SGO What Now !!

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NannyLoz
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 4:03 pm

SGO What Now !!

Post by NannyLoz » Tue Nov 06, 2012 8:42 pm

After a long haul my husband and I have finally managed to get CS to assess us for an SGO for our 2 grandchildren, the initial assessment has lead on to the SGO assessment, so far we have fill out all forms, had our CRB's back, medicals done and handed over our statement of financial circumstances, had 3 of our 6 visits all with the view that this had to be in place for the final hearing in March 2013. The finding of fact hearing took place over the past two weeks ending Friday 2nd November, with the judges decision of Failing to Protect on both parents. The final hearing has now been moved to January 2013. On Monday the children's SS phoned to say that the findings were to be released to us for our views and that they would send a SS around on Thursday as these were required to be in place for a court hearing (family proceedings) that is taking place on Friday 9th Nov. What does this mean !! are they moving thing along quickly :? or are they just on a fishing expedition. We have not heard from the SS that is doing our assessment !! we were told it would be her bring around the finding of fact report and then us going through it with her !! My daughter informed me that this court date (Friday 9th Nov) is for assessments, but when I asked what assessment was told assessments for her and her partner :? any views on this would be very much appreciated.

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David Roth
Posts: 2021
Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2006 11:14 am

Re: SGO What Now !!

Post by David Roth » Wed Nov 07, 2012 10:34 am

Hi NannyLoz

It might help if you think of the two different stages of the court process.

The first part, which has just been completed, is the finding of facts. This established whether or not the threshold criteria were met - did the children suffer, or were they at risk of suffering, significant harm?

From what you have said, the court's answer is yes. So the next matter to be decided is disposal: where should the children go, and what sort of order needs to be made in order to safeguard the child's future and welfare. The court needs to consider whether the children could return safely to their parents, or others with parental responsibility. It may seem unlikely, if they harmed or failed to protect the child, but the court has to look at the option, and this is probably what is going to be considered at the hearing on Friday, based on assessment reports. The court might also want to hear something about the alternative options being considered, which is where you come in.

It sounds as though the court wants to hear your reaction to the finding of fact. The reason for this might be that they want to see whether you accept that the parents actually did harm or fail to protect the children, to the extent the court found, so they can have some idea of whether you would protect the children from the parents in future. They will want to be clear that you aren't planning with the parents to wait until the court proceedings are over and then hand the children back to them. One of the concerns that is sometimes expressed about family and friends carers is that they could find it hard to accept that their own son/daughter/brother/sister/etc could have actually badly hurt the children.

Of course, it is often very difficult for carers that someone they are close to, or were once close to, may have committed harmful or negligent acts to children. The main concern is that the carers would not allow something like that to happpen again.

If you want to stay fully informed about what is happening in the court process, you could consider applying to become parties to the proceedings, as you do have a big interest in the outcome.
David Roth
FRG Policy Adviser

NannyLoz
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 4:03 pm

Re: SGO What Now !!

Post by NannyLoz » Wed Nov 07, 2012 7:05 pm

Many thanks David, We are now prepared for questioning of Thursday with the Senior Practitioner SW !!

NannyLoz
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 4:03 pm

Re: SGO What Now !! there back again

Post by NannyLoz » Mon Nov 12, 2012 2:14 pm

Hi all, I am in need of some urgent advice, as you will see we have recently had the verdict on a find of fact hearing,(Failure to protect) they was another hearing on Friday for what I am unsure as we are not party to proceedings. Today the childrens SW has phoned me to say that it has been agreed by all parties in court on Friday that my husband and myself have to under go a Psychological assessment, each of us on our own then together, when I ask if this was normally part of an SGO was told agreed by all parties and they wanted to find our about our reaction to the finding, surely this is why we had to make a statement,CS are arrange to appointment, do I have to use who they want and is this part of an SGO assessment HELP what are they looking to find because I also have my own child to consider when doing this. :?

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Robin D
Posts: 1985
Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2004 1:58 pm

Re: SGO What Now !!

Post by Robin D » Mon Nov 12, 2012 4:43 pm

Having a psychological assessment is very common and from person experience is rather difficult to swallow. I think it shows that they are serious about using you as potentially the best placement for the children. These assessments are anything but cheap and they are not going to pay for them willy nilly in the current climate. However, given the background I suspect the judge was persuaded that a number of factors may possibly not be in your favour: Age, old fashioned attitudes, do you have the forcefulness to protect the children if the parents start challenging the status quo etc. They have therefore agreed that a professional assessment is required to "assist the court" to make the right decision for the children.

That said, it makes it no easier to deal with, but I suggest you do it if you can face it. We had to go to Harley Street which we found quite threatening as well as visits to the home. However, the actual process itself was less stressful than we imagined, and we had the opportunity to disagree with the few things we didn't agree with in our statement together with the reasons why.

I also strongly suggest that you re-read the last paragraph in David's last post and seriously consider joining as a party. That way, you will not get future decisions foisted upon you without any understanding of why. It will also ensure that you get the right to challenge anything in any of the assessments and/or statements from the parties that is wrong. Do not speak to the SW about it as they will pressurise you not too. Just ring the court, or go into the court office. The staff there will help you through the form and once the application is in, it's almost a fait accompli as most judges would prefer to have the key players there.

I hope this helps, but expect David will also reply in the next day or so.

best wishes ...... Robin
Former F&F carer, foster carer, adopter and respite carer for umpteen children. Now retired and when with kids, making sure they 'go home' at the end of the day.

NannyLoz
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 4:03 pm

Re: SGO What Now !!

Post by NannyLoz » Fri Nov 16, 2012 7:54 pm

Thank Robin for your response. As of today we have been told by the childrens SW that this is a Risk Assessment as requested by the court, there are to be two appointments, one on Monday for 4 hours the first 2 hours are with the doctor, my daughter her partner, my husband and myself, then my husband and me on our own for the next 2 hours. The next is the following week 2 hours for my husband on his own then the following 2 hours for myself, they have also asked us for our medical records, we feel this is due to the lies told by our daughter and allegations from her partner that there has been domestic violence within the family my, we have already given our permission for our medical records to be released within our SGO assessment, we have had our CRB's returned clear, I have had my medical and a separate letter from my doctor stating that I have never been to the doctors or hospital with any injuries but to no avail. If we are being assessed as a couple why do we have to have separate interviews the only answer we get is this is needed as part of our assessment to aid the court, we have asked the police if they could do a check on us and our address so as we could present this to CS but were told by them that this is something that CS can do straight away in any case. Getting more confused by the day. Have asked if our assessment is looking positive but there have given us no idea how it is going. Has anyone else had any experience of this kind of assessment.

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