Family Rights Group | Parents’ Forum

Hi, well it's been about 2 years since ive posted on here. So hello again, it's now 9 years since my 2 children were put on a care order where my children remain loving at home with me and the LA share parental responsibility . My daughter is now 9 my son is now 16. The reasons the LA will not discharge the order is because they say my children should have 100% school attendance. They say if my children are poorly send them to school and school will send them home if they are really ill , I disagree my children's health comes before education. My daughters attendance was 89% they say that's not good enough , how dare they , but you know what i asked a safe guarding officer, so if my children's school attendance goes to 100% will the care order be discharged, her answer was no. My argument is so if the LA share parental responsibility how is it when a child is not well who's there to look after them? Obviously it's me there mum where are they then? When it's a child's birthday do the LA provide birthday presents the answer is no!! Christmas presents? The answer is no!! Do the LA provide for the child? The answer is obviously no!! So what im saying and want to know if you agree . Why do care orders get put in place where my children have remained living at home with me there mum. They haven't a clue what they are doing because so many sw come and go in our case 30 or 40 of them. My children over the process of 9 years have learned that these people are causing more harm than good. My little said to me mum can you ask the social worker not come into my school please because she makes me feel embarrassed. My situation is long obviously 9 years is a long time. And all i can say is they have not helped us one little bit. If a care order is put in place for the right reasons. Then in my belief the child should be removed. The care order where the LA share parental responsibility is wrong. I have to believe it's more profit for social services. The trauma they have caused me trying to take my baby girl away from me from birth is unbearable. I have asked the manager for all the data they hold for my children for the 9 years they have been involved. They say they only have 5 years of data held for my children. It's wrong that the care order was placed from nothing but lies. I have kept every single letter from day one of there involvement and it's shocking the horrific twisted false allegations that have been written. The lies have nearly broke me as as single mum. But i still have my children our love for one another as kept us together. They really need to discharge this order and let us live our lives. The only anxiety i suffer is from there involvement it is cruel what they have put me and my children through...

Hi Frazor,

I’ve read your post carefully, and I want to say something clearly:
Nine years under a Care Order while your children live safely at home is not normal practice, not good practice, and not what the law intended. You are right to feel angry, exhausted, and let down.

Here is what is actually happening, why it has dragged on this long, and what you can do about it.
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1. What You Are Experiencing Is Called “Case Drift”

This is a recognised failure in children’s services.

It happens when:

• a Care Order remains in place for years
• no clear plan is ever set for ending it
• dozens of social workers come and go
• nobody takes ownership
• the family becomes stuck in the system

Your case is a textbook example.

You are not unsafe.
You are unseen in a system that has stopped reviewing your case properly.
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2. The Law Does NOT Support a Care Order Lasting 9 Years With Children at Home

This is where the legal position is firmly on your side.

Under the Children Act 1989:

A Care Order can only continue if the Local Authority can show your children are at current risk of significant harm.

Your children have:

• lived at home for 9 years
• had no incidents of harm
• been cared for entirely by you
• expressed embarrassment at social worker involvement
• been emotionally affected by the state’s ongoing interference

If your children are well, loved, stable and safe after 9 years, then the legal basis for the Care Order has collapsed.

This is not my opinion; this is backed by case law which i have posted below.
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Case Law: Re P-S (2018)

The Court of Appeal criticised Local Authorities for leaving Care Orders in place when children live at home long-term. They said it was disproportionate and not the purpose of the law.
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In simple terms:
If the child is safe enough to live with you for years, a Care Order is excessive.

3. The “School Attendance” Excuse Is Not Valid

You were told:

“Your daughter’s attendance is 89% so we can’t discharge the Care Order.”

This is not supported by law.

• School attendance is an education welfare issue, not a child protection issue.
• Significant harm cannot be equated to a child with a cough staying home.
• Attendance does not meet the legal threshold for keeping a Care Order.

And when the safeguarding officer admitted that:

“Even at 100% attendance the order won’t be discharged,”

you learned the truth:
Attendance is a smokescreen.

They are using it to justify a decision they’ve already made, not because it is a legal requirement.

4. The LA Claiming They Only Hold “5 Years” of Data Is Concerning

Under the Data Protection Act 2018, and standard Local Authority retention schedules:

Safeguarding records relating to children must be kept for 75 years.

If they genuinely only have 5 years of files, this raises serious questions:

• Were records wrongly destroyed?
• Are they withholding documents you are legally entitled to?
• Or did they never keep proper records in the first place?

Any of these possibilities is concerning, and you deserve clarity.
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5. Why They Won’t Discharge the Order (The Real Reason)

Based on your description, this is what is happening:

• The order is old.
• The original concerns are no longer relevant.
• No manager wants to be the one who signs off the discharge in case something happens in future.
• So they do nothing.

It is fear-based decision-making, not risk-based.

This is how families end up trapped for 8, 9, even 12 years under state control without justification.
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6. You CAN End This , And You Do Not Need Their Permission

You do not need the Local Authority to “agree.”
You can apply directly to the court.

You apply using a C110A form to ask the judge to discharge the Care Order.

Your arguments are:

The order is disproportionate

There is no evidence of current or likely significant harm

The LA’s own behaviour shows they do not believe the children are unsafe

The order itself is causing emotional harm to your daughter

----Case law (Re P-S 2018) supports discharge----

The LA’s reasons are shifting, inconsistent, and not linked to risk

You have an extremely strong case in my opinion.

