I won! wondering what happens next

[Mama R]

In November 2013 my 6 month's old son was sent home on a full residents order after being taking to foster care at birth. I agreed to a 12 month supervision order because I wanted to protect myself from false reports & they have admitted he is thriving in my care & they have no concerns. My son has supervised contact with his dad (contact reports are all positive) which has progressed from 3hrs a fortnight to him now having 2 hrs a week, the contact team tell me they want to progress it further which I'm happy to do, but ss have other ideas. I know the supervision order for me will be reviewed in November, but I don't know who does that. Can anybody tell me, will I have to go back to court for this? Also if the order isn't extended, will his dad still have to be supervised at the center or will all involvement end? Thanks in advance ♡

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Hi Mama B,

I really enjoyed reading your post on the success stories thread-it is good to hear that things have gone so well!
You have asked about the supervision order.
The 12 month supervision order will end in November 2014 ( 12 months from the date that it was originally made).

A supervision order can be extended by a further 2 years. However, if children services wanted to do this, they would have to apply before the 12 months supervision order had expired-if they wanted to use the original Threshold Criteria.

If they applied later-say in December 2014, they would have to prove a new set of threshold criteria. Given what you are saying in your posts-they will not be able to do this.

It is children services who would make any possible application back to court. If they were thinking of this, I assume they would be telling you of their worries and how you could address them. However, you could always ask them whether they do intend to extend the order.

In respect of contact, a lot of weight will be put on the contact notes that are being made by the contact team. The notes will be direct evidence about how well contact is going.
As there seems to be differences of opinion about contact between the social worker and the contact team, a decision will have to be argued out between them and then they should advise you.
Once the supervision order has finished, you will need to know what contact dad is expected to have. Is he still considered to be a risk? Should contact be supervised? If it should, what level of supervision is needed?
To ensure that there is no future dispute, once children services file is closed,you could ask that the amount and type of contact is put in writing. If contact can to be decided between you and Dad-without the need for children services opinion, then get this put in writing as well.
If Dad was not happy, he could approach children services himself or could seek an order from the court.

Best wishes,

Suzie