What happens next? Child In Need

[JulyBabyComing]

I was wondering if anyone could give me any idea of what to expect next?

My daughter and son are both being out on a Child In Need plan. I don’t know when this plan will start but I’ve been told it’ll be with the aim of returning me to unsupervised family time, beginning with a couple of hours and working up to overnight stays over the course of a minimum of 12 weeks.

I’ll been in the second trimester with my new baby during this time, and we’ll be getting an assessment done to get our baby home too. I’m sincerely hoping our baby will come home on a Child In Need plan and that’ll be it all sorted.

Can anyone advise on what to expect? Thank you

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear JulyBabyComing

Thank you for your recent posts. I will reply to both here. It may be easier for you in future to post on one thread so that your queries can be responded to consistently.

I hope that your pregnancy is progressing well. It is understandable that you want the pre-birth assessment to begin. Has the social worker confirmed when this will happen? Please do ask them to clarify this to reduce your worries. You are doing all that you can; the most important thing for you to do is to look after yourself and your unborn baby.

If you feel that you needed some additional emotional support you may find one of the following parenting support services helpful:

Family Line
Family Lives

There is also a charity called Birth Companions which champions specialist support for pregnant mothers. They have produced a charter for women with involvement from children’s social care that you may be interested in.

You are wondering what to expect if a child in need plan is made. It is not possible to predict what will be recommended in a child in need plan, which is a voluntary plan, as this will be specific to the circumstances of the child and family involved. However, it will usually include social work visits at an agreed interval, engagement with the most appropriate services e.g. health visiting, and child in need meetings every six weeks or so to share information and review how the plan is going. This summary explains what should be in a child in need plan. It can include help for a parent or the family if it will improve the child’s safety and wellbeing.

You may find it useful to read our specialist advice materials on child in need here.

I hope this is helpful.

Best wishes

Suzie

[JulyBabyComing]

Thank you so much for your reply, this is all really helpful!

We’ve been told the assessment will start at 16 weeks pregnant, so 3 weeks to go - given we told them of the pregnancy the day we found out, it feels like a long time to wait.

We saw our baby today and they’re doing really well, it’s wonderful getting to see them.

My daughters dads thrown a spanner in the works, so to speak, as he’s now said he doesn’t want my partner around our daughter and as he has a Child Arrangments Orders he’s allowed to make this call. However it is very out of the blue, as he was going to allow myself and my partner to have my daughter for a week over the Christmas period had this not happened and he seems to be basing it on what my ex partner did. The social workers have also said it’s a sudden change of heart and have called it controlling, so I’m hoping they can help us.

I was wondering if you know if it’s likely the baby will be placed on a Child In Need plan, as it’s two older siblings are?

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Julybabycoming,

Thanks for the update. It’s such lovely news that all was well with your baby at your recent appointment.

It’s great to hear that the advice you have received on the forum is helping.

You write that your daughter’s father who has a Child Arrangements Order has recently told you that he does not want your current partner to be around your daughter when she is with you, and that this is a ‘change of heart’.

You also mention that the social workers who are involved with your family may be able to help you resolve this matter. They know your situation and history in more depth so they may be better placed to advise on the best way for you and your daughter’s father to work together in her best interests and whether informal discussion or mediation could address his concerns about your daughter’s safety.

One informal option to consider is a Family Group Conference. A family group conference can be used in any situation where a child and family need additional support. You can read more about this here and decide whether it could be of use to you at this point and if so, discuss it with the social worker.

Should you wish to consider your legal options a Child Arrangements Order is a private law matter so I would advise you to seek specialist advice from Child Law Advice. here b].

Rights of Women have information on access to Legal Aid for private family law matters for people who have experienced domestic abuse. Please follow this link to the relevant web pages Rights of Women

You also ask about whether a Child in Need Plan is likely to be considered for your baby. I again, would advise you to talk with the social worker about this as we can only give general advice. In the meantime you can read more about Child in Need plans here

If you would like any further advice please contact the advice service again. You can:

• Call our freephone helpline on 0808 8010366, Mon to Fri, 9.30 am to 3.00 pm (except bank holidays), to speak to an adviser.
• Send an advice enquiry advice enquiry
• Post a query on our kinship carers’ forum.
• Use our webchat facility web chat facility

Best wishes,
Suzie

[JulyBabyComing]

Thank you again so much for all the advice! We’ll definitely look into this if we feel it’s needed, we’re hoping it can be resolved in the meantime.

We had our first review meeting for the baby this week too, though the assessment doesn’t formally start for another month. They have a rating system where 10 is the best things can be and 0 is the worst. The social worker rated us 3 so far and the midwife gave us 5, and the social worker has assured us that we’re stil really early on in the process and there’s plenty of time for the number to go up - it seems like a good system to have and we haven’t even started the assessment yet so the goal is to get that number as close to 10 as we can as the closer the 10 the better the assessment is going for baby