My son is coming home

[heartbroken80]

Hello all,

After a year, my little boy is finally coming home. He went into care at the age of 2 1/2.
I'm so happy and relieved.
He has been coming every day this week and is sleeping over on Monday and if it goes ok then he won't leave.
The foster carers have been so good.
To be honest, I'm sad as I know he will miss them, I'm also sad for them.
Has anyone else felt like that?
He will be home under a supervision order not an interim care order.
The guardian was very positive about my progress and kept pushing for his reunification.
My little boy, finally back home x

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear heartbroken80

Well done! Thank you for letting us know that your son should be back in your full-time care very soon, having spent a year in foster care. It is really good news; I am sure that other parents will very pleased for you and your little boy and that they will take some encouragement from your achievement. I know that it has been a very stressful process but you have kept going and demonstrated your commitment to your son.

It sounds as if you really appreciate the care that your son’s foster carers gave to him and the relationship that they have with each other. I think this says a lot about you as a mother as you have been able to see that your son was helped by his foster carers and hopefully that enabled you to focus on doing what you needed to do to secure his return home. Your son will have benefitted from the fact that you and his foster carers were able to work well together. It is also really pleasing to hear that your son’s Guardian strongly recommended that he comes home; again you must have shown them very clearly how much progress you were making and that you could keep this up.

Your son is coming home under a Supervision Order which means that children’s services will no longer have parental responsibility for him but will remain involved with you both for a specified period of time (usually a year). They should make sure that you have a detailed plan setting out how this will work, what they expect from you and what package of support and services they will offer you and your son. You will continue to have meetings to review how things are going. Do make sure that you have the right support for yourself to help you re-adjust to having your son home again.

Having looked back at your posts I think there were a few things that you did that helped you achieve your goal of having your son home and that might help other parents too. You:

• Spent positive time with your son whilst he was in foster care
• Worked well with professionals including your solicitor and the Guardian
• Asked for specific help and support when you needed it
• Sought advice
• Challenged poor practice in a constructive way
• Pro-actively asked for minutes of all meetings with children’s services.

Do keep up the good work now so that you and your son can continue to flourish together.

With best wishes

Suzie