Dear MeMe2020
Welcome to the parents’ discussion board. Thank you for your post. My name is Suzie. I am Family Rights Group’s online adviser. I am sorry to hear that some of your children are not in your care. It sounds as if you were going through a tough time and you did not feel able to challenge the areas you disagreed with.
You explain that three of your children were made subject to
Special Guardianship Orders (SGOs). Just to clarify, children who live with a
Special Guardian are not ‘in care’ as the local authority does not have
parental responsibility (PR) for them. The Special Guardian has PR. They can make almost all decisions for the children. As a parent, you don’t lose PR but you are no longer the main decision maker,. The Special Guardian has almost exclusive PR.
Your children may have been ‘ in care’ under a voluntary section 20 arrangement or
temporary care orders before the SGOs were made. However, the SGO ended any care status.
You say that after 10 years living with her grandparents, presumably under a SGO, your daughter is now back in your care. However, you are not sure how or why this has happened. You have had no proper explanations. This must be very confusing for you and presumably for your daughter.
Unless the SGO was ended, by the court, then it remains in place. So, the Special Guardians continue to be legally responsible for your daughter. You and / or the Special Guardians can ask the court to end the order. Please see page 11 of this advice sheet:
Special Guardianship information for parents for how to do so. You would need the court’s permission to apply to end the order but the Special Guardians don’t.
Your parents should inform the Special Guardianship Support Team that there has been a change in circumstances. If they are receiving a
Special Guardianship allowance for your daughter they would no longer be entitled to it.
You don’t say how old your daughter is. I wonder if she is an older teenager who has initiated this herself? Have you asked her or your parents if she had a social worker prior to returning to your care. You can contact the local children’s services in the area where she was living in order to clarify this and to understand more about the circumstances.
I would suggest that you also contact children’s services in the area you live and your local Special Guardianship Support team to let them know that your daughter is now in your care. You and your daughter may benefit from an assessment of your support needs.
Your query is about accessing children’s services’ records. You can complete a subject access request for the records held by children’s services while the children were in your care. Please see our advice sheet
accessing records held by children’s services which explains how to do this in more detail.
Depending on your daughter’s age, she may be able to ask for her own records or you can ask on her behalf but again depending on her age, children’s services may ask if she consents to this. The Special Guardians’ consent may be sought for any records relating to your daughter since the SGO was made as they hold almost exclusive PR.
There is advice on page 3 of the advice sheet linked to above about how to ask for this information. It is usually by email, letter or via the local authority’s own online form but you can also ask verbally.
I would suggest that you try to find out first, from your family or children’s services if there was social work involvement. Children living with special guardians do not necessarily have a social worker but if they needed support or were at risk in any way they would.
I hope this has been helpful.
If you would like to discuss the situation with an adviser please call the freephone advice line on 0808 8010366, Mon to Fri, 9.30 am to 3.00 pm (except bank holidays. If you prefer, you can post back on this board, send an
advice enquiry or use our
webchat facility.
Best wishes
Suzie
