unsupervised and supervised contact

[1234]

my three children were taken into care last year, following lies my ex, their dad, made regarding my allowing him unsupervised clandestine contact with the children, despite him having been convicted of beating my son and us having been separated for well over a year. the social worker lied in court, claiming she had seen photos and videos on his phone which clearly showed my ex and the children together within that period of time, which is impossible, but when she was asked to produce them, and my ex was asked to produce them, he could not (because they did not exist) and she had the audacity to say she is a professional and her word is enough.
during the interim care order process I had separate contacts with my children, and contacts altogether. my daughter who in the beginning was 2 and turned 3, had unsupervised contact apart from when I was observed for the purposes of a parenting assessment with my current partner, which was fine, and as soon as that was completed my contact with her was totally unsupervised. my boys contact was supervised for the purpose of the parenting assessment, but has remained supervised since. (my boys have just recently turned 7 and 8) now my current social worker is wanting to make my contact with my daughter supervised, for no reason other than its not fair on the boys that she can go to the park for example with me while they have to sit in a room with me every time. when I asked why my contact even had to be supervised with the boys anyway, I was told they have no idea, but someone must have decided it was necessary at some point but not documented it very well.
My children were not returned to my care because of the emotional issues both they and i now have due to the treatment of us by my ex, who for the record now has weekly unsupervised contact despite that being what had sparked the court case in the first place!
I know I am lucky in some respects being able to see my children as often as I do, but I feel making my daughter's contact supervised after all this time, and not being able to justify my sons' contact is unfair and I don't know what I can do. I am considering applying to court for a contact order but I know my rights since legal aid is now gone!

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Hi K-Turner

Thank you for your post.

Sorry to hear that you are going through a difficult situation with regards having contact with your children as a result of court proceedings, that appear to have ended.

Did the court grant a full care order to the in respect of all three children, giving parental responsibility to the Local Authority?

If so, you could seek legal advice from the http://www.lawsociety.org.uk about applying for contact.

Best Wishes

Suzie

[1234]

my children are all now in care under a final care order, I believe I share PR with the local authority and their dad, who is happy with the situation because he has basically got what he wants! in court it was agreed we needed to have 6 weekly reviews of my contact, as "due to my mental health issues it was unsure how I would react to the court outcome, whether I would become suicidal or distance myself from the children as a coping mechanism" I agreed to this, as obviously they (cs) needed to be sure the children would be safe and given they are so convinced I am emotionally unstable I needed to prove to them they would be safe. However I reacted in neither of these predicted manners, and in fact have been very emotionally stable all things considered (so much so my CPN discharged me!) and the actual purpose of these meetings has been forgotten. instead at every meeting my contact is reduced, an hour here, fifteen minutes there. This summer for example, when it was agreed in court I would see my children twice a week for 3 hours every week in the holidays, I am only seeing them on a total of 6 occasions, 4 hours each time. I am really struggling how something that was decided only in November, and everyone agrees is working, needs changing in such a manner so frequently. Suzie, can they help me now that legal aid has finished for such matters? I am really scared that in a few years, when the local authority discharge the care plan, as they have spoken about a number of times, I will not be able to oppose the making of a SGO in my parents favour, which is what cs envisage happening, due to not being able to afford legal assistance.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Hi k-turner

Children's Services must make a commitment to carrying out the care plan that was agreed by the court at the Final Hearing, except if the judge ruled that contact should be at the discretion of the Local Authority. In this case, there could be some flexibility about how quickly they reduce the amount and nature of your contact with your children. Am I right in thinking they are currently with their father (perhaps under a residence order), but could in future be placed with the maternal grandparents?

If however, you feel that they have not stuck to side of the agreement, made at court, may I suggest you consider contact MIND on 033 123 3393 to see if they can offer you an advocate who may be able to challenge the Local Authority on this issue.

I am pleased to hear that your Community Psychiatric Nurse (CPN) has discharged you from their service because of the improvments in your mental health. If you have not received one already, can I suggest you obtain a letter confirming these positive changes from the community mental health team.

Did your solicitor inform you that (as a result of the legal aid changes),you would not be entitled to legal aid for any SGO application that could be make in future, at the conclusion of the care proceedings? In exceptional circumstances, they may have made an application to agree to represent you, but it seems this may not have been done. I would discuss all of this things with the solicitor that represented you in the court process.

