Judge didn't agree with adoption now I have to plan for his return. How??

[Washwashwash]

Court on June 12 to give order to have son placed back with me if good plan of rehab agreed with local authority.

Problem - I work full time and don't want to lose my job.

Problem - son 2yo and unclear if he is allowed 15 hours nursery

Problem - nursery closes 6pm. 30 mins before I can get there on public transport

Problem - I don't drive

Any ideas help guidance?

Thank you

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Washwashwash

Welcome to the parents’ discussion board.

My name is Suzie online adviser at Family Rights Group.

It is great that you were successful in challenging your son being placed for adoption and will have him returned to your care.

You have some concerns about how about how you will be able to look after your son without having to give up your full time work. In your post you say that there children’s services has to have a plan for his return so the concerns you have should be addressed when the plan is being agreed. When your son returns to your care will this be under a care of supervision order to begin with?

Turning to your question about your work, I think you should be able to discuss flexible work hours with your employers as you willing be caring for a young child.

Your son would be entitled to nursery provision at 2 as changes were made to early education back in September 2015. It might be helpful if you read the government’s statutory guidance for local authorities relating to early education and childcare. You can find this on the government website or by using a search engine.

If you are able to agree flexible working with your employers the closing time for a nursery may be agreed. For example, you may be able to start early so you can finish early.

You may find our advice sheet about Reuniting children in the care system with their families helpful.

Should you wish to speak to an adviser you can telephone our free, confidential advice line on 0808 801 0366. He advice line is open from 9.30am to 3pm Monday to Friday.

I hope this is helpful.

Best wishes

Suzie

[Washwashwash]

I'm worried that if I can't come up with a plan that works then he will be up for adoption again. My son's guardian wanted a child arrangement order. I don't know what the judge will say on June 12.

There is confusion about the 15 hours. The nurseries I've contacted say that my son would only get those hours once the new term starts in September because he turned two this May.

I have a meeting with my area manager next week and hope to be able to arrange at least 2 weeks hopefully more off of work when the rehab actually starts. I wouldn't be able to start early finish early as the shop opens 9 and I may be the only one there to close up some nights and thats 5.30.

My mum is going to be doing a lot of care while I'm at work. But she starts work herself at 4.30pm
Ideas we had would be to leave him with mother's partner at home for two hours, but SW has issue with his criminal record (though they haven't spoken to him nor got full record check) and have asked me to plan around using him as a carer for that short period.
As far as I'm aware his crimal record contains convictions for getting into fights when he was younger. I don't see why that should affect anything now, he has a kid of his own who he sees regularly..
I think it is unreasonable to omit him from a small daily two hour caring role on the grounds of a couple convictions unrelated to children.

[Beebee86]

Dear waswashwash

I have previous experience as a mum applying for childcare so hope I can help a little.

Your two year old will definitely be entitled to some free childcare if he has previously been in care. Unfortunately it will only be 15 hours per week if you use it term time only, but some settings will decrease the hours and spread it over more weeks for example 12 hours over 50 weeks (not exact figures you would need to check). The other point is that the information you received is correct in that this will begin the term after your child turned to, in this case September.

I previously claimed tax credits as a single parent and they covered up to 70% of my childcare costs so I could work. Now it’s all changed to universal credits I’m not sure what you would be entitled to but it’s worth finding out.

Wish I could be more help but not sure about your partner or job flexibility side of things.

Good luck xx

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Washwashwash

Thank you for your further post.

I think I gave you as much information as I could in my previous post as to what action you might take relating to your work and the logistics of having your son home. I do not think I can usefully add much more.

Regarding your mother’s partner, you say the social worker is concerned about his criminal record. If he is someone you want to be part of your support network, then I suggest you ask the social worker to carry out a risk assessment of him which would involve him or her meeting with your mother’s partner, doing a disclosure and barring service (DBS) check to see what level of risk it is believed he might pose to child looking after him for a couple of hours.

The plan for your son’s return has to be workable one between you and children’s services so you will have to decide how best it will work for you. You will clearly have to make decisions about how you will move forward for your son to return to your care.

I hope you find this helpful.

Best wishes

Suzie