Helping my fiance keep baby

[Gar]

My fiance had a terrible experience when she was 18 her boyfriend hurt her baby and he convinced her to take the blame as he claimed it was an accident being young nieve and in love she did and ended up in prison now 12 years later. She told social services that she was pregnant when only 6 weeks they have leg her think that she would be able to keep the baby so she didn't have a termination now near due date they now are taking the baby off her temporarily they say but I feel powerless and any help or advice to prevent this please

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Gar,

Welcome to the parents' board and thank you for your post.

You say that your fiancé, at the age of 18, had a child. You say that her boyfriend at the time hurt the baby, but that she took the blame for this and went to prison. From what I understand, this was 12 years ago. You say that she is now pregnant again and she has been informed by children's services that the baby will be removed temporarily. You would like some help and advice to prevent this.

Firstly, I am sorry to hear about the distressing situation you are in. From what you say, children's services became involved in your fiancé's pregnancy because of what happened with her first child. I understand that you say she took the blame for something she did not do, but as she took responsibility at the time, children's services have to consider this when assessing what risk she may pose to any future children she has. If they have completed an assessment, they may have found that there was reason to believe the unborn child could be at risk of harm.

It appears that children's services are going to initiate care proceedings once the baby is born. This means that they have significant concerns about the safety of the child and are going to make an application to the court for a judge to consider who should look after the baby in the long-term. Care proceedings should last 26 weeks, and during this time, both you and your partner will undergo a number of assessments to better understand if you are able to provide a safe home for your child. At the end of the proceedings, a judge will make a decision about who should care for the child based on what is in their best interests. You can read more about care proceedings on our page here.

When care proceedings are initiated, a first hearing is held. At this hearing, the local authority may ask the judge to make something called an interim care order. If the judge grants this, the local authority will share parental responsibility for the child for the duration of the care proceedings, which means they will have a say in where the child should live and are responsible for meeting the child's needs. Sometimes the local authority will want the child to live away from either parent, such as with foster carers or with another family member. In some cases, the local authority may support the child remaining with one of both parents under an interim care order - this is most likely to be in a family assessment unit or some kind of foster placement.

In terms of your next steps, it is essential that you and your fiancé seek the advice of a solicitor. As the child's parents, you are both entitled to legal aid (if you do not have PR at the time of the court proceedings, the judge will consider whether to join you to the proceedings anyway) and so will not need to pay for this. In any case, you should speak to a children and family solicitor, who will be able to give you specific legal advice and represent you at court. The local authority may have given you a list of solicitors, and you can also have search for one on the law society website.

It is very important that you and your fiancé understand why the local authority are initiating care proceedings - you need to be clear on what they think the risk is and what they want you to do to try and address this. If you are able to actively engage with services to show this, the judge is more likely to agree that you can safely care for your baby.

I would also recommend that you speak to your family and friends about what is happening. If the local authority does remove your child, they have a legal duty to place the child with connected persons first and foremost - therefore it is important that you put forward anyone who can potentially care for your child forward so that they can be assessed.

I think it would also be helpful for you to take a look at our page on parents to be for more information on the steps children's services may take when concerned about an unborn child.

I hope you have found this helpful.

Best wishes,

Suzie.