legal advice on preventing our son returning home for now

[TPMUK]

We are looking for some advice on what we can do to protect ourselves (myself, my partner and our younger child).

Our son, aged 15, has been abusive and violent to us for over 12 months now.

Things came to a head last month when he seriously assaulted me at home, resulting in a 999 call and him being arrested.

The matter is being referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for a charging decision and in the meantime his bail conditions prevent him from contacting me and not returning to our home. He is currently being accommodated in a care placement by the Local Authority under section 20 of the Children's Act.

Since this incident he has expressed no remorse for his actions and indeed has sent abusive and offensive messages to my partner. He has also engaged in further acts of criminality He has also broken his bail conditions by turning up at our home and contacting me by phone (the police are treating these as additional offences to be investigated). In short, it seems that nothing has changed at his end.

Our worry is that the CPS will decide not to charge and that bail conditions will be dropped, meaning the Local Authority will want him to return home. This is something that we simply cannot allow until we see that he accepts responsibility and commits to changing his behaviour. We simply would not feel safe if he returned.

Does anyone know what legal options we have to make the Local Authority keep him in care if charges are dropped and bail rescinded ? Is there any court order we can apply for ? We know the Local Authority will be super keen for him to return home but we would appreciate any insight into what rights we might have to prevent this in the short-term until we are sure that his return will be something we can manage

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear TPMUK

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

I am sorry to hear about the difficult situation you and your family are experiencing. I can understand how distressing this must be for you.

You explain that your 15-year-old son has been arrested and is on bail for an alleged assault on you. You describe how his behaviour at home has been abusive and violent for the last year. Your son is currently accommodated in a placement under a voluntary section 20 arrangement.

You are very worried that your son has committed further offences and that he is not taking responsibility for his actions. You want to know if there is a legal order that you can apply for to prevent him returning home if the criminal justice process ends and children’s services wish to return him home. You want to keep your younger child, your partner and yourself safe and are concerned that you may not be able to care for him if he returns home without addressing his behaviour or the issues causing it.

I can see that this is a dilemma which does require careful assessment and consideration including by children’s services. I am not aware of a legal order that you can apply for to prevent your son returning home. As he is under 16 you cannot apply for a non-molestation order against him. You cannot apply for a care order to maintain him in his placement, only a local authority can do so. However, you can ask children’s services to continue to accommodate your son if you are ‘prevented from caring for him’ or if you believe that he is beyond your parental control.

Please see the detailed information in our advice resources on children in care under voluntary arrangements which sets out the various situations in which a parent can ask children’s services to care for their child (or in your son’s case to continue to care for him) under section 20.

As your son is already a looked after child he should have an Independent Reviewing Officer and Looked After Child reviews. The first review is within a month of the child being accommodated so you may be due to have this review or it may have just happened. At the review, your son’s circumstances and the current care plan are reviewed. This can include planning what happens next once there is clarity about the police investigation.

As you say, following assessment children’s services may say that it is in your son’s best interests to return home. However, they would also need to assess what support your son and you would need to do so. They may also highlight your parental responsibility for your son including to care for him. However, if you are not able to manage a potential return home and/or any proposed support is inadequate you can explain why and continue to formally ask that his placement under section 20 continues until more work is done to support your son to return home safely and to enable you to care for him.

Children’s services may offer, or you may want to ask for, a family group conference (FGC) to bring together your family and friends’ support network to try to come up with a family plan that will meet your son’s needs e.g. to identify support to help you care for your son or to identify possible kinship carers from your network.

If you are unhappy or disagree strongly with children’s services’ decisions or recommendations, you can consider making a complaint. Please see here for more details. You can also consider getting legal advice from a solicitor; see here for details of legal advice services. However, legal aid is only available to parents if children’s services begin care proceedings.

You may already be aware of support services for families where children behave aggressively; please see the links below to services that may help:

CAPA First Response
PEGS

And Family Line provides services to parents struggling with family difficulties.

If you would like to discuss your situation in more detail with an adviser please call our freephone advice line on 0808 8010366; lines are open from 9.30 am to 3.00 pm, Mon to Fri. Alternatively, you can post back on this forum, use our advice enquiry form or webchat.

I hope this helps.

Best wishes

Suzie

[TPMUK]

thanks very much Suzie for your detailed and considered response. This has given us quite a bit to think through while we still are in a bit of a limbo with the police and CPS.
I will read through all these resources to get a firmer understanding
Many thanks again, it is appreciated