New help

[cornishguy91]

Hello everyone
I've used this forum before many years ago which I found it pretty useful

So the problem I have is my older sister has a 9 month old baby with social services involved
The social services have told her that my mum is an extreme risk to her child and they have told her that if she brings her baby over to our house they'll take her to court and remove the child from her

My mum Has been in a wheel chair for almost 15 years as she is in capable of walking and someone is always home With her

The social services refuse to say why my mum is a high risk or fail to provide any evidence or documents to support there claims
I'm Just wondering if there is any steps we can take To challenge their decisions or anything we can do to prove them wrong


Thanks

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear cornishguy91

My name is Suzie, online adviser at Family Rights Group. It is good to know that you found your previous contact with Family Rights Group useful.

Thank you for your post which is on the parents’ discussion forum but as you are a sibling of the child’s mother suggests the more appropriate forum would be the kinship carers forum. I will, however, respond to your post here but you may wish, should you need to use the kinship forum so posters who may have had a similar experience can share with you.

In your post you say that your sister has been advised by children’s services (the new name for social services) that your mother poses a risk to her 9-month-old baby and she should not take him to the home which you appear share with your mother. You also mention that there is a threat that if your sister fails to follow their recommendation, they will consider the child’s removal from the mother’s care and take the matter to court.

This is a serious step for children’s services to take and suggests that they have received or is aware of a history related to your mother. It is unusual for children’s services not to give an indication of the reason for their concern. It seems there are safeguarding concerns for the child and, for such a very young child, suggests that children’s services may have been involved with your sister prior to the baby’s birth or soon after. It might help to have a conversation with your sister to find out the reason children’s services is involved with her and her baby.

The child’s mother has parental responsibility and usually it would be for her or the father if he has parental responsibility, to decide about contact but with children’s services involvement means they can make recommendations to keep a child safe from risk of harm.

As the concern is directly to do with your mother I suggest she write to the social worker to ask the reason she is unable to see her grandchild even in a supervised setting. Children’s services would normally give an indication of what the concern is even if they are unable to share all information because it may put someone else at risk or for data protection reasons. If the social worker is unable to share with your mother, the reason for their concern then I suggest she take the matter to the Director of Children’s Services or ask for support from her local Member of Parliament (MP).

It seems to me that your mother would be unable to prove something wrong since she is not aware of the reasons for the concern. Unfortunately, until she has an idea of the reason for the alleged risk, it will be difficult to challenge it. She can, however, challenge the unfairness of denying her contact with her grandchild without explaining the reason.

You can read about making complaints to children’s services HERE.

There is nothing in your post to suggest that the child is subject to any plan, that is child in need or child protection and without more specific information it is not possible to give more specific advice.

You can telephone our free confidential advice line if you wish to speak with one of our experienced advisers for more specific advice. The advice line is on 0808 801 0366 and is open from 9.30am to 3.00pm Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays)

Hope this helps

Best wishes

Suzie