social services have taken my baby.

[bubtub]

Please help. My little boy was born 10 weeks early. He is now 7 months old. He was diagnosed with GORD Reflux at 3 weeks old. Due to this he has been in and out of hospital most of his life. We were jn hospital a few weeks ago and we were called into see the doctor. Next thing we know there were police and social workers in the room. They told us that we had made up out babies illness and that he was going to be put on a section 20. He is now in foster care. We have doctors reports stating that our little biy is sick and cannot understand why one doctor can over rule a whole hospital. Please help us.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear bubtub,

I am sorry to hear about the difficult time you and your family are having and that your baby is now accommodated (section 20 ) in foster care . It must be very worrying time for you.

You say children services (social services) are worried that you or your partner may be making up your baby’s symptoms. However, you say that your baby has a diagnosis of GORD reflux.

Do you have a solicitor acting for you? If not, please consider getting one as soon as possible. A solicitor will be able to advise you about the accommodation of your baby.
The Law Society has a list of solicitors in your area. It is best to have a solicitor who specialises in children law and who are also accredited by the law society.law society-find a solicitor

Child protection
When there are differences in medical evidence, it can make the investigation more complex. Ask the social worker about anything that you do not understand.
Please see our advice sheet about child protection . It sets out the child protection process. Page 5 and 6 sets out what happens when children services believe that a child may be at immediate risk of suffering serious harm-which is what has happened in your situation.

Accommodation
You do not say whether you are mother or father. If you are mother then you will automatically have parental responsibility. If you are father-you will have parental responsibility if you are married to mother or have signed your baby’s birth certificate. For other ways to have parential resopobnsibilty please have a look at
parental responsibility
With parental responsibility you can make all the decisions about your baby. So you can consent to your baby remaining in foster care while children services carry out a child protection investigation.
If you did not consent to your baby staying in foster care, then children services would have to consider seeking a court order giving them parental responsibility to prevent you removing your baby from foster care or ask the police to issue a police protection-which entitled them to keep your baby in foster care for72 hours.
Were you advised that court proceedings would be issued if you did not agree to your baby going into foster care?
Solicitors will be able to advice you whether children services have grounds to take court proceedings.
In the meantime, please consider the following:
• Read our advice sheet which sets out the duties towards children in the care system Duties to children in the care system
• Ask how long children services expect their investigation to take?
• Ask the social worker what can you do to make it quicker for your baby to be returned to live with you?
• Is there any family member (such as grandparent, aunt or uncle) or friend who could be assessed by children services to care for your baby instead of stranger foster care?

I am glad that you are cooperating with the investigation and I hope that it will be over soon. Please do consider finding a solicitor, if you have not already got one.

Please post back or you could also call our free and confidential advice line for more advice and support on 0808 801 0366.

Best wishes,
Suzie