Dear Blxxdbxby
Welcome to the parents’ discussion board and thank you for your post. My name is Suzie and I am Family Rights Group’s online adviser. I am sorry to hear of the difficulties you and your family have experienced.
Your two daughters live with their paternal grandparents under a Special Guardianship Order (SGO) and have regular contact with you which until recently was every weekend including overnights. This has recently been reduced to once a fortnight , on the advice of the Special Guardianship Support team, as your older daughter was distressed on leaving you and states that she wants to live with you. Your younger daughter, on the other hand, is reluctant to leave the Special Guardians when you pick her up although is fine afterwards.
You have already applied to end the SGO as the grandparents refused mediation. You have made considerable changes in your life including separating from a violent ex-partner and you have maintained very good contact with your daughters. A social worker from CAFCASS has been asked to write a report. You are wondering how the court will decide what is best for the children, bearing in mind that the girls appear to have different views about who they would like to live with.
You don’t state if you have a solicitor helping you with the application or if you are applying yourself as a litigant in person. If you don’t have a solicitor you may wish to speak to
Child Law Advice as they provide advice about private law matters, which this is. We advise on children’s services’ issues.
The social worker appointed by the court is responsible for making recommendations for what is best for the children. You may find this information provided by Child Law Advice on
CAFCASS helpful; it explains more about the role of the CAFCASS social worker and more importantly what they take into consideration when writing reports to assist the court in making decisions. The social worker and the court will always consider the child’s welfare to be the paramount consideration. As part of this they will consider the needs of each of the children, their individual wishes and feelings and also their sibling needs. This will include listening to their views on their current living arrangements and future arrangements. It will be for the court however to decide what is in their best interests, based on their welfare. It will be important for the CAFCASS worker to assess the children’s needs carefully and to let you know what they will recommend to the court. They will also consider the current contact arrangements, how they have been going, recent changes and why.
By taking the matter back to court, your daughters’ circumstances will be reviewed and the court will consider if there needs to be changes made i.e. to end the order or to change the current contact arrangements. Unfortunately, it is not possible to say what the outcome will be and it is not an area that we advise on. Do ask your solicitor if you have one to talk this through with you or discus with a specialist legal advice service, as above.
I hope that the right decision is made for the children and that the changes you have made and sustained are fully recognised as well as your commitment to your daughters.
Best wishes
Suzie
