Appealing a section 47

[Milliemoo20]

Hi everyone

First post here and desperate for help, sure non of us want to be here
I have 2 children ages 8 and 17 months. The 8 year old has very challenging behaviour, I’ve asked the doctors, school and social services for help for the last Two years and don’t seem to be getting anywhere. Long story short when I got to where I felt no one was helping or listening to me I asked social services for a section 20 to get my child seen accessed and helped! After a battle of getting social services to do a section 20 She went into Forster care for 3 days and then returned home, not being seen by anyone! Anyway because I did a section 20 they have now placed both children at risk of emotional neglect and deemed to be at significant harm and on a section 47 care plan as from yesterday. I find this crazy, I just want some help! I want to appeal the decision and wondered if anyone has appealed and any advice at all you may be able to help with please to include in my appeal as I’m scared to death they are going to try and take the children! Thank you so much for any help at all, truly thank you

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Milliemoo20

Welcome to Family Rights Group parents’ discussion forum and thank you for your post.

My name is Suzie, online adviser at Family Rights Group and will be responding to your post.

In your post you express your frustration trying to get support for your now 8-year-old daughter from professionals over the years without success.

More recently, your daughter was provided with a foster placement under a s.20 voluntary arrangement. This lasted only 3 days, but you do not say why it ended. Was is a period of respite or should it have been more long term? It would be unusual for a placement to end after only 3 days unless it was for respite only and this should have been made clear to you. I do not have enough information regarding your daughter, you mention challenging behaviour but not whether she has any additional needs/diagnosis.

If your daughter has a disability or additional needs, you may find the information relating to children’s services duties helpful. Read more about this. HERE

From your post, it appears your main concern is how you can challenge the child protection plan made, it seems, on 6th August 2024 following s.47 child protection investigation which resulted in a recommendation for an initial child protection conference on the basis that your children are at risk of emotional neglect and significant harm. You say in your post that the reason children’s services have reached its decision is because you asked for help for your daughter. Asking for help should not be a reason for children to be placed on a child protection plan. If you have not already done so, I think it is important that you ask the social worker exactly what concerns they have about your children’s wellbeing. This should be stated in the report prepared for the conference and should have been shared with you before the enquiries started.

If the social worker has explained and you do not understand the reason(s) for their concern this could lead to the opinion that your failure to understand the concerns puts your children at risk of harm.

You can read more about child protection procedures HERE .

I am including a link to template letter 2 from our website that you can use to challenge the child protection plan made in respect of your children. Do amend the letter as needed to reflect your circumstances.

Should you wish to speak to an adviser about your situation you can telephone our free confidential advice line on 0808 801 0366. The advice line is open from 930am to 3.00pm Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays)

I hope you find this useful.

Best wishes

Suzie