should the LA be doing more

[CFJ222]

Hi i am a father. my child is on a full care order agreed by all parties, though lives with the mother. The La forced us to seperate. I only have supervised contact at contact centre. My ex partner not allowed to supervise.

We went through court proceedings. with a SW who there was just too many inconsistencies. Most dealt with and agreed at court.

Therapy was recomended. The judge said they could not force the LA to fund this but did say it was in the best interests of my child that i am provided this.

La agreed to help search and look at funding/contributing and would put my case to a commissioning pannel. this was in their care plan. a new social worker was put in place.

Straight out of court La refused to help search and said i am an adult and they would not be putting it to a panel. also stating it is not in best interests of my child despite what was in the judgement or what was in the care plan. I have this in writting. La say they did send 1 email in trying to find therapist at this time.

I have since court been fighting new inconsistencies though most have been resolved they should never be there in the first place.

9 months later LA now say it is in child best interests and will re look at contributing. I have this in writting. Despite this actually in the judgement anyways. Everything started to look good.

Social worker left and the one at court came back.

A further 6 months past and the La came up with a contribtion offer of 50%. The La also found a provider of therapy. Now while this seems reasonable. it is not viable. I have shown my financial situation. even with the 50% this leaves well in excess of £100 a week for a minimum of 9 months. including the need to take 2 days of work to complete the therapy. i have explained my situation to the la. Not to mention i been on forlough and the threat of reduncy remains very high. My company have made significant reduncies and are planning more. Surely this is well out the reach of most people to afford.

i have also explained this to the independent and he seem more reasonable and seems to be more sympathetic but nothing is moving forward.

i have gone to management who dont seem to fully understand everything and trying to get my points across in the allotted time i always
have meetings cut short or fobbed of with promises only for the process to repeat.

The LA stance now is 50% and have met the commitments and not doing anything more.

The LA do have the provissions and have done with other to simply pay for the therapy. This is information from therapist in the same area.

i have always offered to contribute i dont mind but it simply needs to be affordable and realistic.

The care plan and the care order seem heavily reliant on my therapy being completed to be able to move forwards regards to contact or the care order removed.

It is now over 18months since court and prior to that a further 2 years of la involvment.

No harm have come to my child ever. It is all about risk and how the LA percieve my risk due to an incident well over a decade ago despite other professionals having different perceptions.

Should the LA be doing more to try make the therapy happen?

i have read snippets of the IRO hand book and i feel the IRO could be doing more to scrutinise the LA plan. Their stance seems to have altered since the change in SW and seems to just follow and agree with the SW i feel their isnt the independent view.

since court there as been 3 SW, 2 IRO and multiple manager changes. i feel issues are not addressed. They are raised then due to change in personel they are not addressed only for me to repeat and highlight and go round in a repeated circle.

In all this it is my child being let down and refused a normal upbringing. Meanwhile damaging the relationship between me and my child

[PerfectlySafeDad]

'A further 6 months past..' All too familiar story. Austerity or not, this is totally unacceptable. These are people's lives being put on hold and family relationships being strangulated. Personally I don't care how much pressure the SS are under or how few staff etc etc, it's just not acceptable on human rights grounds. It never ceases to exasperate me how it is, and the judiciary itself seems to just shrug its shoulders. Time delays on this scale should be deemed harassment. If the SS can't cope, then either need more funding or they should by law be forced to say "tough. we'll have to let this case go, let these people off the hook for decency's sake, and focus on only the very most urgent cases". A time cap is necessary, family rights trump their alleged concerns of 'risk' or 'potential possible emotional future harm' or whatever it is in their check-box in this particular case.
''In all this it is my child being let down and refused a normal upbringing. Meanwhile damaging the relationship between me and my child." Quite, that sums it up, as in so many of their cases. It is THEY who are the biggest risk to children, at best not deliberate (ie just unable to cope) at worst cynically back-covering and arrogantly 'correct' playing God with people's lives with a sense of infallible holy calling. Either way, they cause as much damage as good, if not more.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Hi i am a father. my child is on a full care order agreed by all parties, though lives with the mother. The La forced us to seperate. I only have supervised contact at contact centre. My ex partner not allowed to supervise.

We went through court proceedings. with a SW who there was just too many inconsistencies. Most dealt with and agreed at court.

Therapy was recomended. The judge said they could not force the LA to fund this but did say it was in the best interests of my child that i am provided this.

La agreed to help search and look at funding/contributing and would put my case to a commissioning pannel. this was in their care plan. a new social worker was put in place.

Straight out of court La refused to help search and said i am an adult and they would not be putting it to a panel. also stating it is not in best interests of my child despite what was in the judgement or what was in the care plan. I have this in writting. La say they did send 1 email in trying to find therapist at this time.

I have since court been fighting new inconsistencies though most have been resolved they should never be there in the first place.