I hope this helps

Best Wishes


Suzie

[1234]

Hi and thankyou for replying. No, my children are living with my parents, the maternal grandparents, where they have been since the beginning of the interim care order. Their father has unsupervised contact once a week for one hour, which suits him as he does not want to be a full time parent, indeed he never was whilst we were together.
I was told by my legal team at the time of the care proceedings that legal aid was coming to an end, and that I would either have to represent myself at a later date, or fund legal assistance myself, which is out of the question.
The local authority are saying that contact arrangements were not detailed in the care plan to the degree which I am claiming, and since there is only me still involved that was involved in the court process, I can only rely on what was documented by the social worker at the time, and it seems as though she for whatever reason did not document things very well.
My social worker knows I have been discharged, but is not interested in anything my CPN has/had to say as they agree that I have gotten better, and become stable, but they attribute that to my no longer having my children at home! surely the stress of what I am currently going through is greater than the stress of raising my children!

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Thanks for posting back.
You could get a copy of the final care plan that would have been filed with the court. This will detail contact arrangements as well as other aspects of your children’s care plan. You can get a copy from your solicitors.

Also have a look at our advice sheet about the Duties to children looked after by the local authority.
It details what the independent reviewing officer should do when s/he is reviewing your children’s care plan. This includes the contact arrangements.
You could telephone or email the independent reviewing officer and set out your concerns about how much contact is being planned. Let her know how your mental health has improved and become stable and that you are surprised at the level of contact being offered over the summer holidays. Could it be increased?

Best wishes,

Suzie

[Mama R]

Hi sorry to hear you having such a hard time, I'm I just wondered if you knew you may be able to take your boys to the park even with supervised contact. I have supervised contact in surestart centers, but I am aloud to go out with my son for walks (he only 4 mnth too young for swings) as long as there are enough staff so I can have a member of the supervising team come with me, had to get clearance from social worker but as she agreed I can go out under supervision when ever and where ever I want (within reason of course) xx

[1234]

Hi thought I would update on my situation... I applied to the courts for a contact order myself, and after the application was advised by the solicitors that I could actually have legal aid. We went to court for about 6 months, and following that case the social workers backtracked dramatically and all my contact was made unsupervised bar that in the holidays, when my partner was also involved. this has been the case since January 2014. However, on May 28th this year, the latest Social worker after consulting with her manager made the decision to stop all unsupervised contact, and is proposing today after no communications that my contact will now be supervised for four hours every 4-6 weeks, depending on the availability of the family support worker. She is refusing to give me an explanation as to why, other than "I cannot be trusted".

I am wanting to go back to court, and get CAFCASS involved again, as I do not feel that my children are being listened to. Does anyone know what exactly I would be applying for, as I was told a contact order application was not the right application last time, but as my solicitors are dragging their feet about making a decision about legal aid and representation, I do not want there to be any delay, and that is the only application that the courts are suggesting when I go there to ask them. Thanks

[Mama R]

Sorry to hear they have pulled this stunt with you, sadly I'm not surprised by it, I don't know what application you'd need to make as unfortunately they seem to have gotten you to agree to everything on a voluntary basis (they like to do that so they can call the shots) first thing I'd advise is to make an official complaint & demand an explanation. unless they can come up with some evidence to support return to supervised it won't be held up in court by a judge when you've had unsupervised for 5 month's with no concerns raised. Definitely push your solicitor, get on the phone every day and annoy them enough that they deal with you quickly to shut you up good luck xx

[1234]

It was January last year it was made unsupervised, so it has been 16 months but now my son's behaviour has deteriorated, they have decided it must be my fault and I must be doing/saying something, hence I can't be trusted to be alone with them. There has been no concern at all of this the whole time they have been in care, or certainly the judge after advice from CAFCASS wouldn't have said it needed to be made unsupervised. The problem I think I have is that no order was actually made re my contact after the last case, as the social worker just agreed to the proposals made by CAFCASS but this is a new social worker, who has only been working there for approx. 12 months, and in that 12 months I have suddenly stopped being consulted, let alone invited to, lac reviews, and the care plans, and I have had no paperwork re any of that since she took over, when previously I was invited to and attended all meetings re my children. I feel that she has come into a new job with a preconception of how it should be, and has gone out of her way to make my situation thus.