Discharging a Care Order

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Warrior2106
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2021 1:57 pm

Discharging a Care Order

Post by Warrior2106 » Wed Mar 03, 2021 12:36 pm

Hi there, I was wondering if someone could give me advice about discharging a care order. Basically Feb 2020 my children went into care because of my mental health and alcoholism. A care order was put in place by the court in September 2020. 2 of my daughters who are 15 and 18 are living with family friends. I have contact with my 18 year old but my 15 year old is refusing all contact with me which I am not pushing her at this time as a teenager, if I try and push to have contact with her will probably make her turn against me even more, I recognise she needs to come round in her own time. My 12 year old son is living with his Godparents. All along he is consistently saying he want to come home and also that he wants more contact with me. When the care order was made, my solicitor said 'Don't despair as once you have been sober for at least 1 year, you will stand a good chance to discharge the care order'. I have almost been sober 1 year (April 2021 I will be 1 year sober) and I have also had such incredible therapy that has had a huge positive impact on my mental health and also not drinking alcohol anymore has also improved my mental health, I have been off all my medication for 4 months and my mental health is stable. I have made significant changes for the better. I was thinking of applying in April to have the care order discharged, it will have only been 6 months since the care order was made but the changes I have made, pre-date the care order being made. Also, as part of the court process last year, the judge ordered a full psychologist report done. The last paragraph of this report states that 'if mother is to remain sober for at least 1 year, it would be hoped that she would be able to resume all parenting duties, albeit with ongoing support'. My question is do I attempt to apply for the care order to be discharged in April when it will have only been 6 months since the care order was made but the changes I have made have been longer or do I wait until September when it will have been a year since the care order was made. My son wants to come home but social services, as they do, consistently say its not in his best interest to return home, despite me doing everything they have asked for me and the changes I have made are being maintained. Is it better to wait until it's been a year since the order was made or are there cases where a judge has agreed to the application of discharging a care order within the first year? Thanks

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Suzie, FRG Adviser
Posts: 4210
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:57 pm

Re: Discharging a Care Order

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Fri Mar 12, 2021 3:22 pm

Dear Warrior 2106

Thank you for your post and welcome to the parent’s discussion forum.

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

I note from your post that your children were removed from your care and final care orders made in September 2020. You are currently having contact with your 18-year-old daughter (an adult) but your 15-year-old daughter does not, at present, wish to have contact with you. You have, I think, very sensibly decided to wait her timing for contact to start. Your 12 year old son has always wanted to return to your care.

You are now considering applying to discharge the care order so that you can be reunited with your children. From what you say, the concerns that led to your children being removed no longer exist as you have addressed both your alcohol misuse and your mental health. During the court proceedings you were already starting to make changes and, the psychologist in his or her report indicated that if you remain sober for a year then there could be a possibility of you being able to resume care of your children.

Your question now is whether you should make an application to discharge the care order in April as, at that time, you would have remained sober for a year. It is not clear from your post what period of time you were abstinent from alcohol during the care proceedings. If you stopped immediately your children were removed and maintained it by the time of the final hearing, bearing in mind care cases can take up to 6 months you would already have done 6 months. It appears from the report you mentioned that the psychologist may have been indicating a full year after the proceedings ended, the same could be said of what your solicitor told you.

It is not clear from your post how much contact you have with your son but you are not having any with your daughter. Usually, it is important to show that you have been having good consistent contact. You may wish to discuss more contact with the social worker. Also, you could speak with the social worker about the changes you have made and ask for an assessment for your children to return to your care. If it is considered that it would now be possible for them to be safe in your care, then you would be assessed and if all goes well children’s services could themselves decide that it would be appropriate to discharge the care order.

If children’s services were not willing to assess you, then you could make an application to the court to discharge the order. However, it may be best to consider doing so later so that you have a full year sober. It is of course for you to decide but it is possible to apply to discharge 6 months after the order is made. The court would want to see with evidence that you have made significant changes and the issues which led to the decision in September 2020 no longer exist. You may find it helpful to read our advice sheet https://www.frg.org.uk/images/Advice_Sh ... milies.pdf.

I hope you find this helpful.

Best wishes

Suzie

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