Dear Mummy291985
Welcome to the Family Rights Group Parents Discussion Forum.
My name is Suzie, the online adviser here at Family Rights Group. I am sorry that you feeling so worried and confused about your current situation and involvement in court proceedings.
In your post you say that your baby is in your care under an interim care order which you describe as fostering. Parents are not usually foster carers for their own child. The fact that your daughter has been placed in your care under an interim care order means this was agreed and approved by a decision maker in the local authority. This gives an opportunity to see how you manage looking after her before the court makes a final decision about whether a full care order should be made in respect of your daughter. It is possible for a child to live with a parent or parents under a full care order. This will depend on the final care plan of the local authority and the court’s decision.
The court would not have given permission for an independent social worker if it was not considered that it would be helpful to have the assessment done. If you have continued to make changes this should be looked at positively by the court.
Please read our advice sheet about
care proceedings which will give you an understanding of the procedures and the orders that can be made in care proceedings.
You have not said whether the negative assessment was the first one or second one. If the assessment by the independent social worker was done after the negative assessment, your legal representatives will want the court to consider that one. Was the first assessment done by a social worker from children’s services? Are children's services saying that you have your daughter on your own but not together with your partner?
I am not clear what you mean by an open care order. Are your partner’s children already in foster care under a care order? If they are, is he applying to discharge the care order to have them returned to his care? As you were assessed together, was this to care for his children as well as your daughter in the same home?
If you are able to show that you had an appointment so could not make one medical appointment, I do not think this in itself should mean that you are looked at negatively. Have you discussed this with your solicitor, your solicitor can write to the legal representatives for the local authority to explain why you missed the appointment if this is an issue? What you should do if there is a clash of dates is to inform the social worker in good time so he or she is aware of it rather than just miss an appointment with children’s services or a medical appointment as stated in your post.
Your solicitor can provide you with a copy of the court order which sets out the dates for reports, documents or other evidence has to be sent to the court. The Guardian’s role as a court appointed person is to consider all the information/evidence in the case and make recommendations about what she considers is best for the child. See our A-Z of terms
here . The Guardian's view is important and the judge will give a lot of consideration to it, a judge can decide to go against a Guardian's recommendations but would have to give reasons why he or she has decided to do so.
Should you wish to speak to an adviser, please telephone our free and confidential advice line on 0808 801 0366. The line is open from 9.30am to 3pm Monday to Friday (except Bank Holidays).
I hope you find this helpful.
Best wishes
Suzie