16 year old daughter wants to leave care .

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s123
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2016 3:34 pm

16 year old daughter wants to leave care .

Post by s123 » Wed Jan 11, 2017 8:37 pm

i have had advice saying that the social services should have started a return to parent assessment and a care plan at 15. and home contact to start from 15 and a half. my daughter has been moved to a seperate foster care home on a shart term plan, . she was in a foster placement with her 2 younger siblings but the placement was not working for her. she is in her final year of school . she is desperate to come home and social are not being staight with what we can and cant do . is she allowed to come see me at 16 when ever she wants , and can she come home at 16 of her own free will. i was told the police could not get involved as shes 16, but she still on a care plan. what if she was to come home of her own choice, what could social do if anything

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Suzie, FRG Adviser
Posts: 4207
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:57 pm

Re: 16 year old daughter wants to leave care .

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Fri Jan 13, 2017 11:46 am

Dear s123,

Welcome to the Parent’s Forum.

Yes, an assessment should take place before your daughter returns home from foster care. This is to try and make sure that the return home goes smoothly and does not break down and your daughter having to go back into care. As you say, usually, there would be a period of time when your contact with your daughter would increase and there would be overnight contact.

Although your daughter is nearly 16, children services still have a care order which gives them parental responsibility until she is 18.
So, although her being nearly 16 means that she is old enough to make a lot of her decisions herself, children services still have the legal framework to provide support to her , to help her make the right decisions and be responsible for her.
So she will still have a care plan which will be reviewed at the looked after children meetings.

What support is available to your daughter?

As well as your daughter being entitled to an advocate, she should also have a personal adviser who is independent from the social worker. The personal adviser will carry out a "leaving care" assessment and prepare a "pathway plan" which should detail all the support that is being offered.

Here is our advice sheet about leaving care support . Look at page 8 and 9 which detail the assessment and what goes in a pathway plan. Page 10 has tips for parents.

Your daughter could also get support from Coram Voice.


I hope this helps but please post or call our advice line if you need further advice.

Best wishes,

Suzie

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