Judges do not like 9-year Care Orders where the family is functioning safely at home.
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7. Your Next Steps that i would recommend

Step 1: Subject Access Request Follow-Up

Write to the Data Protection Officer:

“I need confirmation of your data retention policy, and why only 5 years of records were disclosed when statutory retention periods require 75 years.”

This forces them to investigate.

Step 2: Formal Complaint – “Drift and Delay”

State:

“I am making a formal complaint regarding 9 years of drift and delay, lack of planning, and disproportionate ongoing state intervention under a Care Order despite 9 years of safe care at home.”

Step 3: Apply to the Court to Discharge the Order

You do not need permission.
You do not need the LA to support you.
You do not need your social worker's agreement.

The judge will look at:

• your stability
• the children’s wellbeing
• the lack of risk
• the length of time
• the impact on your children

And most importantly:

That there is no legal justification for the Care Order to continue, this is the biggest thing.
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8. You Are Not Alone and You Are Absolutely Right

Everything you wrote in your post is valid:

• They have not supported you.
• They have caused harm, not prevented it.
• Your children are embarrassed and distressed by their presence.
• You have been safe and protective for 9 years.
• They keep shifting the goalposts.
• They have not followed the law or proper planning.

You are not imagining this.
You are not overreacting.
You are not “difficult.”

You are a mother who has raised her children safely for nearly a decade under constant surveillance.
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For transparency:
I am not an official adviser for this forum.
I am a parent with lived experience of the child protection system, and I share rights-based guidance to help other parents feel informed and empowered. Each parent must decide what is right for their own situation.

Thank you ever so much, reading what you have wrote to me, just made me feel like someone is actually listening to me. Do you think i could do this myself or do i need a solicitor , ive never had a solicitor i had to fight through court alone i was not aloud to speak, i was told to be quiet . The last time i went to court in 2017 i was not aloud to go in the court room myself when the disicion was finally made a man from caffcass and a social worker said it was best to agree with this order and my children would remain living with me at home, i didn't have a clue what it all meant at the time. All i thought was my children were coming home with me. But they have made our lives hell , for no reason what so ever they told so many lies without even knowing any of us. Every one of them left with no concerns, it should ended years ago. I could write a book on how hateful some of them have been. I'll stop there or i will end up going on and on. But thank you so much for taking your time to give me such good advice I've not had that before . I would like to think i could do this myself. Either way i will take your advice in. All the best to you and your family

Also in summer 2024 i was handed a PLO letter the reason for this they were saying in a meeting was because school attendance not being 100% and the social worker at that time was phoning the wrong dentist saying i had not been taking my children to the dentist appointments, i spoke up for myself and showed them proof the dentist letters and my children had not missed one appointment, and i will always put my children's health first. As always in that meeting they had no words and said i was okay to leave that was just the last time they sent me a PLO letter that was the 3rd or maybe 4th one ive had and it's not gone no further because it's a pack of lies. But when I've asked for this in writing i was told it's over with its going no further ive never had it in writing . I've not ever been shown anything in writing that it's going no further. Neither is it in writing when a social worker leaves always with no concerns. The references that people wrote to them to say i was a good mum and this is wrong . They always tell me there's no records of any of this. Thank you so much i know that you understand by the things you have written. I really appreciate that .

Hi Frazor,

Thank you for your update. What you’ve written shows just how much you’ve been carrying for nine years, and I want to start by saying this: you are not imagining what has happened to you. You have raised your children safely for almost a decade under a Care Order that should have ended years ago, and everything you’ve described fits with something known as “case drift” , when a Local Authority keeps a family under a Care Order with no real plan, no evidence of risk, and no lawful justification.

You asked whether you could apply to discharge the Care Order yourself. The answer is yes. Many parents apply without a solicitor, especially when their children have been living at home safely for years. What matters in court is not who represents you, but whether the children are safe , and yours clearly are. A judge will look at nine years of safe care, no incidents, no current concerns, and ask why the Order is still in place.

Your experience in 2017 makes sense now. You were overwhelmed, unrepresented, pressured, and not given a fair or clear explanation of what the Care Order actually meant. Many parents only discover its true impact years later. None of that was your fault.

The reasons they keep giving you, school attendance, dentist appointments, shifting excuses , are not valid grounds for keeping a Care Order. Attendance is an education issue, not significant harm. Dentist appointments were proven up to date. And the fact that the goalposts keep moving shows the decisions are defensive, not evidence-based. When they admitted that even 100% attendance wouldn’t lead to discharge, that confirmed the truth: the reasons they give you are not the real reasons.

The claim that they “only have five years” of data is also concerning. Safeguarding records must legally be kept for decades. If they genuinely only have five years, that means records have been lost, withheld or never recorded properly. Whichever it is, you are entitled to challenge it.

Your description of the PLO letters also tells its own story. You’ve been sent PLO letters three or four times, each one based on inaccurate information, and each one silently dropped when you proved it wrong. If there had been any genuine safeguarding evidence, they would have gone to court. They never did. That is the strongest sign of all.

Everything about your situation points to a Care Order that is no longer lawful or proportionate. Your children are safe, loved, stable and thriving. A Care Order can only remain in place if there is current risk of significant harm. That risk clearly does not exist. The Court of Appeal has already said in similar cases that long-term Care Orders for children living at home are often disproportionate and should be discharged.

You asked whether you could do this yourself. Yes, you absolutely can.
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For transparency, I’m not an adviser, just a parent with lived experience of the system sharing information to help others. You decide what is right for your situation.