Anyone been to a mother and baby assessment unit? What were your experiences on leaving the unit?

[Fluffycat333]

I'm just wondering if my situation is normal. I'm absolutely fuming at the moment, our 12 week parenting assessment finished a few weeks ago and we've had to wait another 3 weeks for housing. Now that we've found housing it feels like the unit can't get rid of us fast enough. They're pushing us to move into the house tomorrow. There's currently no flooring, they can't connect the gas until next Thursday, and furniture delivery isn't until Monday. We've basically been left to move into an empty house with no hot water, heating or cooker for a week, and no fridge until Monday. Not one bit of furniture except the baby's cot, not even a chair to feed him on. I have medication to last until Tuesday so I need to be registered with a GP by then, they didn't even want to wait to allow me to pick up my son's medication from the pharmacy in the morning before we're due to leave.
I'm furious with the way we've been treated. We've spent 12 weeks being treated like children, supervised with everything, and now we're being dropped like a rock. It might sound minor, but I've only ever lived in shared houses before and never had to deal with setting up utilities etc and don't know where to start. Is this experience normal? I can't believe how quick their attitude has changed since we've been cleared to leave.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Fluffycat333

Thank you for your further post. It is good to hear that you will be leaving your residential assessment unit with your little boy as you had a positive parenting assessment. However, clearly from what you say the prospect of moving is quite stressful, there are a lot of practical issues to sort out and you are feeling incredibly unsupported. I can understand that after such intensive involvement with the unit and their staff the way you are being treated now comes as a shock.

Part of the parenting assessment will have included your ability to take care all of your son’s needs including providing a home and taking care of practicalities so it is important to get the balance right between managing independently and getting help. However, in the circumstances you describe you have been given very little time to get everything in place and moving is a particularly stressful experience for most of us, and more difficult when caring for a young baby and coping with assessments and court proceedings. It is reasonable and responsible to ask for some help.

You may have already moved in by now but in case you haven’t or are still trying to sort out some of the issues, here are a few suggestions and points to consider:

If you feel that the accommodation is currently not safe or fit for you and your son you should discuss this with your solicitor and social worker as soon as possible to seek advice.

If it is safe but still needs thing put in place;

• You could ask for a meeting with the manager of the unit to see if they can help coordinate your move better. Explain that you are just asking for some support to make sure that everything is an organised as possible for you to move and to make this a successful experience for your family.
• If you are moving into council or housing association accommodation you could contact the housing officer with any specific issues or queries. They should be able to provide you with details and information about how to address some of the things that need sorting.
• Your son is currently under an interim care order so there should be a coordinated plan with the different agencies involved to support you to care for him safely in the community.
• If you need specific help then talk to your social worker too, if necessary; they need to be satisfied that everything is in place so that your son can be safely cared for at home with you. They should also make sure that you have the right resources to help you care for your son and could consider some help with setting up support if you are on low income.
• Children’s services must identify and set out in your son’s care plan the services and other support which will be provided to you and your child to meet your son’s identified needs.
• The new arrangements for your son to live with you in your own home need to be reflected in his updated care plan and comes under placement with parents regulations.
• All children who are subjects of Interim or Care Orders, placed at home, are reviewed under the Looked After Children system. So you will continue to have LAC reviews for your son. Here is more advice about this.
• Your health visitor may be worth contacting too about help and support for parents in your area.
• Do you know if you are receiving all your entitlements? Turn2Us is a charity which you can contact to clarify this and get additional support and information about this.

I hope this helps a little and that you and your family are able to settle into your new home, continue to work with the professionals involved and hopefully successfully address any additional concerns so that you can safely raise your son.

With best wishes

Suzie