Psychological assessment always negative???

[mamaof5]

I have 5 children in foster care with the main concern being my mental health (depression)

My children were removed 9 weeks ago now, we still haven’t been given a date for the directions hearing so all assessments are being done by consent rather than waiting for court.

One of the assessments is a psychological assessment of me and my children.

My mum & stepfather are trying to get my oldest 3 children and are currently being SGO assessed. They had 2 Sw round their house today and when my stepfather made a comment about the children probably won’t even end up with them as they will most likely be returned home my mum said the 2 sw shot each other a look as though to say it’s extremely unlikely they will ever return home. They then said to my mum that it is massively if not completely reliant on the outcome of the psychological assessment.

I have just read on another members post where they state they were told 99% of psychological assessments recommend children are NOT returned home. Is this true?
I fully admit my MH was bad previously, I did not engage well with mh services, wasn’t medication compliant and didn’t engage well with the LA.

Since April 14th (children were removed april 26th) I have engaged really well with my MH doctor, therapist and been fully medication compliant. Ive not had any serious dip with my mental health at all during this time. Obviously I’ve had low points because my children aren’t in my care anymore but I’ve managed to keep going with the hope they will return them at the end of proceedings. Now because I have read the other post saying 99% of psychological assessments come back that children should not be returned I’m feeling helpless and worried

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear mamaof5,

Thankyou for your post. I am sorry to hear about the difficulties that you are experiencing and understand that this must be a very challenging time for you.

I am not sure where you read that 99% of psychological assessments recommend that the children are not returned home but I am in no doubt that this is not from a reliable source. As far as I am aware there are no reliable sources of research about this, and it is not possible for anyone to know exactly how many psychological assessments recommend that a parent is unable to care for their child(ren). Unfortunately some people do make statistics like this up and this can be very alarming for other people when they hear this. Each parent and each situation is different so it is important that you stay focussed on your own situation and how you can best access the support that you need.

You can find more information on our website here about psychological assessments.

It is also important to remember that the psychological assessment is only part of the overall process and the court will take into consideration the recommendations of the other professionals and parties involved. If you are unhappy with any recommendations made by the psychologist when the assessment is finished then I would advise you to discuss this urgently with your solicitor and consider challenging the assessment and asking for it to be re-done if necessary.

I hope that this is helpful. If you have any further queries then please again or call our free confidential helpline on 0808 801 0366 (Monday to Friday, 9:30am – 3pm) to speak with an adviser.

Best wishes,
Suzie