Failed kinship assessment

[Weeg]

My wife and i are currently looking after our 6 month old granddaughter under a kinship agreement agreed between my daughter and social work. Social work are now stating my wife will not pass the kinship assessment. A multi agency meeting is due to take place on 21st November to discuss the situation however my daughter had already received a phone call from social work last week to say that my wife will not pass assessment and to ask my daughter if there was anyone else she could recommend to look after her daughter. My daughter disagreed with this and was told that any decisions will be made by them during this multi agency meeting and it was not down to my daughter. After hearing this I called the case worker only to be told the same thing. Why can a decision be made when the so called multi agency meeting hadn’t even taken place? There has been a few recent frustrations that have spilled out from my wife, and also myself due to the circumstances we have been dealing with over several years. Social work spoke to us regarding their concerns however when we tried to respond to their concerns we where told quite abruptly that we don’t grasp what they where telling us and that my wifes actions where not down to frustration{that was just an excuse} but it was down to something more. My daughter is voluntarily working with social work and voluntarily signed some kind of kinship agreement for my granddaughter to be with us. My granddaughter has now been in our care since 10th September. If my daughter was to withdraw her voluntary working with social work would they be able to take my granddaughter away from us straight away or would they need first to obtain permission from a court. And also if they need to get court permission to take my granddaughter from our care would we get the chance to put our case forward at the same time to argue that their reasons for not allowing our granddaughter to be with us as unjust.

[Robin D]

Hi Weeg and welcome.

I can't help too much with your specific questions, but it helps us all if you keep the queries in a single thread. Posting broadly the same question twice in short succession, will only split up the story as it develops but will not get you a full answer any quicker I am afraid.

The quickest way to get a response is to ring the free advice line and speak to an advisor on 0808 801 0366
Monday to Friday 9.30am to 3pm. Alternatively, One of the advisors log in as Suzie every 2 or 3 days to answer questions.

The advantage of ringing is that you do not have to detail here the reasons they have failed your assessment, but you will be able to share them with the advisor.

From my own experiences, Children's Services can be quite secretive about what they are planning, which is unhelpful. They will be parallel planning which is where they explore a number of options to save time for the child should the preferred option not come to fruition. There are strict timescales to providing permanence for the child.

If there are court proceedings in place, I strongly suggest you apply to be a party. All you have to do is contact the court office at the affected court and they will assist you in applying. There is a fee to this, but that way you at least will know everything that is being presented to court. There is a small fee to pay. Again in my experience it is normal for Social Workers to actively discourage applications to join a case, but please don't let this put you off. You are a significant person in the life of the child.

Good luck ... Robin

[Robin D]

Sorry I meant to add. Do start keeping a detailed diary of everything that happens or is said. If you can go back and write up the events thus far with dates and names, it will come in really helpful. Two months down the you will forget who said what and when and writing it down daily will make a huge difference if it does end up being contested in the courts. Putting in a statement to the court that on {Date} {SW Name] said that you were the first choice for permanence during a visit to your house to see the child, will carry a lot more weight than 'I was told by a social worker that the child would say with me". If it's written down in one place and at the time or shortly after, then you will have facts at your fingertips, and can produce the document to show it was written down at the time.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Weeg

Welcome to the kinship carers’ board. Thank you for your post. My name is Suzie. I am Family Rights Group’s online adviser. I am sorry to hear about your difficult family situation. I am also very sorry that I was unable to respond to your post sooner. However, you have had some helpful advice and support from another relative on this forum including about applying to be party to any court proceedings about your granddaughter.

You and your wife have been kinship carers for your 6 month old granddaughter since 10th September. You say this was under a voluntary arrangement with your daughter so I think it was a section 20 voluntary arrangement. A section 20 agreement does not give children’s services’ parental responsibility. .They would only acquire this by obtaining a court order e.g. an emergency protection or interim care order for your granddaughter.

The information above applies to England. If you are in Wales or Scotland there are different procedures which unfortunately we are unable to advise on as our remit and funding is England only.

You were told that your wife would not pass her kinship assessment.

The multi-agency meeting you described was due to happen on 21st November so has already taken place. I am very sorry that we were not able to respond to your post prior to that meeting. You were very worried that your granddaughter would be removed from your care following this meeting. I hope that the solicitor you contacted was able to clarify what was happening and provide you with some advice. I hope that your granddaughter has remained in your care if you are challenging the negative assessment.

Please could you post an update as to what the outcome of the multiagency meeting was I would be able to provide more detailed and specific advice. And please could you confirm that you are involved with children’s services in England.

Best wishes

Suzie