Urgent Query on SGO legalities after death of birth mother

[Sisan]

Hi,
I would like to keep this as unpersonal as possible for privacy reasons so forgive me if I sound a bit off.

I have an SGO for my youngest who is related to me. I have recently found out that his birth mother has passed away. Of course this is a very sad event. There was no contact between the parents and the child, none was ever attempted.

We are on good terms with birth mothers family, and see them regularly. Of course this news has been hard on them, however they had no contact with their daughter for a long time.

My question is, does the death of the birth mother affect any of my rights as a special Guardian?

Can birth mothers parents make a claim for the child in my care now that she has passed away? (Child has been in my care since birth with an SGO)

Would I be right in thinking once things have calmed down this would be the right time to look into adoption, as birth fathers whereabouts are unknown. And does anyone know what the legal costs of this is?

I have been so overwhelmed and anxious since this happened, I'd hate to think that they would want to take the child away from me as we have been a great team, but I would like to know my rights if it is a possibility.

Thank you

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Sisan

Welcome to the parents’ discussion board. Thank you for your post. My name is Suzie. I am Family Rights Group’s online adviser.

I am sorry to hear about the death of the mother of the child you are caring for under a Special Guardianship Order(SGO). Please accept my condolences.

If you need advice or help supporting the child following this bereavement the following services may be able to help:

• Child Bereavement UK
• Young Mind’s Guide to Grief and Loss
• Your Special Guardianship Support Team

I will reply to your query here on the parent’s forum today. However, if you have any further queries, as a Special Guardian, please post on our specialist Family and Friends Carers’ forum. On that forum, you may also be offered advice from kinship carers like you, as well as from me.

You are worried that the death of the child’s mother may impact on the SGO or mean that the maternal family could now seek to care for him.

Just to clarify, the child’s mother’s parental responsibility ended on her death. It does not transfer to her family in any way nor give them any new claim to care for the child. The SGO lasts until the child is 18 unless it is ended by a court sooner. From what you say, the child’s father is not involved. You do not say if he has parental responsibility but if he wanted to care for the child he would have to get the court’s permission first to apply the SGO. He would also have to show a significant change in circumstances since the order was made. As the child has been in your care since birth it is very unlikely that a court would think it was in his best interests to move from your care to be placed with his father.

It is possible for you to consider applying to adopt the child. However, this is unlikely to be necessary as you already have an order giving you almost exclusive parental responsibility for the child until he is 18. Also the court has a no order principle so will only make a court order where one is necessary. If you were to apply to adopt the child’s father would need to be involved.

We do not advise on non-agency adoptions. However, if you want to explore this further you can get advice on this from Child Law Advice.

No-one can take the child away from you, against your wishes, without a court order. The only exception to this, in very specific circumstances is police protection .The mother’s death has not changed your legal position.

I hope this is helpful.

If you have any queries about children’s services then please contact the advice service by :

• Posting on our kinship carers’ forum,
• Calling our freephone advice line on 0808 801036 (Mon to Fri, 9.30 am to 3.00 pm)
• Using our webchat facility, or
• Making an advice enquiry .

Best wishes

Suzie