First assessment

[F4321111]

My great niece is due to enter the world on Friday,

Myself and my wife offered to foster her as her parents are not able to. We did the telephone assessment answered the questions.

We have been rejected due to concerns about my step-son. Basically when he was about ten he was questioned by police in relation to an allegation by my niece (not the babies mum) that he sexually assaulted her. He was never charged with any crime and was cleared and even provided his clothes as evidence to prove he did not do this. Years later now at 21 they have brought this up. We did not mention it because actually we had forgot about it as it was something that was cleared up years ago. They have also mentioned that we reported him having mental health issues when he was younger as he struggled at school. Now he is 21 and works full-time and I have no idea why this is an issue now especially as he would never be alone with baby anyway as he always worked and has told us he is happy for us to offer this baby a chance of having loving parents but he doesn't want to get actively involved himself. I don't get how things when he was a young child over 10 years ago is affecting application now.

[F4321111]

Hi everyone, I’m hoping for some guidance and support regarding XXX Children’s Services.

We are trying to be considered as kinship carers, and today is an incredibly emotional day because the baby is being born. Despite this, we have had no contact at all from XXX Children’s Services since Tuesday. We have emailed, called, and sent messages, but everything has been ignored. It’s extremely distressing to be left in silence at such a critical moment.

Our viability assessment was done very quickly over the phone, and we were not asked any of the questions relating to the concerns they later used to reject us. We feel the decision was rushed, unfair, and based on incomplete information. We are trying to challenge this, but it’s impossible when nobody will speak to us or even acknowledge our messages.

We have formally requested:

a Senior Team Manager review of the viability decision

confirmation that we are recorded as potential kinship carers

information about court dates or legal proceedings

a Subject Access Request for the recording and notes from the assessment

But we are being ignored, and with the baby arriving today, the lack of communication is heartbreaking. We feel shut out of a process that should be transparent and centred around the child’s best interests.

If anyone has experience with XXX Children’s Services, or has been through something similar, I would really appreciate any advice on how to get them to respond or take a challenge seriously. This situation is incredibly stressful, and we just want to make sure the baby is safe and that family options are properly considered.

Thank you for reading.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear F4321111

Welcome to Family Rights Group kinship carers’ forum and thank you for your post.
My name is Suzie, online adviser at Family Rights Group and I will be responding to your post today.

I am sorry to see that you have had a negative outcome to a telephone assessment with children’s services. You and your wife put yourselves forward to care for your great niece but, due to previous allegations of sexual assault against your stepson, who was 10 years old at the time, and a mention of previous mental health issues also as a child you have been ruled out as possible carers for your great niece. Your stepson is now 21 years old.

As you have received a negative assessment, I think you should inform the social worker that you wish to challenge the assessment. An initial or viability assessment of family should be done properly. Here is our best practice guide approved by President of the Family Division which you can use to challenge the assessment and its outcome.

I think it is important for you to understand that although there was no criminal charge brought against your stepson, perhaps due to lack of sufficient evidence, the police and children’s services are concerned about different things. The police require evidence which would lead to a successful prosecution based on the criminal test ‘without reasonable doubt’. Children’s services’ concern is safeguarding, and the civil test is ‘on the balance of probabilities’ so, is it more likely to have happened than not. Children’s services usually continue to be involved even where the police have taken no further action on a matter.

It is unfortunate you failed to disclose the allegation to the social worker at the time but, as you say, you forgot about and if no specific question was asked this is understandable. Did your stepson give his consent to a police check? Children’s services would normally want to check all adults who would be in the home. Does your stepson have any diagnosed or ongoing mental health challenges now? If he has, is he engaging with mental health services and if needed, medication compliant? These issues would be relevant to children’s services when considering a child living in a household. Mental health challenges if managed is not a reason to say a child cannot live in a home. Any allegation of sexual abuse would be a concern for children’s services but sometimes a safety plan can be put in or a risk assessment carried out.

The best interest of the child is children’s services concern but at the same time they should consider any support that can be offered to help a child remain within their family network.

