SGO help.

[Bumblebees202]

I had my children removed from my care 5 years ago due to leaving a DV relationship and having my mental health used against me in court. Three of my children were placed in foster care with the same carer to which I have had one child back for 2 years and another back for 1 year with no concerns raised by SW due to the work I have completed and a positive psychiatric assessment.
My issue now is my third child is a SEN child and I have promises made by SW to get my child the help they need yet nothing has been done for 18 months. SW is hard to get hold of and has very little to do with myself, foster carer and child.
Myself, the foster carer and my child have been told three different dates for their return to my care to which the dates have come and gone yet they're still in care.
I have been accused of being inconsistent to my child but have only missed 1 overnight contact in 18 months due to being ill other than that I have had my child every contact and even take them to school and back to the foster carer.
I have been told today that an SGO is the next step in the plan. How can that be put in place when I have had two children returned with no concerns. Any help on this matter would be appreciated.
Thanks

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Bumblebees202

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 your difficult situation. You have worked really hard to secure the return of two of your children to your care, from the foster placement they were in. You have also addressed your mental health needs and had a positive psychiatric assessment. You have been successfully caring for both children now for over a year. You don’t say if they are still under a care order but placed at home with you or whether the family court has ended the care order.

You are worried that your third child, who has special educational needs, has not received the help that they require while in foster care. You are also very concerned that the proposed plan for this child to also return home has not happened. I do not know if you have been given any explanation or whether you have completed a reunification assessment. However, these plans should have been discussed and then reviewed as part of your child’s Looked After Child reviews, chaired by the Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO), which you should have been involved in.

I would suggest that you write to your child’s social worker, copying in their manager and the IRO to ask them to provide a written explanation with reasons about why this has not progressed. There has been a concern raised about you being inconsistent which you disagree with. It is a good idea for you to challenge this if you can show that this is not justified.

Your child’s plan has now changed further as you say that special guardianship is proposed for your child. I know that this must have been distressing for you to hear.

I understand this to be that the foster carer is planning or is being supported by children’s services to apply for a Special Guardianship Order (SGO). Again, you should ask the professionals involved to explain the reasons for this.

As the children’s mother, of course, you must be consulted, and your views sought about the proposed special guardianship application. You do not have to agree to the making of the order, but the court could make the order despite this if it were decided that it was the best long-term arrangement for your child.

Children’s services are likely to apply to discharge the care order when the SGO hearing takes place. The making of an SGO ends any existing care order.

Please see our advice sheet on Special Guardianship: information for parents.

I would suggest that you seek legal advice from a solicitor. It would be helpful if you have the LAC review minutes where this decision was made or written confirmation from children’s services about this plan.

Please see this link here for legal advice.

I hope that this is helpful. If you are in England and would like further advice about the care plans for your child, please post back of use one of the other advice options linked to her. If children’s services in England are not involved, then please see the links at the end of this page to advice in other parts of the UK.

Best wishes

Suzie