how to get children home

[sharwood]

all four of my children were taken into care under a full care order in september 2012
this was due to the domestic violence is was subject to and the fact that i refused to work with social services, i also didnt have appropriate accommodation
my oldest daughter came home in october 2012 and my oldest son cam home in june 2014
It has been been four years since my youngest two were taken into care and i now feel it is safe/appropriate for them to come home. A lot has changed, my son has helped me get the father out of my life (my mum made this difficult as she had him living with her), i have also been on a lot of courses and we now have somewhere nice to live
However social services are refusing to work with us, they say that things haven't changed and that the two at home have gone back to how they were years ago ( my oldest son refused to speak to social services when he was younger and now he will ring my daughter social worker willing to speak to her but she refuses to she says she doesnt want to speak to a child,but hes 19) they havent even been round to see for themselves.
I have been speaking to a solicitor and after reading all the previous paperwork she said the courts wouldnt agree to them coming home as i dont have enough contact my son and there needs to be some more contact with my daughter.
I have contact 4 times a year with my son and myself and my to eldest have contact with my younger daughter 4 times a year, this has been the same for 4 years. social services are refusing to let the two eldest have contact with the younger boy because he doesnt want to see them. How can we go about getting contact increased?
also on the looked after child review reports things have been written that are untrue they said that the two that are living with me turned up to my contact with my son and were pulling him and trying to hold his hand however they didnt touch him and i dont know what to do about this ?
what is the best way to go about getting my youngest son and daughter home (theyre now 13 and 16 but has disabilities)
would it be possible to get a supervision order?

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Sharwood,

Welcome to the parents forum.

It is good news that your circumstances have changed so much. You are no longer in a domestic violence relationship, your home circumstances are different and you are cooperating with children services. Your older children are back home with you.

But the youngest two are still under a full care order and you have limited contact, 4 times a year.
For the court to successfully discharge a care order, you would need to show that there has been a change in the circumstances since the order was made back in September 2016 and that it is in the best interests of your children.

Your solicitor has had the advantage of looking at the court papers and has advised that you need to increase your contact in order to have any chance of being successful. But there seems to be problems with the contact between your older children and the younger children.
You could send an email to the social worker and ask what needs to happen for you to have more contact? Could different types of contact be considered such as my card and present as well as direct contact? Ask that they assess the changes you have made.
Get them to explore the apparent difficulties between the children.
What about considering an increase of contact as part of your sons leaving care package?
Your son is now 16 so he will be given access to a personal advisor, should have an assessment and pathway plan drawn up.
However, if your 16 year old son is clearly stating that he does not want to see your older son then I am afraid that this will make any possible move home very unlikely.

Here is our advice sheet about contact with children who are under a care order. It sets out the law and the court process as well as giving tips to ask for increased contact.
I hope this gives you some ideas but pleas post back.

Best wishes,

Suzie