Placement with parent assessment

[A123]

Not posted for a while but in 2019 an adoption order was granted on my youngest born 2018, well fast-forward to last year and I had a placement with parents assessment for my 2nd child and passed no concerns about my parenting ability and he has suspected autism and is in a special unit in school so all the concerns that were used in 2020 when I tried to oppose the adopter have gone (different LA) my overnights are starting this month in my sons children's home he's been there 2.5 years and he's only 9 then my home from next month, my question is how would a full care order work when he comes home permanently and how long before it can be discharged? Is it a minimum of 12 months if all things are going great.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear A123,

Welcome to the parents' board and thank you for your post.

You say your second child is subject to a care order. Your son has suspected autism and attends a special unit at school. You have undergone an assessment for your son to be placed with you and have passed. You are due to start having overnight stays this month at your son's children's home and then at your home next month. You would like to know how things may look if your son was to return home permanently under a care order and how long before the care order could be discharged.

Firstly, congratulations on your successful parenting assessment - this is great news and I wish you well with your overnight contact with your son. I am not clear from your post whether this assessment also covers your capacity to care for your son permanently, or if it solely covers the possibility of overnight contact.

Your son is currently under a care order, and therefore the local authority has a duty to ensure that he lives somewhere safe. If the local authority have agreed that your son should be reunified with you and that this is in his best interests, this should be reflected in his care and permanency plans. These plans should be reviewed at looked after child reviews. Has a decision been made as to whether your son should return to your care on a full-time basis?

It is certainly possible for a looked after child to live with a parent under a care order. The requirements for this are found in the care planning regulations and are outlined under section 3.73 of the statutory guidance. I will outline the importance steps that should be followed if this is going to happen:

Firstly, before deciding to place the child with his/her parent the responsible authority must assess the suitability of the parent to care for the child. You mentioned you have passed an assessment and therefore this may have already happened.

Secondly, a decision to place the child back with a parent to be approved by a nominated officer of the responsible authority before it is put into effect. Before granting this approval the nominated officer must be satisfied that:
• that the child’s wishes and feelings have been ascertained;
• the assessment as to the suitability of the parent has been carried out
• the placement will safeguard and promote the child’s welfare; and
• the IRO has been consulted.

Following the assessment of the parent’s capacity to meet the child’s needs, the responsible authority must identify and set out in the child’s care plan the services and other support which will be provided to the parent and child to meet the
identified needs. Therefore, if your son is placed with you under a care order, the local authority should continue to fulfil their duties to him as a looked after child.

In many cases, a placement with a parent is part of a plan to discharge a care order. Over time, if this goes well, you and the local authority may agree to apply to discharge the care order. If such agreement can be reached and the court makes an order to discharge of the care order then the child will no longer be looked after.

The law says that an application to discharge a care order can be made by a parent; children's services; the child themselves and anyone with PR. There is no specific timeframe that you will have to wait before making an application but if an application has already been made to discharge a care order in the last six month then the court’s permission is needed before applying again.

When deciding whether to discharge a care order, the court will look at whether there has been a change in circumstances since the care order was made and whether to do so would be in the child's best interests.

I hope you have found this helpful.

Best wishes,

Suzie.

[A123]

Hi Suzie

the assessment is only for overnights atm I'm not sure if the capacity was done as there has never been an issue with my care of my son, and none of the professionals has raised any problems when my contact was supervised, the assessment focused more on meeting his needs in terms of his behaviour as it can be pretty erratic
and will need an addendum report for permanency which will hopefully be completed by the summer as they want him transitioned before his final year in primary school before the big change to comprehensive due to his suspected autism. the assessment has been signed off by the service manager and the social workers' manager we have a CLAR in a week as all this has happened since the last review 6 months ago although the IRO was aware of the assessment.
we had a systems meeting this week and it was all positive about how I've managed challenging situations over Christmas and that my son doesn't have meltdowns or outbursts when I take him back to his home and that it is overall a positive experience for both him and myself.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear A123

Thank you for your updating post. I can see that you have worked very hard and that you have done well in your assessment and in showing that you were able to safely manage challenges that arose over Christmas. I am pleased that the family time you are spending with your son is a positive experience for both of you.

It is good that there is a Looked After Child (LAC) review meeting due to happen (or it may have even happened by now) which will consider the outcome of your assessment and make decisions about how your son’s care plan should move forward. You are already aware that an addendum report needs to be completed to decide on the future care arrangements for you son and you have been given a timescale for this which aims to complement your son’s education needs too.

I hope that my earlier response helped explain what the care plan might look like and the options for bringing a care order to an end. At the LAC review , the Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) should be able to set clear expectations and timescales for progress. If you have any queries, it may be a good idea to write them down in advance and email to the social worker and the IRO so that they can provide clarity at the meeting.

Please do contact us again if you have any queries or to update on the situation.

Best wishes

Suzie