social services involment

[lillygarden66]

hello
this is all new to me and i am struggling to know whats going on
recently my son became involved with a woman who's 3 children had been removed, they are living with paternal grandparennts for 2 years. on a residency order they were taken because her husband hurt them and she failed to protect and her house was a mess.
she has given birth in the past 2 months to my sons twins ( my son has no other children and these are my first grandchildren). the parents are both mid twenties.
they have been allowed to take them home and after a family group meeting a plan was put in place so that the mother is never alone with the twins as social services wanted.
we make sure the house is clean and tidy, that she is proactive where the care of the twins is concerned and support her(something she didn't have before) to be the best mother she can,
now the problem is social services are coming up with new things they want us to do and new agreements they want signed when the plan was signed by all parties and has been in play and working since the babies came home 7 weeks ago.
we are also going from short term care to long term care as they rushed to court just after twins were born and got joint perental responsibilies, siting the fact that my son is a first time father. Why?
they do not check on us regularly, they are constantly late for appointments they have offered no constructive help with care of twins or the plan, they have lied. they fail to explain things and demand meetings at their office frequently.
they are always putting pressure on my son to give up work to stay with the twins.
we have also found that some of the reports put in to court are not written by the social worker of note so we cannot challenge any findings as they always point the finger at someone else saying theres nothing they can do.
on top of this my sons barrester seems more interrested in keeping on social services good side then representing my son, even withholding his statement because he raised many of the same points i have here and social services might take offence.
what can i do to help my son and grandbabies?

[David Roth]

Hello lillygarden66, and welcome to Family Rights Group's discussion forum for family and friends carers. Although you are not currently raising your grandchilden, if it doesn't work out for your son and his babies then you might find you are being asked whether you would consider bringing them up instead. The fact that your son's partner's three older children are with maternal grandparents does seem to indicate that the local authority is willing to accept family and friends placements.

You raise a lot of issues in your post, which I will try to deal with, although in some instances I might ask for more information.

You asked why the local authority went to court and got joint parental responsibility, on the grounds of your son being a first-time father.

From what you have said, it sounds as if the local authority have concerns about the safety of the twins, based on the mother's history of not protecting the older children and not keeping the home in a fit state. They might also think that because your son is a first-time parent he has not been able to demonstrate that he is experienced in meeting the needs of children and keeping them safe where necessary, in the way that an experienced parent possibly could.

When you said that the local authority have got joint parental responsibility, does that mean that they now have interim care orders on the twins? If so, then that is likely to be the first stage of care proceedings. This would mean that the local authority believes that the twins suffered or were at risk of suffering a significant degree of harm from their mother, and that if this were proven the children should be removed from her and be raised elsewhere.

If it is the case that there is an interim care order, and the council is applying for a care order, then it will be really important for the parents and their support networks to demonstrate that they can bring up the children safely and without risk. This period while the mother is trying to bring up the children with support is crucial to proving one way or the other what the parents are capable of doing to raise the children happily and safely.

Councils ought to hold a Family Group Conference (or family group meeting) before they start these proceedings, not only to see what support there is for the parents from their family and friends network, but also to find out who (if anyone) from this group could raise the children in the event that they can't stay with their parents. The council will have a bottom line in these meetings which is usually based around the children's safety. When you say that the local authority seems to be introducing new conditions to the plan, I would ask whether these are aimed at meeting any concerns that have arisen about the children's safety. If the local authority seems to be trying to impose a whole new agreement to replace the one that was agreed, then I would suggest that you ask for the family group meeting to be re-convened, so that the social workers can explain their concerns about the old plan to everyone, and as a family you can draw up a new plan to meet any concerns they have. I would suggest speaking to the person who co-ordinated the original meeting about the council's subsequent actions.

You also mention a number of concerns about the conduct of the social workers who are dealing with you. I would comment that, while we all know that social workers have busy schedules and have to deal with unexpected emergencies, so that some missed appointments is almost inevitable, that cannot be allowed to excuse a pattern such as you have described. It is possible to make formal complaints about the way social workers deal with you, and if you do decide to do this then I would suggest that you keep a proper diary of all the events where you feel you were not dealt with appropriately. FRG's advice sheet 25 explains how to make a formal complaint: http://www.frg.org.uk/need-help-or-advice/advice-sheets

When you say you are dissatisfied with your son's barrister, do you mean his legal representative in the court proceedings? People do sometimes confuse the roles of the solicitor and the barrister, and although you may be clear I would just like to check which one you mean. Lawyers do often approach court proceedings quite tactically, and for example sometimes make concessions where they think that a judge is going to rule against them in any case, in order to win concessions from the other side. However, they are supposed to be presenting your son's case. I would suggest it is worth having a discussion with them about the tactics they are employing in this case, and their reasons for not making the case that you and your son would wish them to.

If you think you would like to talk this through with someone, I would suggest that you could call the Family Rights Group advice line - it's free to all LANlines and most mobiles - 0808 8801 0366, open 9.30-3.30 Mon-Fri.