Family Rights Group | Kinship carers’ Forum

Hello.
I am SGO to my 13 month granddaughter - she was born at 33 weeks and came directly to me when she left hospital at 35 weeks. The whole process was smooth and out social workers were brilliant so when my daughter announced she was 20 weeks pregnant I did not expect there to be any issues - how wrong I was!
When I found out I made an immediate referral to SS a few weeks later we had our initial assessments and then nothing, no contact no meetings just silence. I rang every day as i was worried the baby would come early, my daughter was using both prescription & illegal drugs. I had to make an official complaint for any contact from SS to be made This was last week. The social worker has continually cancelled meetings and a hastily arranged video meeting was made on Monday evening (after the complaint) it was obvious she had no idea about our case or the history and I sent her relevant paperwork and advised her to read through so she knew what was happening.
So my beautiful grandson was born on Tuesday at 34 weeks - hes doing well no signs of withdrawal and the hospital are hoping to discharge him any day. My problem is ss have still not been to court to request an interim care order. I understand that i will need further assessments (even though the last one was completed just before christmas) We were expecting the section 20 to be signed at birth and the care order put in place (I have had to get special permission from the hospital to visit my GS without the parents as there is no legal framework in place) The social worker has not yet met my daughter, she seems to be looking for 'something' that doesn't exist some issue from her childhood that made her turn to drugs, by her own admission she had a great up bringing.
SS have said they will go to court without the section 20 in case my daughter changes her mind about giving up the baby. They seem to be delaying and putting up barriers almost as if they are trying to delay giving me custody. My daughter also has mental health issues and states her anxiety is through the roof because they wont let her sign the baby over.
I am at my wits end. If they don't go to court today my grandson cannot be discharged from hospital into my care. I am terrified they will put him in to foster care and we could lose him ( we were told if my GD went in to foster care last year she would go straight up for adoption).
I'm so angry, I warned them baby would come early - as did the midwife - they can see theres no issue with my assessments, that my GD is thriving yet they seem reluctant to finalise the interim order. Am I missing something? I can't see that this is normal. Is there anything I can do? I just want my GS home so his big sister can meet him and we can be a family.

Dear LadyGg

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

First of all, congratulations on the birth of your baby grandson who was born prematurely. However, I understand that the circumstances surrounding his birth and future plans have been stressful.

As it stands, your daughter is probably the only person with parental responsibility for her baby at present (unless she is married or has already registered the baby’s birth with his father). No court application could be made until the baby was born.

As your grandson is now 3 days old, as you suggest, children’s services can ask his mother to agree to section 20 as a temporary measure and also apply to the family court for an interim care order (ICO) . In an urgent situation, they can apply for an emergency protection order (epo) first. The court decides whether to make the order or not and will also look at what the best options for the baby are. In some situations, this could be a mother and baby placement in foster care or a unit but only if that was safe and, in the baby’s best interest. Of course, if he cannot stay with his mother (or father) then they will look to place him within the family and you are willing and able to care for him, if agreed, which would mean he was also placed with his sister too. If children’s services place the baby with you under a section 20 arrangement or if the court makes an ICO then you would be your grandson’s kinship foster, to begin with.

As you have already been through assessments and special guardianship for your granddaughter you are already aware of the assessment and you have stated very clearly that you are happy for any further assessments to take place, as needed.

You are worried that if the baby did not come to you initially but was placed in unrelated foster care that this would mean he would be adopted. That is not necessarily the case (except in a legal process known as foster for adoption) but it is true that adoption must be considered as a potential permanency plan for a child. However, the court will only make a placement order allowing a child to be placed for adoption as a last resort and 'where nothing else will do’ if it has looked at all of the options that are realistically possible for a child. The law is very clear that children’s services must look at placing a looked after child with wider family, friends and other people already connected with the child who are already approved by children’s services as foster carers, if they cannot be cared for by their parent or a person with PR. Only if none of these are possible, should they look at placing the child in unrelated foster care.

I hope that your daughter has access to legal advice; she is entitled to legal aid when there are going to be care proceedings. She should liaise closely with her solicitor. She can ask for her baby to be placed with you under section 20 if that is what she would like to happen. A solicitor can clarify with children’s services’ legal team what is happening in terms of a court application. As she is the baby’s mother, your daughter must be kept informed and updated about plans for her baby.

The following guides to working with a social worker and working with a solicitor may be useful.

I understand that this situation is causing your daughter a great deal of anxiety and that is not ok for a mother who has just given birth. The charity Birth Companions has published a Birth Charter for women with involvement from children’s social care which emphasises how services should work with mothers in these situations.

It may be helpful for you to see our resources on care proceedings as they explain the court process, the stage involved and how decisions are made. You will need to work with the court timescale.

For now, I would suggest that you send an email to the baby’s social worker and their manager, requesting that they confirm that they will assess you urgently as a kinship foster carer for your grandson so that you can be temporarily approved as a kinship foster carer for him, asking that they tell you when they will do this and asking for an update on court proceedings. Perhaps you are already an approved kinship foster care prior to you becoming a special guardian for your granddaughter. You will not be a party to the proceedings (unless you apply and the court joins you) but of course your daughter will be, so the most important thing is that she is aware of what is happening. You are already in a complaints process so, if necessary, you could contact the Complaints department again too.

You could consider making a court application yourself, if you wanted to apply for PR for your grandson urgently you could seek a temporary Child Arrangements Order (CAO) – but that would be a private law application and if you obtained this you would not be a kinship foster carer and your grandson would not be Looked After meaning you would not get support including a fostering or later SGO allowance if you became a special guardian. It is usually best for kinship carers if they are treated as foster carers and the child as Looked After first so that they are entitled to support including financial support.

I hope this helps. Please post back or contact the advice service via one of the following routes, for further advice:

Call our freephone advice helpline on 0808 8010366, Mon to Fri, 9.30 am to 3.00 pm.

Use our webchat facility.

Send an advice enquiry .

With best wishes

Suzie