In a tricky situation

[Colegee41]

Me,my son and my fiance are currently living in a residential family unit,due to concerns about our sons care,because at 11 days old he suffered a fractured collarbone. And it was thought to be potentially non accidental by the doctor we saw at the hospital. The assesment has gone positively and it has become clear that whatever happened to our son wasnt done out of malice by myself or my partner. Before we came to live at the assessment we were living with my partners mother and due to me bringing up the fact that she had unsupervised care of our child leading up to his injury,she kicked me out. We are coming to the end of the assesment now and we are hoping to leave together as a family. The problem is we have nowhere to go. I co own a property with my sister but going back there is not approved because of her criminal conviction and drug use. My sister cant move out because she is bailed to our address. The social services have offered to help out with rent for 6 months whilst my partner looks for a job. We have been to citizens advice and the council and they have said to apply for homelessness. I have enquired via various estate agents to find if they have anything suitable and most wont accept people on benefits with children. I am so scared we are going to lose our son because we cant get accomadation in time. We also have upcoming court dates to decide whether we can keep our son in the long term.We have a meeting with our social worker tomorrow so hopefully some thing might come of that. So my question is has anyone else been in this kind of situation before? How did you cope?

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Colegee41

Welcome to the parents’ discussion forum. Thank you for your post.

My name is Suzie online adviser at Family Rights Group. I am sorry that you did not received a response to your post sooner.

It is really good that you believe your assessment with your partner at the residential unit has been positive.

You are worried about obtaining accommodation so that you can move as a family because you are not able to return to your partner’s mother’s home nor the home you own with your sister because she has been bailed to this address. Have you considered asking your sister to have her bail conditions changed? This is something that her solicitor can ask the court to do. Is there somewhere else, even a bail hostel that she could stay pending her trial? Is the property a tenancy or did you and your sister purchase the property? If you own the property then I am not sure you can say that you are homeless simply because she is bailed to the address. However, if you have been advised to apply as homeless then you may have to consider this course. If you are accepted as homeless and have your child, you could be considered a priority for housing.

If children’s services is willing to help with rent payments perhaps the social worker could write a letter which you can take to an estate agent to show that they will be responsible for your rent for the 6 months.

It is not clear from your post what stage the care proceedings are at now. Please read advice sheet Care (and related) proceedings.

If the decision is for your son to be in your care I think it likely the children’s services will be willing to help you secure accommodation. Perhaps they can do a letter of support to the local authority housing department.

You may find it helpful to speak with Shelter 0808 800 4444 about your housing situation.

Should you wish to speak to an adviser you can telephone our advice line on 0808 801 0366. The advice line is open from 9.30am to 3pm Monday to Friday.

I hope this helps.

Best wishes

Suzie