Failed SGO Assessment, And Subsequently Failing An Appeal.

[BCD0808]

Hi
We recently failed an SGO assessment. The vast majority of the reasons, were all based on conjecture, and some due to the social worker not being mistaken. Our question is, what is our chances, considering, we have not been given a positive assessment?

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear BCK0808

Welcome to the Board and thank you for your post and your question.

Your question is difficult to answer perhaps you should ask the local authority and other parties who have agreed that you could/would be considered to care for your grandchild questions.

Such as, ‘does the authority plan to ‘amend’ the assessment report and/or work with you to address the concerns they may have about your ability to care for your grandchild long term, and if so ‘what would this look like?’

The other main party were ‘allowed’ a second assessment – have you had an opportunity to see their assessment and what they initially ‘failed on’. ‘What concerns if any did the local authority have about them – and what were they able to do to ‘prove’ their case?’

Perhaps it would also be a good idea to ask the local authority about their assessment processes, here is our guide about assessments and our webpages relating to kinship care.

Best wishes
Suzie

[BCD0808]

Many thanks for your reply Suzie.
We are now getting to the end of the Court hearing, and have been asked to submit a statement, which is basically outlining what we would like as an outcome, and why we should have custody. Would this be a bullet point type position statement, or can we use a slightly more elaborate longer statement?

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear BCD0808,

There is some helpful guidance on the Rights of Women website about submitting a statement to the Family Court which you can find HERE. It also has an example position statement which you can download at the bottom of the webpage.

Child Law Advice also has some helpful advice which you can find HERE.

Both suggest that the statement should be limited to 1 or 2 sides of A4, it should be clearly laid out, paragraphs should be numbered and it would be a good idea to use double spacing with a clear font. For more guidance please read through the information on the links above.

I hope that this is useful,
Best wishes,
Suzie