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supervision order

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2016 1:33 pm
by worriedmum81
In 2012 a care order was made for my children. Over the 4 and a half years there have been so many changes. But throughout i have worked well with the local authority, attended every contact and meeting, followed every rule i was set to a tee and always been told that i am not a danger to my children or to anyone else. I have changed from being someone very downtrodden, having anxiety and depression, and made homeless from losing my children to being strong and independent, with a nice home, extra bedroom, have been studying so i have professional qualifications behind me, and studying to further this into a higher degree, got a job and wotked hard so that now i have been promoted and in charge of 4 services for people with special needs.
(this is not me blowing my own trumpet, im trying to set the scene really). My eldest son has just turned 16 and is allowed to spend as much time with me as he likes but for all the others its still supervised 1 and a half hours per week. I wanted to go to court to overturn the care order but would not have legal advice as i cant get legal aid and cant afford a solicitor. My support worker at contact suggested applying instead to changing to a supervision order. I dont know anything about it and would love some advice.

Re: supervision order

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2016 5:03 pm
by Suzie, FRG Adviser
Dear worriedmum81

Thank you for your further post.

It is good to see that you are enjoying having your 16 year old son spend more time with you.

I am assuming that you wish to have more unsupervised contact with your younger children as from previous posts you were unsure whether they should remain in their current placements. You are able to make an application to the court regarding contact with a child in care, please read our advice sheet here.

If you were to make an application to the court to discharge the care orders and the court considered it appropriate for a supervision order to be made then the court could make the order.

You are not able to apply for a supervision order on its own but could apply to discharge the care order and ask for a supervision order. Why do you think you would need a supervision order if you do not want children services involvement with you and your children.

A supervision order is described below:

"A court can ask Children’s Services to “supervise” how the parent cares for their child under a supervision order. A social worker will agree a contract or supervision plan with the parent, which will set out what is expected of the parent and the help the social worker will give.
This order does not give Children’s Services parental responsibility for the child so basic decisions about how the child is raised can be made by the parents/other with parental responsibility but they may still want to discuss things with the supervising social worker to make sure they are happy with the plan.

A Supervision Order lasts for up to one year, and can be extended at most for two more years"


I have also included our advice sheet about how a child can be reunited to the family which will give you further details about how to go about working with children services towards the children possibly returning to your care.

Should you wish to speak to an adviser about this further, please do telephone our free and confidential advice line on 0808 801 0366. The advice line is open from 9.30 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. Monday to Friday.

I hope this is helpful.

Best wishes

Suzie

Re: supervision order

Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 1:09 am
by worriedmum81
I wasnt sure what the difference was. I presumed from the way the support worker said it that it waslije a halfway solution so if the courts werent sure about the children coming home yet that i would be able to see the children more and build more of a relationship up with them again until they were sure I could manage. I do want them home and without local authority involvement if possible, but being realistic if I was to get the court order overturned i expect that social services would be monitoring us very carefully after such a long time and so many complications. I am thinking about how to go about going back to court and if its fair to the children or if i am being selfish wanting them home. I admit there is also an element of fear that after nearly 5 years, have i forgotten how to be a full time mum? Ive never had to really "parent" a teenager before and if the children do cone home i will have 2 teenagers, another whos nearly there, and a little girl whos nearly 9, who I last really looked as a 4 year old. This is gonna be a challenge but it will be worth it if the kids want it as much as i do. X

