Sgo won’t allow unsupervised contact

[Hazel1]

Hi, my daughter was placed under an sgo with a friend 4 years ago due to my alcohol issues. Before this my 2 sons now 14 and 16 were taken by their father. I was told that after 6 months of abstinence proved through a hair strand test I could have unsupervised contact with them. This was a year ago and my eldest son has returned home. The problem I have is the sgo who has my daughter will not let me have unsupervised contact with her and she always says it’s not because she doesn’t trust me but it’s better for my daughter to see us altogether as a family. This is very frustrating as I just won’t one on one time with my daughter and I always feel on edge. My daughter is constantly asking to come to my house or me to her house but the sgo only will allow contact in the community which a lot of the time is in restaurants. Another horrible thing is she won’t even let my mum have her on her own and do things like take her to the park, which I feel is ridiculous and upsetting for my mum, bearing in mind my mum was the supervisor for me with my boys and my daughter before she was taken. I really don’t feel it can continue like this, it seems like she doesn’t want my daughter to get to close to the family. I did initially want to try and get my daughter back but asked myself if it was unfair on her to be up routed again. I’m getting married next year and have really turned my life around and I don’t know what to do. If I was getting regular unsupervised and over night contact I don’t think I would feel like this but nothing has changed and she is saying nothing will until my daughter is at an age of understanding. I’ve tried getting half hour free legal advice but can’t find anywhere that does it. I just want to know what my chances are of getting her back or if I had to take it to court I know I can’t apply for a contact order as they don’t do contact orders and sgo orders together. Any advice or feedback is appreciated
Thank

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Hazel1

Thank you for your post and welcome to the Forum.

I am sorry to read that you are having difficulties with the contact arrangements for your daughter. You can apply for a child arrangements order which would set out the contact arrangements for her, here on page 6 of our advice sheet is information about this.

Discharging (ending) the Special Guardianship Order is discussed in the advice sheet too, see page 11. As you have said this is ‘harder to do’ because your daughter has ‘settled’ and you did not want to uproot her – you will also need the court’s permission to apply to end the Order.

In relation to wider family having contact with your daughter, the special guardian can decide who has contact – though your mother, in her own right, can make an application to court to have contact too.

I hope this is helpful.

Best wishes
Suzie

[Hazel1]

Thanks for the reply, I really don’t want to go down the court route, but if things don’t change I may have to. I was told that a child arrangements order can’t be done with an sgo so is that wrong? Also is it normal for supervision to last this long even if the parent is not a risk? Many thanks

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Hazel1,

Thank you for your further post.

If you do not want to pursue a court application you could consider asking the special guardianship social work support team for help with mediation with the special guardian about the contact issues you describe.

On page 7 of the special guardianship information for parents advice sheet here there is advice on mediation and how you could request that children’s services assist with the cost.
A child arrangements order ( A S.8 order) can be applied for where a child is under special guardianship.

Support through Court help people who do not have legal representation and it is a free service. You can link to their website here.

I hope this is helpful,
Best wishes,
Suzie