Please advise

[Orion]

Hi. My family and I went through hell with the care system. My husband and I were wrongly accused of hurting our baby boy when he actually suffered from birth injuries. SWs took away our both kids. After 18 months of trial, my mother-in-law got SGO with 51% of parental right. We have 40%. The children are now 14 and 10 years old. They lived home with me and their dad on permanent basis for just over 5 years. Now, my husband and I want to discharge SGO and legally get the kids. The kids want to be with us. Please advise:
1- what to do and where to start.
2- can you please recommend a solicitor(s) with relevant experience. We don't know who to go to.
3- my Mother-in-law is against this. Would this affect the courts decision and turn it against us?
4- my son who had with injuries will be 11 in December. He wants to be with us. Would the court care and respect his wishes?

Thank you

[Orion]

Apologies... we have 49% parental responsibilities. 40 was typed in error.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Orion

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 difficulties that your family has experienced. You explain that a Special Guardianship Order (SGO) was made to your mother-in-law at the end of care proceedings for your two children. The court proceedings began due to concerns that you or your husband had caused a non-accidental injury to your son. You say that his injuries were caused at birth. It is not clear what finding the court made. However, the court decided that the children should live with their paternal grandmother under an SGO. This gives her almost exclusive parental responsibility (PR) i.e. she is the main legal decision maker for the children. You and your husband still have PR but you cannot exercise this without the consent of the special guardian or the court.

You say that the children lived at home with you and their dad for over 5 years. It is not clear if the children are currently living with you. You don’t mention if children’s services are involved now or have been at any time since the care proceedings. It is not possible to provide specific advice however I hope the following information and signposting will help.

Your query is about how to apply to discharge the SGO.

You say that the special guardian does not agree that the order should be ended. You need to offer her mediation first. You can find details of mediation services here. If she refuses or mediation is not successful then you can apply to court. As parents, you need to ask the court’s permission before you can make the application. The court applies the criteria below when deciding whether to give permission:

• There has been a “significant change of circumstances” since the special guardianship order was made, and
• There is a chance that the application to end the order will be successful, and it is in the child’s best interests for the application.

You are wondering where to start. As this is a private law application, you can get advice from Child Law Advice, Rights of Women or a solicitor. I am sorry am unable to recommend a solicitor but if you search on the Law Society find a solicitor website you will be able to find a solicitor who has children law accreditation; this means they have specialist experience of children law. Please see this link to sources of legal advice and support.

The court will consider the views of all involved including your son and the special guardian as well as deciding what assessments are needed and who should do them.

I hope this is useful.

If you have any queries about children’s services please post back or contact the advice service by calling our freephone advice line on 0808 8010366, Mon to Fri, 9.20 am to 3.00 pm, by using our advice enquiry form or webchat.

Best wishes

Suzie