Fight Social Services for Sibling

[Saze]

We adopted siblings earlier this year.

When we found out about them we knew there was a 3rd sibling going through court proceedings and at the time social services pretty much guaranteed us that the 3rd sibling would come to us at a later date.

After placement of the initial 2 social services started to change their story. Our eldest had a lot of undisclosed behaviour challenges when he first came home but we have worked super hard and he is now a different kid. Because of his initial challenges social services are saying that we can't have the 3rd sibling despite telling us yes twice then going back on their word.

We go to visit the younger sibling in foster care and it is clear there is a bond between them.

Our solicitor has written to social services saying we want to be assessed and they still refuse. We believe our next step is to apply to the court for a non agency adoption citing the fact we have the siblings and we are now their legal parents as the adoption order is complete.

To top it off I have an email that social services sent to birth mum stating that they had found a family for the older 2 and that we wanted the 3rd sibling too, birth mum replied saying this is what she wanted for them. Surely this would help our fight too?

How difficult will it be to beat social services in court and be able to adopt the 3rd sibling?

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

We adopted siblings earlier this year.

When we found out about them we knew there was a 3rd sibling going through court proceedings and at the time social services pretty much guaranteed us that the 3rd sibling would come to us at a later date.

After placement of the initial 2 social services started to change their story. Our eldest had a lot of undisclosed behaviour challenges when he first came home but we have worked super hard and he is now a different kid. Because of his initial challenges social services are saying that we can't have the 3rd sibling despite telling us yes twice then going back on their word.

We go to visit the younger sibling in foster care and it is clear there is a bond between them.

Our solicitor has written to social services saying we want to be assessed and they still refuse. We believe our next step is to apply to the court for a non agency adoption citing the fact we have the siblings and we are now their legal parents as the adoption order is complete.

To top it off I have an email that social services sent to birth mum stating that they had found a family for the older 2 and that we wanted the 3rd sibling too, birth mum replied saying this is what she wanted for them. Surely this would help our fight too?

How difficult will it be to beat social services in court and be able to adopt the 3rd sibling?

Dear Saze,

Thank you for your post and welcome to the kinship carers’ forum. I am Suzie, an online adviser for Family Rights Group responding to you today.

I am sorry to hear about the challenges you are facing in requesting an assessment as potential adoptive parents for the infant sibling of your two adopted children.

You explain that the baby is living with foster carers and it is likely that care proceedings are ongoing.

At the start of care proceedings the family court appoint an independent social worker – the children’s guardian – whose role is to independently assess the options for the child’s long-term care and make recommendations to the court. You can read more about the children’s guardian here.

You can read detailed information about care proceedings here.

I would advise that you make contact with the children’s guardian as soon as possible so that they are aware of your offer of care and can include this in their analysis of the best outcome for the baby. It may help your argument to read through relevant research on the benefit to adopted children of growing up with siblings. You can read an article on this subject from British Journal of Social Work hereb].

Pac-uk are a support agency for anybody affected by adoption issues and they may well be able to help you think things through and make your best case to adopt the third child.
You can link to their website here.

It would also be useful for you (or your solicitor) to make contact with the birth mother’s solicitor to ensure that they are aware of the mother’s wish that her child is adopted with their siblings if the court decides that her child cannot be cared for safely by either parent.

As the baby is a currently a looked after child, they will an allocated social worker who is responsible for writing and implementing a care plan. When a child is in care – an independent reviewing officer reviews their care plan. You could speak to the independent reviewing officer about your view as to what is in the best interests of the child and how frequent contact with yourselves and siblings should be maintained. You can read more about the role of the independent reviewing officer here.
The duties of children’s services to children in care under a court order are described here.

Ultimately, it is the court that makes the decision on what is best for the child in care proceedings. If after following the above steps you feel that there is more that needs to be put before the court before a decision is made you could possibly seek leave to become party to proceedings. You can read more about this here. You mention that you have a solicitor and you should discuss this with them. This is general information only.
I hope this is helpful.

There are many different ways to contact Family Rights Group if you seek further advice in the future:

• A free telephone advice line open Monday to Friday between 9.30am and 3pm (excluding Bank Holidays) on 0808 801 0366
• Easy-to-follow online information. Features include an A-Z, FAQs, films, ‘top tips’ and legal advice sheets;
• A webchat service where you can message an adviser online, who will help you find information and advice to support you.
Submitting an email enquiry via the here
• to receive a response within 5 working days

Best wishes,
Suzie

[Saze]

Thank you for your response.

Our boys had the same social worker and IRO as the sibling and if I'm honest they were useless, they didn't know important things about our boys or do work with them to prepare for adoption.

The court proceedings for sibling are finalised and he has a placement order, he has had a placement order since December 2024.

I contacted PAC UK a few months ago and they couldn't help and neither could CAFCAS.

Is there a way to get an independent social worker to assess what is best for the children?

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Saze,

Thankyou for clarifying that a placement order was made in December 2024. Unfortunately now that court proceedings have finished this does limit your options. This is because although the court has agreed that the youngest child should be placed with an adoptive family it is now up to the local authority to determine who is best to place the child with.

I would suggest that the person best placed to give you advice is the solicitor who represented you during the proceedings for your older children. You should ask them for clarity about whether you can make an application to court for a non-agency adoption, and ask them to contact the local authority again citing your wish to be assessed and why you believe that this would be in the best interests of the youngest child. In answer to your question about whether there is any way to get an independent social worker to carry out an assessment - as far as I am aware there is no obligation for the local authority to agree to this, so again the best person to advise as to how best to push for this (given your particular circumstances) would be your solicitor.

You can also consider making a formal complaint (which needs to be sent directly to the complaints team) about the fact that the local authority are refusing even to assess you. If they have given you a reason in writing as to why they are refusing to carry out an assessment then you should challenge this explicitly. You could also point out that legislation in many places, such as the Children Act 1989, requires local authorities to accommodate children together when it is 'reasonably practical', and that it is often considered good practice to keep siblings together to provide them with a strong, shared support system. We have information on our website about how to escalate complaints HERE, including taking your complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman. Finally, you could consider approaching your MP or local councillors and ask them to support you by contacting the local authority on your behalf, or make a complaint to the Secretary of State for Education. You can find more advice about doing so HERE.

I hope that this is some help.

Best wishes,
Suzie