Here is a link to template letters on our website and you can use template letter 3 to challenge the negative assessment. Do amend the letter to suit your circumstances before sending it.
It is not clear from your post if children’s services intend to apply to the court for a care order as soon as your great niece is born or the reason your niece or the father is unable to care. Here is information about care proceedings .

You may also find information related to kinship care and becoming a kinship foster carer helpful.

You can post on the forum again if you have more questions, or if you wish, speak with one of our experienced advisers, you can telephone our advice service on 0808 801 0366. The advice line is open from 9.330am to 3.00pm Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays).

Hope this is useful.

Best wishes

Suzie

[F4321111]

Hello,

Children services were never involved during the time where my step-son faced this allegation. There was no evidence at all. My step-son fully co-operated with the police and even gave his clothes to be tested. There was no evidence at all. He never had any record previous or since. He has never been arrested and poses zero safeguarding risk. I have also tried and failed still to contact social services and now they are on about putting baby into foster care for 6 weeks without even giving us opportunity to challenge this joke of a decision

[F4321111]

1. Opening statement
“I need to raise a serious procedural concern about how our viability and placement decision were handled.”

2. The reassessment failure
“I requested an urgent reassessment on Tuesday.
On Wednesday I received a reply saying the legal team advised that all we could do was appeal because proceedings had not started yet.
That information was incorrect, because reassessment and Regulation 24 can be considered at any time before or after proceedings.
I emailed again on Thursday and again on Friday, and received no further reply.”

3. The callback failure
“On Friday I phoned and was told it could be Tuesday before a Team Manager callback, but I made it clear I needed it urgently.
Despite that, no callback happened.”

4. The continuity failure
“The social worker then went on annual leave without responding, and no duty worker or manager contacted me.”

5. The Regulation 24 failure
“I have now requested Regulation 24.
This request has also been ignored.
Regulation 24 is an emergency power that must be escalated to a manager immediately.”

6. The placement failure
“Because my reassessment request, the incorrect legal advice, my Regulation 24 request, and the promised manager callback were all ignored, the baby was placed with a foster carer before Tuesday — without giving me or my wife written reasons, without allowing us to respond, and without considering us for temporary kinship care.”

7. The hospital contact failure
“We were prevented from meeting her in hospital.
It would have only been me and my wife.
There was no safeguarding reason given, and we were not provided with any written decision explaining why.”

8. The flawed reasons given over the phone
“The reasons given to us over the phone were my stepson’s allegation when he was 9, and his mental health struggles during high school.
Neither of these are acceptable grounds for rejection:
• He was a child himself at the time, the allegation was unsubstantiated, he was never charged, Children’s Services were not involved, and there has been no pattern of behaviour in the 11 years since.
• His teenage mental health issues were historic, resolved, and do not reflect his adult functioning now.
We were not given any opportunity to explain or provide context before being rejected.”

9. The procedural breach
“We understand we were explored as family options and rejected.
The issue is that we were not given written reasons before the placement decision was made.
This removed our ability to challenge the decision, clarify concerns, or request Regulation 24 before she was placed with strangers.”

10. Your requests (clear and firm)
“I am formally requesting three things today:

The written reasons for the viability decision.

An urgent reassessment.

Immediate consideration under Regulation 24.”

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear F4321111

Suzie (FRG Adviser) here, thank you for your further update. I note you seem to post about your situation under different headings (there is another thread under the heading "Viability Screening", which we have also responded to.

We appreciate that this is a very difficult time for your family and you have outlined the distress that it is causing you. In relation to your post about viability screening can I refer you to our response to you which included information about challenging the assessment.

Above, you have now posted what seems to be your proposed response to the local authority. If you have not already sent your message to them, may I suggest you reconstruct it to use ‘softer’ or less demanding language or use our template letter and our guide (again see our previous response) to request the response you ‘request/ ask for’.

At this stage the local authority is unable to make any definitive decisions: the child is newborn and the mother (and father) will need to consent to any decision, or the local authority will need an interim order.

Best wishes
Suzie
Family Rights Group Adviser