March 23 the LA changed the care plans to reunification of all 5 children to my care (3 children home May 29, 2 home July 24) all other parties supported this.
The transition started and my contact went to supported (supervisor there at start and end), I was due to go to unsupervised after 2 weeks.
March 23rd I informed the LA I was pregnant again (unplanned), they stopped the transition and put me straight back onto fully supervised contact. This was opposed by all other parties (including the children’s guardian). The LA refused to budge and wouldn’t respond to anyone’s emails about it so the guardian put in for an urgent court hearing.
We went to court end of March, court was very hectic and no clear instructions were given by the judge. The LA’s solicitor was asked why they were satisfied that I could still be ‘trusted’ to have my children home but could not ‘trust’ me to have unsupervised contact but she could not give an answer (literally said I don’t know) The only thing we were given was that our original psychologist (the one who did the psychological assessment) was to become back involved and have an input over the transition plan. She said she could become involved middle April and have her ‘report’ done by the middle of May.
My solicitor & the guardian come away from court under the impression that the judge did not support the transition stopping. The LA have not responded to a single email from anyone since court. This could be because our social worker has been on annual leave for the past month (due back Tuesday) but surely his boss can advise the solicitor on what to respond.
The judge also banned the LA’s junior SW from working with my children as she is not qualified, she was quickly put on annual leave also. I do not believe the LA have changed the care plans and are still aiming to reunify although I think if they did the guardian would oppose this as would all other parties.
We were due to return to court middle April and although my solicitor is still under the impression this will happen I believe it is likely we will not return to court until after the psychologist has filed.
The DBIT (transition) team are still involved and continuing their work although it is limited what work they can do as we are not currently transitioning.
Now the bit I am majorly worried about is I believe my mum (MGM) is trying/hoping to get my 3 oldest children over me. She has made comments about if they go to her she will never have to work again as she will be ‘paid’ foster carer rates. She is under the impression that she will get £700 per child per week and this is her reason for doing it not because she actually ‘wants’ my children. She does not care that the younger 2 could be put up for adoption.
What are her chances of getting my children over me?
Although she has a 4 bed house she still has 2 adult children living there and the only ‘spare’ bedroom is a tiny box room which currently has a huge tortoise enclosure covering half the room and the other half is my sisters office.
If my children come home my oldest has her own room and my younger 4 share a really big room (2 sets of bunk beds in there but plenty of room to play still) I am in the box room.
I plan to hopefully move at some point but if I don’t find anywhere big enough I eventually plan to move to the front room and give the box room to my youngest (only boy). If baby is a girl I will move my 2 oldest in together and have the 2 younger girls together with baby (once it’s old enough) or in with my son if it’s a boy.
Would a judge favour my mum over returning my children to me?
