Are Social Workers obliged to respond?

[Lioness.3]

My niece's children have been removed and placed in the care of the LA. There is not long to go now before the final hearing. The extended maternal family members have been emailing the children's Social Worker as soon as we became aware of the care Proceedings (approximately 2 weeks after they were initiated) in a bid to try and get some answers, to ask for contact, to offer help/support and to check into see if the children are settled/ok and to understand what has happened here. I have put myself forward to become the children's kinship carer/special guardian and my assessment is looking positive.

For approximately 9 weeks, none of the external maternal family members have had any response, (T/email) from either the children's Social Worker or her Manager, (copied in as no reply) no word over the Christmas period even after the Social Worker had promised the children's Aunty and their cousins a video contact session which never took place.

My question is, are Social Workers obliged to respond to us? Nothing we have asked has either been pushy or rude. We as a family have been left feeling extremely alienated. We are all familiar to the children and we miss them dearly. None of us have ever been contacted throughout the CP process/removal. Surely this is detrimental to the children to have what appears to be all links to their identity, roots and community severed and surely it is in the best interests of the children to be allowed to continue to have at least some element of contact with their family (close knit/law abiding/professional) throughout this process?

Thank you

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Lioness.3

Thank you for your post and question and welcome to the Board.
I am sorry to read that you have not been able to have contact with your nieces’ children.

In answer to your question about contact with children who are in care, please read this section of our website which gives and answer to this question “will the wider family and friends network still be able to have contact with a looked after child during care proceedings?”

I hope this information will be helpful.

Best wishes

Suzie

[ERC88]

It’s my understanding that where there’s a family member assessed as suitable and offering care, it’s always more favourable than the care system