I'm in a foster placement with my 11 month old son. Psychologist suggested an SGO but we dont have any potential SGs.
Will he go up for adoption?
Secondly, if I get pregnant during this time then will I be able to keep my second child? I have citizenship in another country, so i'd like to know if I could take free antenatal care from here and then pay (healthcare isnt free where i come from) to give birth and raise my second child in a different country away from social services
Baby 2 and Adoption
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Suzie, FRG Adviser
- Posts: 4996
- Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:57 pm
Re: Baby 2 and Adoption
Dear ecbaylee,
Welcome to the parents forum and thank you for your post.
It sounds like there are care proceedings-which is the process that is used to find out whether you or dad can safely look after your son. If it decided that you cannot look after your son, then the court will decide where else he could live.
Here is our information about care proceedings.
You say that a psychologist has suggested that your son is placed under a Special Guardianship order.
(In the end it will be up to the court to decide where your son will live, after examining all the options. Here is
information about psychological assessments ).
If the court agrees that there should be a SGO, the special guardian will get “enhanced” parental responsibility to make most of the decisions about your son (such as schooling and health decisions) without needing to contact you. But you, as mum will still have parental responsibility for your son.
See our A to Z of terms for more information.
You say you do not have any potential special guardians.
Have you considered all family or friends or “connected” people of both you and dad? This can be people who live locally but also in other parts of the country or other parts of the world including from your home country. If they passed an assessment, they could apply to be special guardians.
It can also include people such a foster carers and others who have connection to your son.
A family group conference could be used to look for people who could care for your son in your network. Check with your solicitor about whether you have time for this option.
If there is no one on in your or dads network who can look after your son, then adoption is usually considered an option for younger children like your son. It is the last resort, only if nothing else will do.
In respect of your second question, if the court decides that your son was not able to remain in your care and made final orders placing him out of your care( such as with a special guardian or made a placement order allowing him to be placed with adopters), then if you became pregnant a second time children’s services would need to undertake a further assessment in relation to your unborn child.
Once children’s services received notification of your pregnancy, they would want to undertake a pre-birth assessment under the pre proceedings stage of the Public Law Outline. This is a stage where the local authority works with you to try to provide adequate support which may assist you in being able to parent your child, whilst also undertaking updated assessments.
The court is not involved because children’s services can only make an application to court once your baby is born.
In terms of your specific question, yes it would be possible to receive antenatal care in this country (and it would be likely that at that stage, a midwife would notify children’s services of your pregnancy), but then travel to another country to give birth and raise your child. As I say, children’s services cannot apply to the court for any orders before your baby is born.
I hope this answers your questions.
Please post again if you need further advice or you could also call our advice line on 0808 801 0366.
Best wishes,
Suzie
Welcome to the parents forum and thank you for your post.
It sounds like there are care proceedings-which is the process that is used to find out whether you or dad can safely look after your son. If it decided that you cannot look after your son, then the court will decide where else he could live.
Here is our information about care proceedings.
You say that a psychologist has suggested that your son is placed under a Special Guardianship order.
(In the end it will be up to the court to decide where your son will live, after examining all the options. Here is
information about psychological assessments ).
If the court agrees that there should be a SGO, the special guardian will get “enhanced” parental responsibility to make most of the decisions about your son (such as schooling and health decisions) without needing to contact you. But you, as mum will still have parental responsibility for your son.
See our A to Z of terms for more information.
You say you do not have any potential special guardians.
Have you considered all family or friends or “connected” people of both you and dad? This can be people who live locally but also in other parts of the country or other parts of the world including from your home country. If they passed an assessment, they could apply to be special guardians.
It can also include people such a foster carers and others who have connection to your son.
A family group conference could be used to look for people who could care for your son in your network. Check with your solicitor about whether you have time for this option.
If there is no one on in your or dads network who can look after your son, then adoption is usually considered an option for younger children like your son. It is the last resort, only if nothing else will do.
In respect of your second question, if the court decides that your son was not able to remain in your care and made final orders placing him out of your care( such as with a special guardian or made a placement order allowing him to be placed with adopters), then if you became pregnant a second time children’s services would need to undertake a further assessment in relation to your unborn child.
Once children’s services received notification of your pregnancy, they would want to undertake a pre-birth assessment under the pre proceedings stage of the Public Law Outline. This is a stage where the local authority works with you to try to provide adequate support which may assist you in being able to parent your child, whilst also undertaking updated assessments.
The court is not involved because children’s services can only make an application to court once your baby is born.
In terms of your specific question, yes it would be possible to receive antenatal care in this country (and it would be likely that at that stage, a midwife would notify children’s services of your pregnancy), but then travel to another country to give birth and raise your child. As I say, children’s services cannot apply to the court for any orders before your baby is born.
I hope this answers your questions.
Please post again if you need further advice or you could also call our advice line on 0808 801 0366.
Best wishes,
Suzie
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QuestionMark
- Posts: 145
- Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2018 5:10 pm
Re: Baby 2 and Adoption
Hi Suzie, sorry I just read "they would want to undertake a pre-birth assessment under the pre proceedings stage of the Public Law Outline. " and I'm a bit stunned - they never did this when I was expecting my son, there wasn't even a birth plan in place when he was born which caused utter panic. Can I complain about this? I feel like the social worker did her best to make things as difficult as possible for me.
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