Family Rights Group | Kinship carers’ Forum

Hi everyone.
Buckle in…this is a long one
I am looking for a little bit of advice/reassurance.
My husband and I have a 6 month old granddaughter who we haven’t seen since birth due to having an estranged relationship with our daughter/step daughter.
Daughter become pregnant very young, she lived with her mum who was a drug user. We tried to explain to her about it not being the best time to have a baby etc but she was adamant. No one knew who the babies father was. She was using drugs herself too.
At first she came to live with us so we could help with the pregnancy and the baby but this didn’t last long (it never does) as daughter wanted to hang about with the wrong people, use drugs etc and we wouldn’t allow it.
Relationship subsequently broke down and she went to live back with her mum and then at times with her boyfriend.
Baby was born in November and to our surprise to get a call from daughter asking us to come meet baby! We went right away and she was perfect. We started to get back on track but once again a few days later, completely blocked out of her life!
We since tried to make contact several times through social worker and our daughter.
Daughter and granddaughter were at first placed in a mother and baby unit but this wasn’t working out. Social workers decided to move them in with a ‘friend’ who was actually the parents of the boyfriend during the pregnancy (strange I know) now ex boyfriend. I would like to add this is not the babies father, but the boyfriend during the pregnancy, also to add they broke up just before baby was born.
Boyfriend (18 yrs old) was aggressive, abusive and a drug user. We had many run ins with him and some police reports made against him for threats.
Our daughter and the baby moved in after social workers said they would be recommending placing baby on an interim care order as our daughter wasn’t coping, but court ordered that she and baby move in with this friend who would act as a guardian until assessments took place for long term plans for baby.
I hope this is all making sense so far….
Fast forward a few months, relationship has broken down between daughter and ‘friend’ and daughter was asked to leave, leaving baby under the care of the friend.
Daughter then got back in touch with us asking for help so we stepped in and tried to get her back on her feet (food, GP, housing etc) as she is only 18 and really does have no idea on life and what it takes to be an adult. She has said she would now like us to have contact with baby so we contacted social services and have arranged contact visits and also completed our viability assessment to take care of the baby long term.
We passed this and now have our SGO assessment starting next week.
Until the SGO is complete, it seems baby will stay in the care of friend, which we personally find heartbreaking. This is our granddaughter and she should be with us.
Is there anything that can be done to have her in our care before the SGO is complete?
We were told after our viability assessment that although it was positive there was a limitation as there were a few health related concerns that we didn’t bring up during the assessment but it was also noted that the assessment had to be done very quickly and that when the social worker called everything was explained so it wasn’t as if it was information being ‘hidden’ more that we didn’t even think to talk about it.
We also learnt from our daughter that the ‘friends’ viability assessment was negative and social recommended interim care order but court decided the ‘friend’ was the better option.
Has anyone been in a similar situation or has challenged the viability to get baby in their care immediately?

Hi JE1986 and welcome.

I regret your query is not something I have experience of so am not able to offer any advice, but I am aware that you have not yet had a reply. Suzie, the Family Rights Group advisor generally deals with matters in the order in which they were posted, but has limited time to deal with queries. I just wanted you to know that you are not being ignored but there are not many regular posters and your query is a little unusual.

Best wishes ... Robin

Dear JE1986,

Thank you for your post. Welcome to the Kinship Carers’ forum.

Apologies for the delay in replying to you.

I am Suzie, an online adviser looking at your questions today.
I am sending you a link to information about viability assessments here to help you pursue the discussion about the health concerns that you did not conceal but rather did not realise were relevant.

I am a little confused by some of the details in your post. You say that children’s services were seeking an interim care order for your granddaughter and this was not given - ‘but court ordered that she (your daughter) and baby move in with this friend who would act as a guardian until assessments took place for long term plans for baby.’

A court would only have able to ‘order’ your daughter to live with the parents of her former boyfriend under an interim care order, so I am unclear about your granddaughter’s status as a looked after child.

If an interim care order was in fact made at an earlier stage when the matter was before the court, then care proceedings will still be ongoing but a final hearing has not taken place.

If however, the court rejected the local authority’s application for an interim care order but your grandchild remains a looked after child (in the care of the parents of mother’s former boyfriend) this would have to be under a Section 20 voluntary agreement.

You can read about children in care under voluntary arrangements here.

You can read more about care proceedings here.

If your granddaughter is a looked after child under a S.20 voluntary agreement it is only her parents who have parental responsibility (in law) so your daughter could simply say that she wants her child to come into your care sooner.

If however, there are ongoing care proceedings the matter would be considered by the judge and the children’s guardian. Under an interim care order children’s services share parental responsibility with parents so their view on this would be important. Your daughter could ask her solicitor to address the court and ask that your granddaughter is moved to your care sooner. She could also discuss this with the children’s guardian. A children’s guardian is appointed by the court to make an independent assessment of the child’s best interests. You can read more about their role here.

There are other urgent kinship care options that could be looked at while the special guardianship assessment continues. You can read about kinship care options including kinship foster care here. A child can be placed with a relative as a kinship foster under temporary approval with a full assessment to follow.

As a looked after child (either under an interim care order or a voluntary agreement) your granddaughter will have a care plan that is regularly reviewed by her social worker and an independent reviewing officer so that her best interests are considered.

The request that your granddaughter is moved to your care sooner could be talked about in a review of her care plan. You can read more about looked after child reviews here and the role of the independent reviewing officer is described here.

Your baby granddaughter has had a lot of changes in her young life and considerations of the best time for her to make the transition to your care will need careful discussion by both the professionals involved and her family members. It may be useful for the extended family and friends’ network around to meet to discuss what is best for her and ways they can help. Your daughter could request that this discussion take place via a family group conference. You can read more about family group conference here.

I am also sending you a link to an advice sheet about special guardianship here.

I hope this is helpful. It’s difficult to advise on your question about your granddaughter’s transition to your care without knowing for sure whether she is looked after under a voluntary arrangement or under an interim care order.

You could clarify this issue by posting on this forum again, or you could contact our free telephone advice line open Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 3pm (excluding Bank Holidays), on 0808 801 0366.
You can also send us an email by using the advice enquiry form here.

Best wishes,
Suzie