Children's Services, Human Rights and Court Proceedings

[TiredDad2]

Hi,

New to the forum, respect to everybody going through difficulties and I wish you all well.

High level summary of my situation. 12 months ago my children, then 6 & 4, were put on a Child In Need plan. This was the wrong care needed for the family and followed an inaccurate family assessment, which had originated as an attempt to get support for the children's mother long term shopping and hoarding disorders. I found that the children's mother had been making false allegations through the assessment, and was told the only way to challenge the outcome of the assessment was through the complaints process - so I initiated this in March 2023.

In June 2023 Children's Services removed the children from their classroom and gave custody of them to their mother and took them all to an unknown location out of county. I found later she had made another false accusation that I was planning to abduct the children to Spain. There was no court order to hand custody of the children to the mother - and there have been safeguarding concerns about the children when they are in the care of their mother.

I raised an emergency court order for the children to be returned immediately to my care, and was successful two weeks later. This cost me £8000 which I put on credit card - I couldn't afford it, but I couldn't afford not to pay for it either. I now have a final order that the children live with me full time, and the mother should have contact every other weekend, but she has now stopped all contact. The CIN plan has been closed since Feb as no concerns with the children in my care.

I am still going through the complaints process, which has now evolved to the events in June when Children's Services gave custody of the children to their mother. I have a stage 3 panel review in May. However when the children were taken from me, I strongly feel that this was a breach of my human rights for a family and having contact with my children, and I understand I have 12 months from this date to begin court proceedings. Which is where I am today - I'm looking for any advice or signposting if any body has experience with this?

Thanks for reading.

TD2

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear TiredDad2,

Thank you for your post and welcome to the parents' board.

You say that 12 months ago your children were placed on a child in need plan. You did not agree with this and said that this originated from an inaccurate family assessment after an attempt to get support for the children's mother's shopping and hoarding. You said that the mother made false allegations during the assessment and that you were told the only way to challenge this was through a complaints, which you pursued in March 2023. You say that in June 2023, children's services removed the children from their classroom and gave custody of them to their mother. They went to an unknown location out of the county. You later found out that the mother had made an accusation that you were planning to abduct the children to Spain. There were no court orders in place and there have been safeguarding concerns about the children's welfare when in the care of their mother. You applied for an emergency court order for the children to be returned immediately to your care, which was successful. You say this cost £8000. There is now a final order for the children to live with you and for the mother to have contact. The child in need plan has been closed since February. You are still going through the complaints process and have a stage 3 panel review in May. You feel that when the children were taken from you, this was a breach of your human rights and would like to know what your next steps are.

I would encourage you to continue with your Stage 3 complaint. Please take a look here for more information on going to the local government ombudsman, and how you can complain beyond children's services.

If you would like more information on making a human rights claim, our advice sheet on this provides some really useful information, including organisations that you can contact for further help. Take a look here.

I hope this is helpful.

Best wishes,

Suzie.