Is the LA under obligation to review parents position?

[charmed1]

Hi all. It's grating on me this question. You lose your children into care. Possibly like us the threat of adoption is present. The Judge has said your need to engage in long therapy is out of the children's timescales so he/she dispenses with your consent. The social worker treats you like your invisible. You get excluded from meetings and reviews. Is the LA supposed to invite you to update them of your progress and include this in their care plan. Adjusting it if necessary if rehabilitation is now a possibility? Or are you expected to take it back to court to prove this in front of the Judge by making an application yourself? Then the LA make it as difficult as possible to get any evidence of your child's wellbeing in care to use against them and all that is left is for you to complain which mostly falls on deaf ears.

I am going out of my mind at his moment. Praying we get leave in a forthcoming hearing (previous one adjourned for more evidence). They've had an extra 7 months so far to concoct a story of how much they've tried to place our kids for adoption against the court order. How much they've covered their backsides is still unknown as they thought we were bluffing about our court application or at least thought it would be thrown out last month? Why are they so hell bent on adoption when in law it's the last resort when nothing else will do? Which comes back to my first question - a lot else will do as I've completed my therapy and have reports to prove it but they didn't know that until arriving at court as no one has met with us to find out.

[ange301126]

Dear charmed,
One can only surmise what happens at LAC Reviews at which one is not present,of course,especially when they are not fully minuted and even if they are, the minutes are not sent to parents.

Long-term fostering does not mean permanent and if a child is so-placed, I believe the CS does have an obligation to consider improvements etc. and plan for home rehabilitation where possible.

However, during one LAC review which we were not invited to, plans were made in our absence and without any consultation at all with us to put our daughter onto a PERMANENCE PLAN and she was transferred to the care of the PERMANENCE TEAM.In other words, they take a decision that rehabilitation is not possible and parents are incapable of change.One can see that may be necessary in some cases where parents are criminals or where they are not interested in their children or in the case of orphans. As with adoption, however, such a decision should only be taken very rarely and never should they be in cases like yours.To get such extreme plans through, they have to crush correct procedures and keep you out of the picture at reviews as they did us.

Yet once they have done that, I don't think they are obliged to investigate possible rehabilitation.So what actually happens is that the court orders long-term foster care but ,off their own bat,the CS changes it to permanent foster-care.

As I say, I am only surmising but you should check on it.Do you know which sw team you are dealing with? If they are anticipating the judge will discharge the placement orders (indeed
they may agree to it) and continue with the alternative of foster-care then they may have already discussed a permanence plan if it does occur (in your absence).Your absence may also have been to conceal the truth which is that adoption is no longer achievable within any relevant time-scales. From your own observations of the situation , the interest the fc's supposedly have in adopting is probably CS invention and cloud-cuckoo land!
As regards them being hell-bent on adoption, I don't know, but ,once again, if one or both of them are special needs the chances will be extremely slim , so don't forget to demand a proper assessment from experts if you have to.

Hope this helps,

[charmed1]

Hi ange. Thank you as always. I forgot (my brain's like swiss cheese) that the LA have no obligation to the parents while a placement order is in place. Eventhough the Judge, supported by the guardian gave them 6 months then "suggested" they bring it back if the children weren't placed or at least matched by July 2014.

I've done all I can at the moment and it's killing me. I have to just hope then we can get the placement order revoked and then push for rehabilitation home when the fight to get the care order discharged begins. We have two applications going through at once and I'm getting confused and ahead of myself.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Charmed 1

I am sorry that you are feeling frustrated by your situation at the moment with Children Services as well as waiting for a decision from the court.

As your children are subject to placement orders at present but not placed with a prospective adopter children services should involve you in respect of reviews. A copy of our relating to the duties of children services is included here advice sheet your information. It is only where a child has been placed for adoption that the duty to consult no longer applies (see page 19).

You can also find additional information in the Adoption Agency Regulations 2005 here contents/made (see part 6 Placement and Reviews.

I hope you will find the information helpful.

Best wishes,

Suzie.