Social Services are Trying to Take our Children!

[concernedfather]

[Deleted by User]

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Hello concernedfather

Welcome to the boards. My name is Suzie and I am an adviser at Family Rights Group.

First of all, congratulations on the birth of your daughters. I am very sorry that this is such a stressful and distressing time for you and your partner.

Due to the number of different concerns about you and your partner, Children’s Services have assessed that your babies may be at risk of immediate significant harm if they return home in your care. They have a duty, therefore, to take action to safeguard the girls.

Clearly you were open and honest with Children’s Services from the beginning of your partner’s pregnancy. This gave them every opportunity to work openly and honestly with you throughout the pregnancy, to carry out appropriate assessments and to plan accordingly. It is very unfortunate that they did not work effectively with you in this way and I would certainly advise that you raise this with your solicitor as a significant concern.

The current fact is, however, that Children’s Services have decided that the threshold has been met to start care proceedings and this is the process that you must now engage in, in order to get the best possible outcome for your family. I wonder if you have been given a date for an initial hearing yet? At least when this process gets underway, things will become clearer and you will have the opportunity to be fully represented in the court.

You mention that you had an appointment with a solicitor yesterday and I hope this went well. Your solicitor (and your partner’s as it is likely that you will be represented separately) is absolutely key as they are your advocate in the court process.

It is the solicitor’s role to ensure you are clear about the process, your options and what is likely to be in your best interests and to build the best possible case on your behalf. It is vital, therefore, that you build an open and positive working relationship with this person from the outset and that you continue to work closely with them. I would advise that you buy a file so that you can keep all of the relevant paperwork together and so that you can make clear notes of any issues, questions and concerns as they arise, you can then discuss these with your solicitor during appointments.

Initial issues that you may wish to discuss are,
• What are the immediate options when the babies leave the hospital? Can we push for a residential assessment unit? Should we focus on having the babies placed with a family member as an interim measure? Is it most likely that the girls will have to go in to foster care initially?
• If the babies are placed apart from us, what contact arrangements will we be asking for?
• What other steps could we be taking at the current time to improve our case?

You mention that you requested a family group conference but the social worker suggested this would be up to the court. It is perfectly reasonable for you to expect that an FGC might be arranged prior to proceedings as the result of this meeting can be very significant in court decision making. If it is likely that an initial court hearing will be taking place soon, however, there may not, realistically, be time for such a meeting to be arranged. Again, however, I would advise you to discuss this with your solicitor.

Finally, you mention that your mum is in a position to care for the girls if they are not able to return home with you. As I said above above, I would certainly advise that you discuss this with your solicitor as soon as possible. In addition, however, I would suggest that your mum (and any other family members who may be able to care for the babies) makes it clear to Children’s Services that she is willing and able to care for the babies both as an immediate placement and in the longer term if neccessary and that she is putting herself forward for this should the need arise. I would advise that she does this both verbally and in writing and asks for a written response indicating Children’s Services view on this.

I know that you have started a separate thread about a psychological assessment concernedfather and I will go and answer that in more detail later on. Just as a brief point, however, my general advice would be to co-operate as fully as you can with any assessments being suggested. However sceptical you may feel about the assessment, the fact is that any refusal to engage with assessments will be viewed as non co-operation and is only likely to increase concerns about you. Please do discuss this fully with your solicitor before making any final decision.

I hope this is a helpful start concernedfather Please do keep posting to let us know how things are going and ask any further questions you may have.

Best Wishes

Suzie
FRG Adviser

[ange301126]

dear concerned father, suzie has given you excellent advice already but, as a parent who was once in a similar situation to you, might I suggest that you immediately apply to the high court for parental responsibility. If your partner agrees ,then all she has to do is sign the papers along with you and then you send them to the high court. Details and forms are available from the register office. The worry is that if children are illegitimate (having been born outside marriage) then you may be regarded as somewhat transient within the grand plan of your partner's life and that you will not be taken so seriously as a prospective father. When it comes to the welfare of children , Local Authorities ( have been known) to trample upon the human rights of families especially those of unmarried fathers. By obtaining parental responsibility then in law you will have to be considered fully during proceedings etc.

[concernedfather]

Deleted By User

[ange301126]

dear concerned father, regarding parental responsibility ,I was advised to do this by the citizens advice bureau immediately my child was born and did it at the same time as I registered her the day after. She was in hospital for several weeks because she was also born prematurely . My barrister (and the key social worker) later told me it had been a wise move. I suppose ,in practice, if a child's mum agrees then,in your case your mother could also be granted parental responsibility at the high court which would guarantee that she would be considered as a carer in any proceedings.Although it is difficult what difference it makes to me,clearly ,in law, there is one and it helped in my case. Unfortunately ( though not in all cases and it may or may not happen in your case) some Local Authorities will walk all over you if they can.
You have expressed some disagreements with procedure .E.g. You are worried about being asked to have a psychological assessment .You are quite correct but I am afraid because of the system these are considered standard and if the Local Authority want one they will probably insistand the court will order it.Yes, you are right ,they will ask for it because they need evidence against you and that is what they are looking for. I think you are quite right to be very concerned about the messages you are getting.
It is just a suggestion but get as much as you can done while the children are in hospital. Speak with the doctors and get fully involved in the care-plan, ask the doctor not to keep anything from you and to inform you of everything social workers tell them. (This is one area in which official parental responsibility will assist you because doctors are very careful who they give information to)Had the children been fit and well they might well already have been removed from mum because of the circumstances. While in hospital visit daily,both of you and your mum,ask the health visitor to visit and to discuss matters with you all and get her on your side if you can. Act at all times with the children as your priority not the CS or yourself.As the dad this will come naturally to you. I suggest you and mum spend AS MUCH TIME AS POSSIBLE WITH THE CHILDREN in hospital for bonding purposes.Tell the consultant that you are in no hurry to have the children home until everything is absolutely right medically. Whatever you do ,don't sign any papers agreeing to place them in voluntary care. If they have sufficient evidence let the CS go to court for an order.

Regarding your past record,I suggest you keep a record of when you were told that your PAST record and drug-taking was not considered a risk to the children. You have volunteered information of your criminal record to the CS. Normally they are disallowed by legal guidelines from mentioning your past record in any court unless it is concerned with some form of child abuse etc.etc. and you should ask your lawyer to bring this to their attention.
I hope this practical advice helps in a small way.

[ange301126]

How odd that concerned father should delete both his posts.Has anyone any idea what might have caused him to do so?

[Murray72]

He was asking for advice on another forum in October, and became quite aggressive when responses were not supportive of his extreme views, he wanted to get a group of people together to fight off CS, anybody who advised him to cooperate was conformist and SW in disguise, he has deleted all posts from that site also.

[mimzy1991]

Murray do you use families for justice?