9 months later LA now say it is in child best interests and will re look at contributing. I have this in writting. Despite this actually in the judgement anyways. Everything started to look good.

Social worker left and the one at court came back.

A further 6 months past and the La came up with a contribtion offer of 50%. The La also found a provider of therapy. Now while this seems reasonable. it is not viable. I have shown my financial situation. even with the 50% this leaves well in excess of £100 a week for a minimum of 9 months. including the need to take 2 days of work to complete the therapy. i have explained my situation to the la. Not to mention i been on forlough and the threat of reduncy remains very high. My company have made significant reduncies and are planning more. Surely this is well out the reach of most people to afford.

i have also explained this to the independent and he seem more reasonable and seems to be more sympathetic but nothing is moving forward.

i have gone to management who dont seem to fully understand everything and trying to get my points across in the allotted time i always
have meetings cut short or fobbed of with promises only for the process to repeat.

The LA stance now is 50% and have met the commitments and not doing anything more.

The LA do have the provissions and have done with other to simply pay for the therapy. This is information from therapist in the same area.

i have always offered to contribute i dont mind but it simply needs to be affordable and realistic.

The care plan and the care order seem heavily reliant on my therapy being completed to be able to move forwards regards to contact or the care order removed.

It is now over 18months since court and prior to that a further 2 years of la involvment.

No harm have come to my child ever. It is all about risk and how the LA percieve my risk due to an incident well over a decade ago despite other professionals having different perceptions.

Should the LA be doing more to try make the therapy happen?

i have read snippets of the IRO hand book and i feel the IRO could be doing more to scrutinise the LA plan. Their stance seems to have altered since the change in SW and seems to just follow and agree with the SW i feel their isnt the independent view.

since court there as been 3 SW, 2 IRO and multiple manager changes. i feel issues are not addressed. They are raised then due to change in personel they are not addressed only for me to repeat and highlight and go round in a repeated circle.

In all this it is my child being let down and refused a normal upbringing. Meanwhile damaging the relationship between me and my child

Dear CFJ222,

Welcome to the Parents Forum. I am Suzie, FRG’s online adviser. I am sorry to hear about the difficulties you have had in accessing therapy even though the court had made it clear it was in your child’s best interests that you have this.

I can see that your child has been under a care order but placed with mum for 18 months now. Your contact has been limited to being supervised and in a contact centre due to the perceived risk you pose. The local authority agreed to look at contributing to the cost of therapy. However, this did not happen until you took the matter back to court. The local authority then agreed to pay 50% of the cost of the therapist. Did you agree to this at court?

Since then, your financial situation seems to have changed substantially. You say you can no longer afford to pay the amount required.
Your question is whether the local authority should be doing more?
You have already been back to court on this point and the local authority agreed to pay half the costs. You could put forward the case that your financial circumstances have changed. You would need to give them full access to your income and outgoings. If they agree to re-assess, ask for any decision to be put in writing. If their decision is not reasonable, then you could challenge it by lodging a complaint or seek legal advice. Please see our advice sheet about complaints . However, any challenge may not be successful and may take many months so delaying further your access to therapy.
Have you considered involving your MP who can advocate on your behalf?

What other ways do you have to access this therapy? Is something similar available on the NHS?

I hope my advice helps. Please post again if you need further advice or call our advice line on 0808 801 0366.

Best wishes,
Suzie

[CFJ222]

Hi Suzie, thankyou for your responce.

i must correct you on your misunderstanding. At court it was only agreed the La would put my case forward to the comissioning panel. There was not agreement of an amount or contribution.

I didnt take it back to court just at some point the LA changed there stance and actually agreed the contribution. which is now added to the care plan.

My fincially situation has not changed. ive never been in a position to pay for this. i always agreed i will contribute and pay what i can afford. i have shown bank statments.

The therapy is not available on the nhs and not available in my area. To make matters worse is the fact the La's 50% is only on the actual therapy costs. It doesnt include the traveling expenses which bumps the expected cost for me to pay at almost £200 per week now.

The LA have allowed me to seek out cheaper alternatives but will not be helping with the search. Despite the judgments and care plan said they will help search for therapy. The La responce is they have met their commitment and found someone suitable despite it not being affordable.

The La now seem to be planning to removing the care order and plan to put conditions that contact remain in contact centre but i will then have to pay for this myself. They seem to be closing the case and removing the offer of the 50% and saying i now need to sort it out myself.

I have tried to think out side the box and came up with questions around therapy for instance. Is there any other therapy that is similar and meet my needs.or can the therapy be done online/ via zoom or something The La refuse to be drawn into conversation or even offer help and advice and say they are sticking to the recomendations done from court and not deviating from them.

i am trying to avoid making a complaint i get the impression the LA seem to want me to as its been offered me a few times. Do they get more money from the government or something?