contesting a failed assessment

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Suzie, FRG Adviser
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Re: contesting a failed assessment

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Wed Sep 25, 2019 2:17 pm

Brokenheart3 wrote: Tue Aug 27, 2019 8:58 am I really need advice my friend of over ten years has 3 children under 5 I’ve been a big part of there life’s but over the last two year more with the younger two having them days on end I’ve been there on all the birth and derlivered the youngest my self the social workers was aware how much I had the two youngest due to being in the parents care they was put in foster care due to her life style around them ive had an assessment and got negative due to my friendship with the mother although my assessment is very positive in every thing I’ve told them I only see her to pick or drop kids off , social service got dates wrong saying one of the children was inhospital in April witch is important to our case as he was not in my care for 4 days yet on the paper work they got May witch he was with me most of may so they saying I’m sticking up for mother the judge has void the paper work and told social services to start again I’m waiting to see if I’m out the pool of suspect before I can speak my assessment it’s braking me as I’ve been a mother to this children I’ve never had police at my door and raised 3 children alone and no social workers me and there mum are total opposite
Dear Brokenheart3

Welcome to the Family and Friends Carers’ discussion board and thank you for posting. My name is Suzie, FRG’s online adviser. I am sorry that we were not able to respond to your query before now and to hear of the difficulties you and your friend’s family are having.

From what you say I think that your friend’s children, with whom you have been very involved, are the subjects of care proceedings , due to concerns about the impact of their mother’s lifestyle on the children and an alleged non-accidental injury. You are possibly in the pool of potential perpetrators. You put yourself forward as a connected carer for the children but had a negative assessment which you disagree with. You think some of the information contained in children’s services reports is wrong and that you are being tarnished by your relationship with the children’s mother.

This is a very difficult situation. It will be important whether or not you are found to be in the pool of possible perpetrators. You have identified some errors in relation to dates which may be relevant. I cannot provide much advice on this but you could have a look at online information provided by Child Protection Resource .

Once you know the outcome of this your situation may become clearer.

In terms of your assessment, I think that may have been a viability assessment – we have an assessment guide here. These are the suggested options when you have had a negative assessment:

If the assessment is negative, then the council would not agree to continue with a full assessment of you. They should give you a letter that explains to you all of your options at that stage.

Those options are likely to include:

● Accepting the decision;
● Writing a letter that explains why you disagree, or whether you think things in the report are wrong. That letter can then be attached to the report so that anyone who reads it sees your side;
● Getting independent legal advice. You can ring Family Rights Group’s free independent specialist advice line on 0808 801 0366, (Monday to Friday 9.30am to 3pm). You may wish to seek advice from a lawyer on the Law Society : find a solicitor website (look for a lawyer with Children Panel accreditation), although this may not be free, and it will therefore be important for you to find out first what it would cost to get this advice;
● Going to a court hearing to ask the court to make a legal order that the child come to live with you if the child can’t be with their parents.

It may be that you would want to pursue more than one option, and if you disagree with the outcome of the assessment it is likely that you will want to explain that to the local authority, get independent legal advice, and perhaps also attend court.

I hope that this is helpful.

Please do not hesitate to post again if you need further information or advice.

With best wishes

Suzie

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Suzie, FRG Adviser
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Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:25 pm

Re: contesting a failed assessment

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Mon Sep 30, 2019 11:48 am

Malmac97 wrote: Tue Aug 27, 2019 5:07 pm Hi.. does anyone know if you fail a parenting assessment a judge can over look it?? Any help would be great??
Dear Malmac97

Welcome to the Family and Friends’ carers’ discussion board and thank you for your post. I am sorry we were not able to respond to you sooner due to the high volume of posts we are currently receiving.

Although you have posted on this board I wonder if you are a parent as you are querying how to contest a negative parenting assessment? If so, you would be better posting on the Parents discussion board where you can get further support and advice. You haven’t said much about what the issues are so it is not possible for me to give any detailed advice.

If you had a parenting assessment as part of court proceedings in relation to your or a family members child then the judge will see a copy of this. You should also try to find out the views of the child’s Guardian .

If you are a parent involved in care proceedings then you should have a solicitor who can consider the reasons you failed the parenting assessment with you and can help you respond to any concerns raised, think about what support you may need to address them and how to challenge any errors in the assessment. It is important that you seek specific legal advice on this from your solicitor so that they can advise if you could seek a new or independent assessment or have a further assessment focusing on what the specific concerns are.

If you are a family member and a party to the court proceedings then you might want to submit a report to the court addressing the reasons why your assessment was negative, what you can do about this and also whether you believe there are flaws in the assessment. Also if you are a family member please see the points raised in this response to grandmotherwoody which provide a range of options.

It may also be a good idea to explore specialist parenting support services or programmes within your area which you could participate in to enhance your parenting skills or acquire new ones. If you have a difficulty or a health need that affects your parenting identifying and working with specialist support will be vital too. Again the timing and relevance of this will depend on what the issues are and what stage you are at.

If you would like to discuss your situation in more detail please do ring to speak to an adviser on our Freephone advice service 0808 801 0366, Mon – Fri, 9.30 am to 3.00 pm. Or if you would prefer post back on the appropriate forum.

I hope this helps.

With best wishes

Suzie

GoodGollyMissMolly
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Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2019 12:45 pm

Re: contesting a failed assessment

Post by GoodGollyMissMolly » Thu Feb 03, 2022 11:37 pm

To TheMA, I am very sorry that you've not been recommened. What has been yje outcome?

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Suzie, FRG Adviser
Posts: 950
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:25 pm

Re: contesting a failed assessment

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Fri Feb 04, 2022 3:29 pm

Dear GoodGollyMissMolly

Welcome to the Kinship Carers’ forum and thank you for your post. My name is Suzie and I am FRG’s online adviser.

I think The MA may no longer be active on this forum so may not see or be able to respond to your post. However, I can see that she did post to say that she managed to overturn the failed assessment and went to become a Special Guardian to the children involved.

If you have any queries that we can help you with please do post back or call the freephone advice line on 0808 8010366, Mon to Fri between 9.30 am and 3.00 pm.

Best wishes

Suzie

TheMA
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Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 3:14 pm

Re: contesting a failed assessment

Post by TheMA » Wed Sep 21, 2022 6:30 am

GoodGollyMissMolly wrote: Thu Feb 03, 2022 11:37 pm To TheMA, I am very sorry that you've not been recommened. What has been yje outcome?
The sgo was granted 13/11/2015.... so we're quite a way down the road now. Has worked really well in our circumstances. Of course we've had our ups and downs and been at tough crossroads over the years, especially tge early ones, but im pleased to say that now it has just fitted into place and has worked well for all parties.

Far from being a ending, but it's quite a happy arrangement.

Thanks
TheMA

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