Social work assessment

[Rainbowbabymumma]

Hi, I am 13 weeks pregnant.

My 6 year old son lives with his dad due to family court proceedings. I see him, supervised, although this should progress to unsupervised and sleepovers, but has not happened yet.

The reason i lost him was for emotional abuse due to my poor mental health.

I have been told I am having a social work assessment but 2 weeks later, I haven't heard from anyone.

I am worried when it will start. I need to know if I will be allowed to keep my baby because otherwise I don't know if I can go through pregnancy, for it to be removed.

Also, in the assessment do they speak to the midwife and perinatal mental health team etc? Or is it just from old records.

Thank you for any help with these questions!

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Rainbowbabymumma

This is Suzie, online adviser at Family Rights Group. Thank you for posting on the parents’ forum again and congratulation on your pregnancy.

Your 6-year-old son was removed from your care and he lives with his father now. You have explained the reason that he was removed from your care at the time. It is understandable that you are worried how things may turn out with your unborn baby so I will respond to the questions you have asked in your post.

It is great that your son is having good contact with you and hopefully it will move to unsupervised and staying contact soon.

I am sorry that the social worker has not followed up on the proposed assessment by giving you a timeline that you will be working to.

The assessment that will be done is a pre-birth assessment and this is because your older child was removed from your care. However, that was 6 years ago, and your circumstances may be very different to what it was then. The assessment should at you as you are now. That is not to say the history will not be considered because it will inform the new assessment but is not the only thing that should be relied on.

You may now be engaging positively with mental health services, and your mental health is stable. Also, you may be in a committed long-term relationship with good support network. All the changes/improvements you have made will be considered.

It will be the assessment that will inform what happens when your baby arrives. Your unborn baby could be placed on a child in need or child protection plan. Neither of these plans mean you baby would be removed.

You can read more about pre-birth assessments. HERE

As part of the pre-birth assessment the social worker will speak with the midwife, the perinatal mental health team. As stated above, they have to look at how you are now so should not rely only on the history.

Here are links to information on our website which I believe might be useful to you:-

1. Parents to be

2. Adult mental health conditions and children’s services involvement

3. Guide to working with a social worker.

4. Information where previous child removed

I hope you find the information on the website helpful, but should you wish to speak with one of our experienced advisers, you can telephone our free confidential advice line on 0808 801 0366. The advice line is open from 9.30am to 3.00pm Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays)

Best wishes

Suzie