SGO or adoption?

[Celle]

Here's efficiency for you!
The initial Court date was postponed for a month, because the three CS workers on the case could not get their act together in time. My daughter has just received an email from a fourth CS worker, new to the case, who has never met them. Part of the email is copied below:

"I am the allocated social worker who has just returned from a long period off work. I am making the final amendments to the Special Guardianship Order; the only parts I am missing are some character references – could you and M supply me with the names of 3 people who I could make contact with by email or phone to obtain a character reference to add into the SGO.

I also need to arrange for you to have some contact with F prior to the Court hearing. This would involve you coming into [local authority] and seeing her at the foster carer's address. Could you advise me on your dates of availability for this to be set up?"

My daughter and son in law supplied the names and contact details of referees months ago. Despite their several queries to previous CS workers, none of their referees was contacted prior to the original Court date.
They have already had an intensive weekend of introduction to F in her foster home, which contacts were supervised and witnessed by two CS workers. Surely there should be a record of this, together with comments about how their interaction with F went?

I can only assume that the way in which prospective Guardians deal with all the delays is part of a character test!

[Robin D]

You really couldn't make it up could you?

Unfortunately its all to common a story.

[David Roth]

Celle, I have redacted the name of the local authority from your post.

All posters here are reminded that this is an open forum that can be read by anyone, although you need to register in order to post here. It really is best if you don't post any identifying information.

[Celle]

Sorry David. That one slipped by me. I changed all the names, but I missed the local authority.

[Celle]

Yet another probable delay!

Learned today that the request for police checks, for which permission was given in November, has only just reached the police!

Police say it could take up to 4 weeks to do checks. New Court date (postponed from 10th January due to CS inefficiency) is 13th February.

Surely police checks should have been a basic necessity before the potential guardians were allowed contact with the child?

First contact with prospective guardians was back last September. 6 month supposed deadline is getting very close. This all for a child who was taken into care at 5 months old, with full knowledge and court order that she could never be returned to her birth mother! She's 15 months old now.

Daughter and son-in-law have another half-day with F tomorrow. They had one last Tuesday, and foster parents were obstructive. They don't want to give F up and were trying to come between her and her prospective guardians; also refused to commit to any plans for a getting-to-know-you week after the court date, unless daughter and s-i-l agreed to take F to visit them at least once a month. CS have advised that there should be no contact with anyone else for at least 6 months, to allow F to bond with her new family.

Another thing: foster parents have been speaking mainly Portuguese to F. It's becoming apparent that she does not have much understanding of English.

[Celle]

Yes, it is DBS checks. Since this is now the fourth CS worker dealing with F's placement, one can only assume that no sort of handover was given between one CS worker and another. This latest one also asked again for contact details of referees - this was supplied back in November also. Don't they have a check list? F has now been in care for 10 months.

Before the last visit to F and her foster parents, daughter and s-i-l did intend to take F to visit foster parents when they went to visit family in the county where F is fostered. They were also going to buy a present, as thanks for taking such good care of F. But they live in another county and it is a 3-4 hour drive each way, so monthly visits just won't be an option anyway. CS have told them that contact should never be in the foster home, as this might confuse F. If foster parents continue to be difficult, they will be ruining their chances of any future contact!

F is the tenth child this couple have fostered. They must have been through all this before! They even asked the CS worker (in front of daughter and s-i-l) "If they don't want her, can we have her back?" Just as if they assumed that daughter and s-i-l were going to take F on appro!

At the last introductory visit, when s-i-l was playing with F, the foster father came up to them, waved a toy in front of F and tried to distract her back to himself. Foster mother kept on picking up F, cuddling her, and saying "My baby." They both completely ignored the other foster child (who is also going to be placed for adoption) during the visit.

There's another contact visit on Tuesday afternoon. We'll see what happens this time! The CS worker supervising the visit did say that she would have a word with the CS person who deals with the foster family. She also wants to daughter and s-i-l to take F for a walk outside, without foster parents - but this couldn't happen last week because it was raining.

[Celle]

Unfortunately, the head of the CS in that area is one of the offenders!

According to my daughter, all 4 of the CS personnel who have dealt with them are "very nice women, but they couldn't organise a drunken party (I used alternative words here!) in a brewery."

[Celle]

Court date is supposed to be today, but there may be yet another delay!

Apart from the fact that police (I forget the exact term) checks are still not completed, the Children's Guardian for F's older sister has requested a deferment for 8 weeks, as he/she will be taking sick leave.

The cases of the two sisters are linked. The older sister is safely placed with her grandparents, and has been there ever since she was removed from her mother's care. She's settled and happy and slowly getting over the trauma of what went before. A delay would not be detrimental for her.

However, F is still in foster care, and has been so since she was 5 months old. She's now 15 months old and has bonded with her foster parents. She's at a stage where she is developing fast (and learning to speak Portuguese, not English!) and she needs to be in her permanent home as quickly as possible. Her case for placement with T&M has dragged on since last September, with already one deferment of the Court date, due to CS inefficiency. No one in her immediate family has seen her since she was 5 months old, so all this talk about SG preserving family ties is a load of hooey!

T&M are going to ask for the cases of the two sisters to be unlinked, so that F's case can go ahead. Is that a possibility? Is there anything else they can do? Ask for a Residence Order in their favour?

[Celle]

Well, at least the Judge has some common sense! While the Court case for SGO has been adjourned until April 11th and 12th, he has issued a Placement Order, so that F can go to live with my daughter and son-in-law.

Older sister's birth father has suddenly appeared on the scene (having never seen her in her 6 years of life and never contributed a penny towards her upkeep) and is claiming a right to have her. That will all have to be assessed now, which could cause a further delay.

Son-in-law's DBS check has come back OK and daughter's should be completed soon.

The introductory week of intensive getting to know each other starts today and F will go to her new home this Friday, the 21st. Someone from CS will pay a home visit on March 4th, to check that all is going OK.

[Celle]

Yes, it all sounds hopeful that F will stay with our daughter and son-in-law. She's been with foster parents for 10 months and to move her away from there to daughter and s-i-l, then remove her yet again would indeed be traumatic for her.

In addition, the older sister's maternal grandparents (who have her now and hope to get SGO for her) are s-i-l's godparents and all family intentions are to let the two sisters see as much as possible of each other. Older sister was very upset that she could not see her little sister on the day she was a year old.

In light of the Children's Guardian's accident (he will be in hospital for 6 weeks, apparently) and consequent inability to speak in court on older sister's behalf, we believe that the right decision was made by the judge.

I hope all goes well from now on!