After the Fact Find

[MUM2019]

Finally getting round to the final hearing after it being cancelled twice!
My only worry now is after the trial, I do not drink or do drugs but my partner who is my child's step father smokes the occasional bit of cannabis. He has never smoked this on my property and has never kept any drug utensils at my property and has never smoked cannabis or cigarettes in front of my child as he smokes at a friend's house or will often go for a walk to smoke it and he will leave anything he needs at a friends.
Can anyone advise what to do or what may happen after the final hearing, the courts will be aware he smokes due to text messages.
However his biological father also smokes cannabis and we know he has bought large amounts around the children and possibly even smoking in their house would this affect his welfare check more considerably than ours? As I want my son to return to my care and do not want anything to jeopardise that we have the trial starting on the next week and I want myself and my partner to be prepared and honest with the courts when asked about cannabis as in my eyes we have nothing to hide, my son cannot get hold of it, he is not around it at all and quite often my son would of been in bed when my partner came back after a smoke so he wouldn't go near him till he'd had a shower ect I'm not justifying his uses I hate the stuff and I wish he would just quit but he has cut down a lot since my son has been in care (to my knowledge anyway). Please give me some advice

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear MUM2019,

I can see in from your previous post that your son is subject to care proceedings due to suspected non-accidental injury, and that he was living with foster carers under an interim care order. You mentioned that a fact-finding hearing was due to take place – has this now happened and what was the outcome?

You say that the final hearing is next week. You are concerned because your partner smokes cannabis and that this is likely to be raised at the final hearing as it is mentioned in text messages. You do not want anything to jeopardize your chances of your son returning to your care and would like some advice.

Firstly, it would be helpful to know what the local authority’s care plan is - are they supporting a return home for your son? Have you undergone a parenting assessment and what was the outcome of this? Have you discussed your partner’s cannabis smoking with the social worker? It is difficult for me to say how your partner’s cannabis smoking may be received by children’s services and whether they would assess this as being a significant factor in your ability to care for him – discussing this with the social worker may have given you the opportunity to provide more context and to state what safety measures you have previously put in place. If you have not raised this previously, children’s services may be concerned that you have concealed information. I think it is therefore important that you speak to your solicitor about this as soon as possible.

It is important to remember that the judge will make any decisions at the final hearing based upon your son’s best interests and will not make any orders that are not deemed necessary. A judge will only make a care order at the final hearing if they believe the threshold of significant harm has been met and that to do so would be in the child’s best interest. You may find it helpful to read this page on our website on what to expect from a final hearing.

Best wishes,

Suzie