Returning to court
Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2017 9:09 pm
The children are under a full care order with their father and I'm only seeing the children every two weeks for an hour each, this is supervised. I have had to engage a solicitor again as my contact is minimal and supervised. I get positives from the social worker that the contact can move forward outside the formal reviews such as just before Christmas, I was told that my oldest daughter's contact could move to weekends and with weekend supervision(something I was told didn't exist about a year ago). The placement with their father is starting to deteriorate, mainly due to his relationship with his partner has come to end, the children and himself to move out of the family home. The split took place at the end of October and the housing situation still isn't resolved. The children's father was on my tenancy and in December he gave notice on the tenancy to enable him to get social housing, in doing this he made me homeless. I had about 3 weeks to find housing due to Christmas week. I have found somewhere and was advised by the solicitor to ensure it was suitable for the children. The house I have moved in is suitable for the children. The Lac review was a difficult meeting because of the housing situation and my youngest daughter's education, she has been permanently excluded from school due to her behaviour. She currently no formal setting for school within the county and the LA are looking outside of county. In the mean time, she is receiving an hour and half of tutoring per day. Some of the reasons given to why I couldn't have the children was that I didn't have enough support from either a partner or family, the fact that I labelled my daughter with special needs(ASD, Adhd and attachment disorder) and the risk from permanent exclusion whilst in my care. The children's father has no partner, minimal support from his family(due to ill health and elderly parents) and my daughter's school problems. My daughter has been diagnosed with attatchment disorder, oppositional defiance disorder, sensory issues and adhd. These have been diagnosed by the ed psych in the statementing process. The children's father hasn't done the things set out in the lac review in October such as dentist and asthma clinic. He has been given a further 3 months to do this. My daughter's attendance is 84% for the autumn term due to lateness, she had 100% attendance with me. My daughter reading book and record has not been returned since September. He has been referred to Connecting dads, this apparently is build a connection with my daughters and build relationships with them.
The solicitor has advised that we return to court to sort out contact, it was weekly leaving court which was quickly reduced to fortnightly due to the social worker thinking I was destabilising the placement, this was was before the relationship and housing situation started. I knew I wasn't and try to tell the social worker and the iro. The girls are really struggling not seeing me and not living with me. I'm worried about their emotionally wellbeing and their voices not been heard(they are 10 and almost 7). He isn't cooperating and manipulating the situation to look positive for him, he is putting all his faults on me and his ex partner.
The solicitor has told me to start with contact and feels it will have a knock on effect with the rest of the care order and she has said it will all come out in the wash. The guardian raised concerns about the stability of his relationship back in June before the final hearing and his strong family support network which hasn't materialised.
Any advice of how to handle this with social services? I'm trying to work with them but I'm feeling pushed out by them
The solicitor has advised that we return to court to sort out contact, it was weekly leaving court which was quickly reduced to fortnightly due to the social worker thinking I was destabilising the placement, this was was before the relationship and housing situation started. I knew I wasn't and try to tell the social worker and the iro. The girls are really struggling not seeing me and not living with me. I'm worried about their emotionally wellbeing and their voices not been heard(they are 10 and almost 7). He isn't cooperating and manipulating the situation to look positive for him, he is putting all his faults on me and his ex partner.
The solicitor has told me to start with contact and feels it will have a knock on effect with the rest of the care order and she has said it will all come out in the wash. The guardian raised concerns about the stability of his relationship back in June before the final hearing and his strong family support network which hasn't materialised.
Any advice of how to handle this with social services? I'm trying to work with them but I'm feeling pushed out by them