Dear ladyp
Thank you for your post. I am sorry to hear that children’s services are planning to go to court in relation to your grandchildren.
If your daughter is the only person with
parental responsibility for her children then she can make all major decisions for them including where/with whom they live at present. However, if children’s services are going into care proceedings then this means that they think the children are suffering or at risk of suffering significant harm. The children may already be on child protection plans and your daughter involved in
pre-proceedings. It is really important that she is accessing legal advice from a solicitor at this stage so that she can make informed choices. Your daughter should be looking into all options with her solicitor including family members taking on the care of the children. It is important that she takes specific legal advice from a solicitor with children panel accreditation; hopefully she is already working with a solicitor, if not, she can search via
the Law Society find a solicitor tool.
It is very positive that you are committed to your grandchildren and are coming forward to care for your them if possible. Children’s services must look into whether family members such as you could care for the children or support your daughter to care for them. She could ask for a
family group conference to involve the wider family; government guidance says this should happen if there is a possibility that a child may not be able to remain with their parents, unless this would put the child at risk. Children’s services should assess family members who put themselves forward to care for the children. In fact, if they do get an interim care order for the children they could only place them with someone (including a grandparent) who has been already either temporarily or fully approved as a foster carer.
It would be very important to be assessed. This should be done where possible before the court case begins. However, I think you have told us previously that you have a child in foster care yourself which could mean that they would not assess you to be suitable to care for your grandchildren.
These two advice sheets
Relatives and friends taking on the care of a vulnerable child in an emergency and
Care (and related) proceedings should be the most useful for you. They explain all the different options for children including legal orders such as
child arrangement orders and
special guardianship orders which help children be cared for within their family network.
Hope this is helpful.
Best wishes
Suzie