assessment, social services help please

[bevjane]

my 22 year old daughter has mental health issues, she was diagnosed with anxiety and manic episodes after she had a major breakdown 2 years ago. the breakdown happened at my house and during that time there was an incident with her then 12 year old brother, all criminal charges were dropped as she was deemed to not be responsible for her actions but a consequence of that is that she is deemed a risk to minors.

6 weeks ago she gave birth to a baby girl, while she was pregnant she was having a pre birth assessment with ss. she had to have a c section at 37 wks and baby was small but healthy and she was in hospital for a week. during that time ss were trying to find places for her to go so she could be assessed in her care for baby. they found her a unit to go to in birmingham (we live in norfolk) and she wanted to take baby's dad with her and was allowed to do so. (baby's dad had just come out of prison for assaulting my daughter, not major but still assault.)

off they go to birmingham and completely fluff up the assessment, constant arguing, my daughter 'kicking' off every time something didnt go her way.

we had a meeting on tuesday with ss, just an information meeting i assumed where they asked questions about my daughter that were answered honestly. fast forward to yesterday (thursday) my daughters solicitor told her that they were taking baby as the unit had recommended no further assessment. my daughter was given the option to stay in the falt there without baby until today so they could talk further. she chose to come home as there is a court case today deciding on what will happen and she didnt want to miss it. ss have told her that baby couldnt come to me last night as i didnt have a good word to say about my daughter or her boyfriend, i would control the situation and daughter and boyfriend wouldnt like it. i feel disgusted that this has been said as all questions were answered honestly and surely it shows strength of character to be truthful and not lie? i did text ss who said that she supported me being assessed if it came to it and she would speak further today.

my daughter is very volatile and i feel she bpd but thats never been diagnosed and im not a professional. so telling her that i havent said anything good just sets her off as well as her being heartbroken over being removed from her child.
ss is saying to my daughter that she is going to ask for a mental health assessment to see if she is able to care for her baby, i must add that my daughter was at the unit 2 weeks before she was given any type of medication and not once did she come into contact with a cpn etc, it was all done over the phone by herself.

now obviously i want to care for my grand daughter if my daughter is unable to, but having never been in this situation before i would be grateful for any advice that can be given.

[bevjane]

well we went o court on friday, the crux of it is that my daughter and her boyfriend cannot have a relationship otherwise they will both lose baby. she had him round there the weekend and had to call the police as an argument esculated. police took both details and sent him on his way, so how long is it before sw find this out? will they at all? does that mean they may now say no further assessment on either as youve been in the 'real' world for 3 days and already police are involved?

i find out this morning that boyfriends sister has put herself forward to care for baby, she hasnt seen the boyfriend (her brother) for nearly 4 years and has only had sparse contact in that time. sw said that anyone put forward has to be assessed but she lives in ibiza!!!!!

anyone?????????????????????

[David Roth]

Hi bevjane, and welcome to the family and friends carers discussion forum.

It sounds as though some very key decisions about this new baby's future are being made in the most fraught and emotional of circumstances, with everyone's feelings running very high. If your daughter is bi-polar, all this excitement and anxiety can't be helping her.

Am I correct in understanding that your daughter's normal place of residence is with you, and that she has returned to live with you following the parent & baby unit placement? If this is the case, the local authority may have had understandable concerns about how you would manage your daughter's feelings and possible mental health issues at the same time as caring for the baby. Has the baby gone into foster care in the meantime?

When the baby became 'looked after', if she couldn't stay with her parents, then the first placement the local authority are legally obliged to consider is with family and friends, but they have to be sure it would be safe. If there are going to be care proceedings, however, then if you want to be considered as potential carers for the baby then you have to make sure you put yourselves forward as forcefully as possible, particularly if you think that the local authority don't want to consider you. You could put your wish to raise the baby in writing to the social worker and her/his managers: you could even consider becoming joined as a party to the proceedings, on the grounds that you are pottential carers for the baby. If you decide you want to go for this option, it is best to just do it without letting the local authority know, as they do often oppose family and friends from becoming parties.

With regard to the auntie in Ibiza, you could suggest that rather than carrying out assessments of everyone who puts themselves forward, the local authority could save themselves some work by organising a Family Group Conference. This is a family meeting where the family are in control: social workers attend part of the meeting but then withdraw so the family can meet on their own. The family come up with their own solutions for meeting the social services' concerns. If they want the auntie in Ibiza to be considered, they could pay the fares for her to attend. The family as a whole could then consider whether this was really a feasible solution.

