special guardianship and taking photos

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SD123
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 1:35 pm

special guardianship and taking photos

Post by SD123 » Tue Dec 12, 2017 9:28 am

Hi all, my daughter was placed with her dad's sister and her partner on a SGO order 3 years ago. My daughter is now 5 and things are impossible with the SG - she was taken due to her dad I was with at the time. I am no longer with her father and he is not allowed to see her. I have moved on to a happy relationship with a man who treats me right, since I left the brother the SG has made it impossible to see my daughter. The court ordered for me to see her once every two months, her aunt cancelled this arrangement saying she wants it back in a center cause she cant handle doing the contacts. It has been put back to a contact worker i can see her once every two months for 2 hours because of their busy schedule. The two sessions have gone great and the SW said we have 4 more left then they cant do this anymore cause i dont need someone to watch me with my daughter (just worried now the SG will say no contact and SS wont be able to help) They have even pulled her out my contact at the cinema cause it ran 20 mins over so my daughter missed the end of the film. Her aunt and the partner have now said they do not want me to take pictures as they want full control and the sw wont get involved as my daughter is not looked after by them, i asked for the christmas contact to be at my familys home as they have not seen her in well over a year to be told no that it is not the agreement its only me, when i responded that there is no agreement days later one is sent out with the contact dates we have had and going future and no pictures. Is anyone able to give advice? I find myself in such a horrible position of not knowing where to go but surely even down to not being able to take pictures of my own child because they say so on a special guardianship order cant be allowed? They have also blocked me on everything and post pictures of my daughter calling her their daughter, is this allowed? The SW said its fine but the contact worker has said its a SGO so this isnt allowed as it isnt adoption - please can someone help xx

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Suzie, FRG Adviser
Posts: 4199
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:57 pm

Re: special guardianship and taking photos

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Mon Dec 18, 2017 4:36 pm

Dear SD123,
Welcome to the parents Forum,

I am sorry to hear about the difficulties you are having around contact and other issues to do with your daughter. You have tried to sort out the differences, with the help of children services but it seems that a few things remain contentious. So for example, children services can only offer 4 more supervised contact sessions but the guardian is not agreeing to contact being unsupervised.
If the guardian will not agree to any more contact, then you may need to go to court. However, before court can take place, generally, you will need to try mediation first. At mediation you could ask that the issues around photos as well as names for you and the special guardian be discussed.
Here is the family mediation council who can advise about mediation in these circumstances. You maybe entitled to legal aid to help with mediation.

If mediation is not successful then you may have to go back to court for a contact (child arrangements order).

As a mother with parental responsibility, you should be able to take photos. If it is not in your daughters best interests, then the special guardian could apply for a prohibited steps order. But have you asked her why she thinks you tasking photos is not in her best interests?

You might be able to agree how you deal with the photos.
Family Rights Group undertook research about contact when children are placed with kinship carers. Also see our advice sheet about special guardianship orders-for birth parents

For more in depth advice, call our advice line on 0808 801 0366 or contact Rights of Women or child law advice line.

Best wishes,

Suzie

SD123
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 1:35 pm

Re: special guardianship and taking photos

Post by SD123 » Thu Jan 18, 2018 4:06 pm

Hi Suzie,

Oh gosh apologies I have only just seen this!

Thats correct only until July then the social worker has said if the reports are the same they will say I do not need a supervised visit. If the special guardians still disagree then I will need to go to court. Which at this rate I think would be best as hopefully they would grant me more visits and more time! Even the contact worker see's no reason for the prolonged short visits and her needing to be there.

The only reason I heard is because they dont want me to put them on social media, to which they have all blocked me so shouldnt be able to see what I post, surely that isnt enough reasoning?

Thanks so much for the help!

worriedmumtobe
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2018 12:48 pm

Re: special guardianship and taking photos

Post by worriedmumtobe » Wed May 19, 2021 2:32 pm

My daughter is in a similar position. In my opinion children should not be placed with SGO's in the family a) both sides of the family are known to eachother and have been shown to be able to get along b) unless they agree to and do abide by contact rules and parents should not have to go to court to address this issue social workers should step in b) they are properly assessed to see that they have the ability, personality and sufficient compassion to deal fairly with biological parents.
I see too many SGO's who take the power and none of the responsibility given to them by the court. My daughter and myself are regularly abused the child's SGO.

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Suzie, FRG Adviser
Posts: 4199
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:57 pm

Re: special guardianship and taking photos

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Wed Jun 02, 2021 4:34 pm

worriedmumtobe wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 2:32 pm My daughter is in a similar position. In my opinion children should not be placed with SGO's in the family a) both sides of the family are known to eachother and have been shown to be able to get along b) unless they agree to and do abide by contact rules and parents should not have to go to court to address this issue social workers should step in b) they are properly assessed to see that they have the ability, personality and sufficient compassion to deal fairly with biological parents.
I see too many SGO's who take the power and none of the responsibility given to them by the court. My daughter and myself are regularly abused the child's SGO.

Dear worriedmumtobe

Welcome to the Board.

I am sorry for the delay in responding to your post and thank you for your sharing your views.

Before making a Special Guardianship Order (SGO) a court should consider what contact arrangements the child or children should have with their wider family, our advice sheet can tell you more, you can read it here, see page 4. I am sorry that you suggest that this may not have happened in your daughter’s case.

We have an advice sheet about what SGOs may mean for birth parents, you can read that here.

I hope this information is useful.

Best wishes

Suzie

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