my daughter in foster care wrongly

[anxiousmum]

I’m in court dealing with care order proceedings regarding my 12 year old daughter. 4 months ago she was misbehaving at school and i was not informed, when i found out about it she was scared and told the social workers that i hit her which was a lie. She later told the social worker that she had lied. However the social worker took her from me and she put her in foster care. I have been found not guilty when interviewed by the police as there no evidence what so ever however the social worker are doing every thing they can to use false evidence and more. Can you advise me?

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Sorry to hear about the difficulties that you are having and that there are now court proceedings. I know going to court can be very stressful and long winded. I hope that you have a solicitor representing you in the proceedings. The solicitor should specialise in child care law. If you do not have a solicitor then I would strongly advise you to contact the law society.

It is very important that you work with your solicitor during the proceedings as the court will be deciding whether you are able to provide “good enough” parenting to your daughter for her to return to you or whether she should go to a family or friend carer under a residence order or special guardianship order or whether she should stay in care under a Care order.
For the court to know what to do means that you will be under go a parenting assessment during the proceedings if you have not already been assessed. The assessment will look at what support you may need to be a safe parent and whether this can be achieved. Often there can be an assessment by a specialist such as a psychologist and then a parenting assessment either by children’s services or another organisation specialising in parenting. Please see our advice sheet on care proceedings.

Have you any family or friends who could be assessed in case your assessment is not successful? While your daughter is in foster care the local authority have duties to her including providing you with a written plan about her education, health, contact with you and the rest of the family and the plan has to be looked at on a regular basis. Her placement in foster care is also managed by an independent reviewing officer who you can contact if you think the social worker is not carrying out the plan. There are meetings regularly to look at the plan. Please see our advice sheet on duties of local authority when children are in the care system. In the proceedings, your daughter will have a children’s guardian and a solicitor. She may also want an advocate and she could contact Voice or NYAS.

If you want to discuss further you could contact our free and confidential advice line on 0800 801 0366. It is open between 9:30 and 3:30 Monday to Friday. Or you could post again.

Best wishes

Suzie
Advisor, FRG

[ange301126]

Some advice
Who reported you to the Police? If it was the social worker , did she investigate first with you as to any concerns and give you the opportunity to express disagreements? If she complained to Police after your daughter retracted her false statements ,then she made a malicious complaint. Don't blame your daughter in any way, she may not have made the allegation quite as it was reported she did . A child's words can be twisted and exaggerated ( especially by those looking for opportunities). Have the Police informed the CS directly that they have found no case to answer? If so then have the CS included that information in their assessments and reports to Court? If they have not and continue to put forward the false allegation to court then the court will accept it as a valid concern ( it always favours the CS because of court protocol). If it has already been found at a 'fact-finding' hearing that there has been an allegation of physical abuse and the Police are investigating, then the fact that the allegation was withdrawn will not register at any resumed hearing. Ensure you show any letters or notice you have from the Police absolving you to all parties.If they then fail to mention it in court , they will be guilty of presenting 'concerns' and false allegations deliberately knowing them to be false.In my case ,although I was absolved from any criminal charges just as you have been, the CS informed the court pronto that I had been arrested for child cruelty and that the Police were investigating. In other words the possibility of guilt was used against me. However ,at no time were the courts told I had been cleared or that Police investigations had found all concerns unfounded after a full investigation.Once you are in court ,it will be too late to speak up as you are only allowed to answer the questions put to you.You may write it in your statement but then the Judge can still 'prefer ' the CS and the Guardian's evidence on the 'balance of probabilities' that their evidence is more likely to be right than yours.The Guardian is almost certain to favour the CS. I know this sounds complicated but ,as you have said yourself,the CS use false evidence and make fraudulent claims very often.In law ,they should make the court aware of any information in your favour and the fraud is when they do not. Later on, after losing the case, when I made an application to court, the Judge seemed surprised to hear that we had not been charged and convicted. The allegations were so damning and ,of course, deliberately so , the circumstances having been exaggerated by the social workers. Of course, it was too late then.Good luck. More advice to follow if you express further interest.