[bevjane]

hi david and thanks for your reply

my daughter has her own flat that is semi supported, that means that she has regular meetings with her housing support officers, she has a cpn that comes to see her once a week.
her social worker has said that she supports me being assessed for ;long term care but wouldnt put forward for short term as the baby's father objects. when we go to court on thursday, my daughters solicitor has said that if a placement cant be found for my daughter to be assessed he will want me to speak in court about looking after baby instead of her being fostered. we will hear the sw report on thursday too.

now apparently my daughter could have taken baby back to her flat but because the police were involved as my daughter was kicking off the police decided it wasnt safe to let baby go with her, and if that would have happened baby would have come into my care. i dont understand any of this, ive never had to deal with anything like this before!

i spoke to sw boss last week who explained that if i was to be assessed and successful for having baby all contact with the parents would be through a contact centre as its hard for parents to judge their own childrens parenting. she also told me to speak to the guardian and put myself forward, i did try to speak to the guardian but was told by her that it was too early yet?

as for the baby's auntie coming forward.....babys father has had little or no contact with his family for years. his mother wont put herself forward to care for baby as she doesnt want social services 'digging and finding things out', i have know this man for a long time and the only reason for his sister coming forward is because he thinks that if she gets care he can move out to spain and live with his child!

how would i propose myself becoming party to the proceedings?

[David Roth]

Hi bevjane

I'm very surprised at the guardian telling you that you put yourself forward too early. Under the Public Law Outline, which provides the timetable that most family courts are now working to for care proceedings, it is expected that local authorities will identify and assess potential family and friends carers for a child before Day 1 of the Care Proceedings. It is also expected that a Family Group Conference (which I described previously) will be offered at the pre-proceedings stage. Once the proceedings have begun, any interested family and friends carers who have not put themselves forward by Day 12 of the proceedings (when there is the Case Management Hearing) are at severe risk of missing out altogether.

I am also surprised at the manager telling you to contact the guardian about this, as it is actually the local authority's job to assess you. This is made clear in the Public Law Outline, and I would suggest going back to the manager to ask to be assessed in line with the PLO. You can see the Ministry of Justice's own flowchart for the care proceedings timetable here: http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/pro ... wchart.pdf

If you would like to be joined as a party to the proceedings, I would suggest making contact with the clerk of the court where this is taking place. They are usually very helpful to people who are not familiar with the law and its processes. The advantage of being a party is that you are able to attend all the court proceedings and see exactly what is happening, and you are given the court 'bundle', ie the many documents that are submitted to the court as evidence in the case, usually several lever arch files. You are able to be legally represented at the proceedings, or to represent yourself if you do not qualify for legal aid or cannot afford to be represented. The rules about who qualifies for legal aid have been tightened recently, but it may still be possible that you could qualify. There is a means and merit test, but if you pass those you may qualify if you are a family and friends carer applying to raise a child where a history of abuse can be demonstrated.

You say you were told that if it was agreed for you to raise the baby, then all contact with parents would be at a contact centre. Contact can be one of the most difficult issues for family and friends carers, as it can mean having to stand up to, and get into conflict with, some of your own nearest and dearest. If your child poses a threat to her own child, then you have to be able to put grandchild ahead of parent, and the local authority has to be convinced that you will do this and keep the child safe. A lot of family and friends carers using this forum have to handle very fraught contact arrangements in their own homes without any support, and have their requests for contact centre places turned down. If you are able to start the placement with the use of a contact centre, and then perhaps move away from that arrangement if it is no longer needed, then that might be for the best.

[bevjane]

hi david
i think she may have said its too early as its been agreed that this week all efforts are made for a placement where my daughter can be assessed with some mental health back up with her baby, and that they will get to who is being assessed this week if a placement hasnt been found. i will certainly ring sw boss tomorrow to speak about this. i do have sw mobile number but she never answers her phone or gets back to you only ver occasionally by text message. i will write on here what happens in court on thursday. thank you

[bevjane]

just spoken to sw boss who says yes i should have been put forward already as that needs to run parallel she said she will get sw to ring me to discuss.

[David Roth]

Excellent! I hope you hear from the social worker soon.

[bevjane]

ive spoken to sw who says that they are aware i want to be assessed and she should 'get on with that'. i also spoke to her about me seeing baby and she said yes she doesnt have a problem with that and i will be able to go when my daughter goes. she doesnt recommend that baby comes into my care until both parents have been ruled out as carers due to the strong possibility of the parents turning up unannounced on my door. i do agree with this as i feel that my daughter and the boyfriend would both do this, but still feel that shouldnt be an obstacle as to me caring for baby? maybe they should put something in place if thats the case? i also feel that if baby were to come to me long term she wouldnt know me at all and this would be very unsettling for her.

i also spoke about the auntie in ibiza who has come forward, and sw will look into it but while there is family here wanting to be assessed then that wouldnt be a priority.

[bevjane]

i did say i didnt want to take my daughters time with her baby but sw said that research proves it unsettles baby? didnt really understand that point but i will speak more about that tomorrow as im not the one on trial and there is no reason why i shouldnt see my granddaughter. i have already said to sw that if either parent turned up outside there allocated time i wouldnt open the door etc but she obviously feels that thats not manageable so...