validity of the concern. This describes TM’s account as “consistent,” and that TM did not feel safe at home. She states:

“I do believe the account that the child gave is accurate regarding the current incident….I do, however, have some questions and uncertainty regarding previous allegations] the child] made . He just seemed a troubled child and related that some of the incidents he did not remember if they had been real or a dream, but he thought they were real.”

We considered that the social worker did raise this concern about TM’s consistency, but consider, on the balance of probabilities, that TM’s allegation was plausible and credible and given the strains in the household outlined in 2018 and 2019, coupled with LM’s admitted concerns about TM’s behaviour, that such did happen. Furthermore, we note that LM had denied slapping his son when the police were first involved in 2020 but subsequently recollected that it did happen.

The DBS therefore did not make a mistake in concluding that this was behaviour which was relevant to their determination about risk of harm.