Pre-birth assessment

[JulyBabyComing]

Hi,

I was just wondering if someone could help me understand what to expect? I’ve had previous children removed due to:

- domestically abusive relationship in 2017
- being left in a pool of perpetrators in 2018 for rib fractures my late baby suffered (that I firmly believe my ex perpetrator caused)
- alienating my daughters dad from her life (ultimately my fault as I made the error of trusting my perpetrator to arrange things)

My daughter was given to her dad full-time in 2018 under a Child Arrangements Order
I then had another baby boy in 2018 who was given to my parents under a special guardianship in 2019. In 2019 the judge said I needed to sustain the changes I had made (as I had left the DA relationship and got along well with my daughters dad now) and have a healthy relationship one day to be able to keep a baby in my care in the future.

In 2019 I began seeing my baby boy unsupervised, this started with seeing him in the community and building from there - he now stays at my house half of the week and this has been the case since 2020. During this time, there have been no issues.

In June 2022 I got into a new relationship (the first sine the DA relationship) and he is so loving and gentle, and the kids adore him.

In April 2023 I began seeing my daughter unsupervised, she now stays over half of the week too.

My parents (who have guardianship) and my daughters dad (who has the child arrangements order) both decided independently from one another to move to unsupervised, and made this decision themselves without any involvement from social workers.

Since 2017 (when there was the issue of my daughter not seeing her dad, the DA relationship and the injuries my son suffered) I have:
- completed the freedom programme, the separated parents programme and child protection programmes
- myself and my partner are in a happy relationship, and we’ve bought a house together.
- I’ve gotten an undergraduate and masters degree.
- I’ve gotten a job as a support worker
- I have unsupervised care of my children half of the week.

There have also never been any issues with my parenting, as I’ve only ever received positive parenting assessments.

I’m now 4 weeks pregnant and we’re going to be meeting the pre-birth team soon.

I was wondering if anyone could tell me what to expect?
Could they remove our baby (this is also my partners first child) because of everything that happened in 2017?

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear JulyBabyComing,

Thank you for your updated post.

It appears that you have taken some really positive steps since 2017 and have engaged meaningfully with support. You are now pregnant, and would like to know what you can expect. Understandably, this may be a fairly nerve-wracking time for you, given children's services previously involvement.

From your other post, I can see their is now an allocated social worker who will do a pre-birth assessment. A pre-birth assessment will involve speaking to you, your partner, and other professionals involved with your pregnancy to better understand your family's situation. The social worker will evaluate the progress you have made, strengths and any risks that may be posed to your unborn child. They will want to better understand your network of support. You can have a look here for more information on what to expect from a pre-birth assessment.

The social worker will then make a recommendation. They may recommend that you and your family would benefit from ongoing children's services involvement under a child in need plan. You can read more about this here.

If the social worker is concerned your unborn child may be at risk of significant harm, they may initiate child protection enquiries. This could lead to a initial child protection conference, and a child protection plan being put in place. You can read more about this here.

If children's services have very significant concerns and think that they may need to take urgent steps to keep your child safe once they are born, they may seek legal steps such as applying to court. This is known as initiating care proceedings. If this is the plan, the local authority should notify you as soon as possible and you should contact a family law solicitor. You can read more about this here.

Please remember that just because you have had children's services involvement previously, this does not mean your unborn child will be removed from your care. Take a look here for some useful tips on helpful ways to approach any assessments and working with your social worker.

I hope you have found this

Best wishes,

Suzie.

[JulyBabyComing]

Thank you for your reply, reading the words that just because I’ve had children removed in the past doesn’t mean they’ll remove this baby is so reassuring, thank you. I can’t help but worry that the awful things that happened in the past will just overthrow all the good happening in the present as far as they’re concerned.

We’re meeting our pre-birth team tomorrow for the first time.
And next week a social worker is coming out to see me with my daughter and son, as I’m now seeing them unsupervised they’re doing an updated assessment, the social worker said it’s to ensure the have an assessment that reflects the current situation.

I’m really glad the ball is moving quickly on everything, I’m only about 5 weeks pregnant as of tomorrow and its good to know I won’t be waiting around for ages, I hope a decision will be made soon for our baby, and obviously I want our baby home with us.

I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed, which I told the social worker; I was expecting an assessment for my unborn baby but I didn’t anticipate additional assessments for my other two children as the guardian and my daughters dad are allowed the make the changes they’ve made - it’s a lot of change in a couple of weeks!

Our current situation is stable and happy and I’m really hoping this will be clear to the social workers.