Sorry state of affairs

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Nannie 1
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Aug 03, 2017 10:41 pm

Sorry state of affairs

Post by Nannie 1 » Tue Aug 08, 2017 7:32 pm

Our daughter sucessfully got her child back after social services were criticised as acting hastily. This took nearly 4 months of hard work.
She has proved thorough her assessments and observations she is a good mum.
Sadly 6 weeks on from her child returning to her, the child is back in foster care on an interim care order.
Our daughter was concerned about some marks on her baby, which she believed to be a rash, not going under a glass. This resulted in her getting advice and going to hospital.
She was told they would need to stay in. She was allowed to care for her child for 4 nights. Answered lots of questions and saw her child examined and tested numerous times.
After 4 nights she was told one consultant had concluded there were non accidental injuries and the social worker tried to get her to sign a section 20.
She didnt on advice of her solicitor but was told she could no longer see her daughter unsupervised and was then given 2 hours supervised contact and had to leave her baby in hospital. Up until then she was left with no observation , so why if they were saying NAI. They also went behind her back to try and get the babys dad to sign, they are not together.
She was treated with contempt by a large number of the nurses and overheard them discussing her child at the nurses station. Saying they were non accidental, two days after admission, they did also treat the baby for an infection. So they had already judged them both without evidence.
All seems back to front, no one spoke to us, her support workers or friend who was with her before she took her baby to hospital.
Feel there is discrimination due to her own background and the fact her child was in care.
All her support network are behind her and there is a strong probability the marks were caused in a baby walker the child is too small for yet and topples forward in andvto the side. A young mums mistake, not deliberate or malicious but unexpected and accidental.
A sorry sorry state childrens services have got to, risk aversion gone mad.
We asked why the child could bnot come to us, told wecwere not assessed. Previously we were a place of safety for another child innour family, with no formal assessment.

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Suzie, FRG Adviser
Posts: 949
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:25 pm

Re: Sorry state of affairs

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Tue Aug 15, 2017 3:50 pm

Dear Nannie 1

Welcome to the Family and Friends Carers Discussion Board.

My name is Suzie, the online adviser at Family Rights Group.

I am sorry for the situation that you and your family have found yourself in with children’s services involvement after your daughter took your grandchild to the hospital.

In your post you say that your grandchild was returned to her mother’s care following a period in foster care. It is not clear from your post what the concerns were that led to your granddaughter being placed in foster carer.

You have explained that your daughter took her child to the hospital because she was concerned about a rash and this has led to a consultant reaching the conclusion that she has suffered non-accidental injuries. This must be very upsetting for your daughter. She would have been allowed to be with her daughter unsupervised because until the consultant expressed his or her opinion that it was non-accidental injuries there was no reason to prevent your daughter being with her child.

As your daughter was advised not to sign a s.20 agreement, children’s services had no alternative but to make an application to the court as they cannot remove a child without consent of the parent or other person with parental responsibility. Children’s services should consider placing a child with family members (if in the child's best interests) before placing with stranger foster carers. An emergency check could be carried out the family member’s home to see if it is suitable as well as enquiries of the police regarding any previous convictions. If you have not already done so, I suggest that you put in writing to children’s services your wish to care for your granddaughter and ask to be assessed.

Now that there is an interim care order, children’s services share parental responsibility for your granddaughter and can make decisions about where she lives at the moment. Your daughter could ask her solicitor to ask the court for your granddaughter to be in your care rather than foster care at the moment. Children’s services can object if they believe it would not be in the child’s interests. Please see out advice sheet relating to the duties that children’s services have when a child is in the care system.

It is important that you keep an open mind about the child’s injuries as children’s services will want to be sure of your ability to keep the child safe, from your daughter, if necessary. Having said this, I am not suggesting that your daughter caused injury to her child and there is likely to be further investigations/enquiries so reports can be provided to the court. Your daughter's solicitor will advise her about what will happen now the matter is in the court.

Did you daughter give an explanation at the hospital about how the injuries might have been caused, you say it could be a baby walker that caused the injuries to the baby?

Children’s services' role is to safeguard children and to work with family for children to remain within the family home if it is in the child’s interest. In the current situation, they have been told that a very young child has sustained what have been described as non-accidental injuries. It is important that this is investigated, and it will be within the court proceedings, as evidence will be required to assist the judge at the final hearing. Please see our advice sheet about care proceedings for information about the court process.

I have included our advice sheet about family and friends becoming foster carers for your information.

If you or persons supporting your daughter are able to give information regarding what happen to the child, you should ask your daughter to tell her solicitor that you and they are able give statements about what happened to the baby. That would be one way of ensuring that the court has all relevant information. It might also be necessary for your granddaughter to have tests to find out whether there is any underlying condition that could be responsible for how her skin looked at the time she was taken to hospital.

You say that you daughter is a young mother and it might help if she looks at the young parents’ section of our website here

I do not know how a child came to be in your care before without a formal assessment. Children’s services has to assess persons with whom they place children. A child can be in someone’s care under a private arrangement between family members. In this situation children’s services should be informed and provided they consider the placement is safe for the child, they will not usually say there has to be an assessment.

If you or your daughter would like to speak to an adviser, you can telephone our free confidential advice line on 0808 801 0366. The advice line is open from 9.30am to 3pm Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays).

I hope this is helpful.

Best wishes

Suzie

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