Negative full assessment

[Skills at home]

Hi,
We have had our full assessment for Kinship Care and SGO - we were told all the way along it was positive and concluded positive. However, the manager pulled it back and it ended up negative. All sections are positive apart from one - this is the risk to my Grandson by BP and they don't feel we could keep him physically or emotionally safe.
We throughout have been asking for guidance and support - no responses.
We moved to an unknown location.
Taken ourselves off any public registers.
Have offered to do much much more - no responses
Asked repeatedly for guidance - no responses

Today I find out that we can appeal (we were not told this) and when I asked for the appeal process it states we have 7 days from the date of the letter (last week).

We have asked our assessing SW what we can do to change it to a positive - we are willing to do anything and she only wants to talk to us on the phone and won't respond to emails.

My GS is 4 months old and it is clear for months they want him adopted even thought it is clear and states in the assessment they have no concerns about us looking after him apart from the potential risk (not tried and tested) of his BP who doesn't know where we live and if she didn't couldn't get to us very easily. Yes, my daughter is volatile and has a long criminal history of violence towards carers and Police and me years ago.

I currently have a neglect case against the same LA as my daughter who has special needs and rapped when in there care which I think has a lot to do with it.

I have contacted the court and now asked them to view our application to be part of the parties (awaiting a response)

Help - I am running out of time and not a clue what I am doing.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Skills at home

Welcome to the kinship carers’ discussion board. Thank you for your post. My name is Suzie. I am Family Rights Group’s online adviser.

I'm really sorry to hear that your recent assessment to become a kinship carer or special guardian for your grandson had a negative outcome, especially as the assessor did highlight many positives. I understand you'd like to know how you can challenge this decision.

It sounds like the local authority may not have clearly explained the process for challenging the assessment outcome, including the 7-day time limit. While I can’t guarantee that this will change the decision, I do think it’s still worth writing to the local authority. You can send your letter to the social worker, their manager, the local authority’s legal representative (if you have their details), and also copy in the complaints department. In your letter, explain that you weren’t informed of the time limit and that you are now formally notifying them of your intention to challenge the assessment.

You didn’t mention whether the assessment was carried out by a local authority social worker or an independent social worker (ISW). That detail could be important going forward.
It’s good to hear that you’ve already applied to become party to proceedings—that’s a positive step and exactly what I would have recommended.

Time is really important in these cases, as the court works to a timetable that prioritizes the child’s needs. The aim is to secure a permanent, safe, and loving home for the child as soon as possible. If you’re able to speak with the parents, you might ask them to inform their legal representatives of your intentions. They may also be able to tell you who the children’s guardian is, so you can contact them directly as well.

When the court considers applications to become a party to the proceedings, it looks at whether there is a “good arguable case” under Section 10(9) of the Children Act 1989. This includes your relationship with the child, the local authority’s plans, and the child’s overall welfare.

If your application is granted, you’ll have the opportunity to explain to the judge why you believe the negative assessment doesn’t reflect your true position. You can point out that you had a positive viability assessment and that the concerns now being raised (such as the potential risk posed by BP) were already known—or should have been known—earlier in the process. The assessing social worker or their manager should be able to explain why they chose to continue the assessment despite those concerns.
Make it clear to the judge that your grandson is your top priority and that you’re fully committed to doing whatever is needed to support him. If the original assessment was done by a local authority social worker, you can also request a reassessment by an independent social worker. Courts may agree to this if it’s necessary to help resolve the case—not just because it would be preferable.

Finally, I want to encourage you to stay hopeful and continue focusing on clear, factual points—just as you’ve been doing so far.

I hope this is helpful. Please post again if you have further questions. If you would like to speak with an adviser directly, you’re very welcome to call our free and confidential advice line on 0808 801 0366. We’re open Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays) from 9:30am to 3:00pm.
Best wishes
Suzie

[Skills at home]

thank you for your advise.
It was the LA SW who did the assessment and we even have in writing it was concluded positively, however, when it went to the team manager it became negative. They are aware of my daughters history as sadly she was in the care system due to her being very volatile.

We are getting and independent SW to focus on a risk assessment, do you know where I can go to find information on how we can keep our GS emotionally and physically safe if BP was to find out where we lived. This is there biggest concern even though they told us at the start we needed to move to a confidential address.

[Robin D]

I depends if the the BP are prevented by the court from having contact. I have never known that although on two occasions I recollect, contact had to be managed and was never unsupervised. On another occasion I had an angry dad turn up at the door while mum, child and a SW were inside. He threatened me with violence if I did not let him in so a 999 call was made and the police were there in minutes. They tried to talk him down, but he eventually was arrested and taken away. He was then served with an injunction to stay out of our road, and to his credit, never tried it again. Realistically, Children's services should be leading on this. You really need to suggest that you give a written and sworn undertaking that you will not allow any contact unless approved by the LA or the court, and would immediately call the police (You can pre-log your address as high risk). We were never asked to move, yet had some very difficult parents of children we cared for, and I suspect that is an overreaction to the potential risk by an inexperienced social worker. Again in a completely different case as SW wanted to move a child from us as the parent had been told our address by SS! The judge ruled it was a nonsense, likely to damage the child and that they (SS) should manage the situation with the help of teh police if necessary.

There are plenty of legal options in place to stop the sort of behaviour you or they may be concerned about. Otherwise, we would have foster parents moving to new secret addresses every five minutes.

I wish you luck in challenging the decision.

Robin

[Skills at home]

Thanks Robin,

We have gone above and beyond and my daughter knows where the current foster carer lives and never attended that ! We have found a solicitor who said this all seems very odd and will seek an independent SW to do a risk assessment.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Skills at home,

Thank you for your further post. I can see you have had some helpful advice from Robin D who has had personal experience of similar situations.

It is very good to hear that you have found a solicitor who will request an independent social worker to do a risk assessment – hopefully this will help you put forward the strongest case to the court to argue that your grandson would be safe and best off in your care.

As Robin D pointed out, there are legal steps that you can take if the birth parents do find out your address which can keep your grandson (and yourselves) safe – and the police and social services can work together to help you navigate this if necessary.

I hope that this is helpful,

Best wishes,
Suzie

[Skills at home]

thank you both.

We are just waiting to see if we can become part of the parties - nobody is responding to our solicitor - do you know how much time they would have ?

It is also possible that SS have started a transition to foster to adopt people - can they do this ?

[Robin D]

Hi again.

It is normal for parallel planning to take place so that if option A) falls through, they don't have to waste more months, so they work on option B simultaneously.

As for being party, an application can be made directly to the court office. It's likely to be heard at the start of the next hearing. Your solicitor should not have to wait for a response unless they have already submitted the application. If not, they or yourself can complete the form C2 at https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... -be-a-part and submit it to the court. There is a small fee to pay.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Skills at home

Thank you for your update.

Robin has provided you with some helpful information. Subject to your financial situation, you may qualify for reduced court fees. Please see the link HERE for further details.
.
As indicated, children’s services will often parallel plan for children to avoid delays in court if it is decided that a parent or family member cannot care for a child. I have added some further information and guidance HERE which discusses this is fuller detail.

Best wishes, Suzie