Re: supervision order

Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2016 6:48 pm
by worriedmum81
Im in bits tonight. Ive had a call from the house where my son lives to tell me his social worker has said she has been trying to get hold of me and that ive been ignoring her, despite the fact that ive been ringing both her mobile and left messages at her office for weeks but not had any answer from her. I exained that and the support worker said "well maybe you should email her instead" but when i email her i dont get responses for weeks then get the excuse that it went into the junk folder.
Ive had a good relationship with the social worker, but after the problems we had that I mentioned in previous posts about my going to xmas shows etc, i had complained to the reviewing officer and she had agreed with me. This seems to have upset the social workers because now, not only have they cancelled any unsupervised contact with my daughter that they had agreeed to in january, they are now saying that my son is not allowed to visit my mums house if my partner is there. She claims that I have always been told this, but in June we were told that there was a "small issue to be sorted" on my partners dbs, he provided proof that cleared his name. We were told that until she got it sorted my son cant stay over, but they could see each other in the community and at my mums. They even agreed to him going to my partners birthday party in june, and said the only reason my partner couldnt go to my sons birthday was because the younger children were there. But as the social worker had said "he can always go back to yours after the meal to see him".
I feel like they are going to now do everything in there power to stop me getting contacts or to get the children home or try to force my hand to seperate me from my partber even though they have praised the good relationship we have and the support he gives me.
My partner has a great relationship with my parents and now its sowing seeds of doubt in their mind about him because the social worker said to the house that he has been charged with child cruelty, but having seen his dbs I know thats an outright lie, and when I challenged them over it they said "maybe not but theres no difference between that and neglect" which is what we were having to prove he hasnt been in trouble for.
I dont know what to do now as I was starting to really believe there was a chance to get my kids home and now i feel like im back at the start.

Re: supervision order

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 9:53 am
by worriedmum81
Several weeks ago we got my partners police check through. He had to pay to get it done privately and we sent it directly to the social services. The social worker sent an email back agreeing that what we said was right, there was nothing on there about a caution for child neglect. She agreed that it should be sorted in a few days and we can then move on to my son seeing my partner again.
A few weeks down the line, its getting close to the easter break and easter sunday. I start phoning, leaving messages and emails for the social worker to find out where its at. They don't get back to me so my partner doesn't get to spend time with me and my son during the holidays, my son isn't allowed to visit my house and on easter sunday my partner has to spend the day alone instead of with the family.
I continued to phone and email this last week, eventually speaking to the manager. Its my birthday this weekend and obviously want everyone together. The social worker phoned back yesterday afternoon, said that she thinks there are still things to look into, she's got to take it to her manager again. And this weekend is a no go.
If nothing is showing on the police check, where the original "concern over a caution" came from, there should be no further concerns that should slow everything down should there?
This is also slowing down the process of my assessment for my son to come home. And now, we have the worry that this could affect his assessment for applying to get his boys home. Any advice would be great.

Re: supervision order

Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2017 5:27 pm
by Suzie, FRG Adviser
Dear worriedmum81

I am sorry to hear that this process is taking a long time and is quite frustrating for you all.

It is hard to comment on whether there may be concerns which could slow things down. The best thing for you to do may be to ask the social worker to explain more fully what she meant by saying that are still “things to look into”. You could also ask her to confirm if she has spoken to her manager yet and if the manager has provided her with further guidance. Do explain the impact that the delays are having on you and your family and ask that she gives you a firm indication of when this issue of contact involving your partner and your son will be resolved and also when your assessment in relation to your son’s return home is likely to move forward.

Keep cooperating and communicating as you have been doing. If the social worker does not respond to let you know what the difficulty is you may need to raise this directly with her manager, your son’s Independent Reviewing Officer or, if need be, by making a complaint.

I hope that the situation moves forward for you and your family soon.

Best wishes


Suzie

Re: supervision order

Posted: Fri Jun 02, 2017 12:34 am
by worriedmum81
We got some feedback just a few weeks ago, the small concern that the social worker has is very confusing. It hasn't came up on my partners dbs because a crime hasn't been commited apparently, but someone using my partners name was at a house when police took some children into care. Its not believed that the person was commiting a crime, merely a visitor in some form to the house, but the children there were being neglected and it wasn't reported. This happened in a part of the country where my partner used to live but he hasn't lived there for 10 years, and hasn't even visited there for 8 years until a few months ago but this incident happened in 2013. The social worker said we now have to try to clear my partners name, otherwise the chances are slim he will be allowed to see my son. She also admitted that she 100 percent believes him that it isn't him and has built up a good relationship during our meetings so she can see what he is like and can tell he is very truthful. It is very drawn out, but hopefully we will soon get some answers. In the meantime he has agreed to find his own property so my son can visit and move in and he will have a better chance of getting his boys back.