Child in foster care

[Sue C]

I have a son in foster care can someone tell me what long term foster care is and if there is any chance if i can get him back

[charmed1]

Hi Sue. Long term foster care is where a child remains until they reach 18. The mother retains parental responsibility as does the father if the parents were married when the child was born or his name appears on the birth certificate if they were not married at the time. My husband and I have children in foster care though the care plan is for adoption. After six months in our case if no adopters are found our children too will remain in long term foster care. The current carers are short term so they will have to move. You can apply to get the care order discharged after it has been granted six months if you get permission from the court and can prove significant change in circumstances. My husband and I need to attend extensive therapy and this was outlined in the Judgement last December. It will depend on the reasons your child went into care as to the expectations the Judge will have of you. The LA will make it as hard as possible for you to gain care of your child again but it is the Judge who will make the final decision. Good luck and never give up.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Sue C

Welcome to the board.

It seems that you have already had a helpful response from Charmed1.

The only thing I would wish to ask is what the legal status of your son is at this time? Is he in voluntary care or is he under a care order?

Depending on his circumstances, you may wish to read the information in the relevant advice sheet.

Best Wishes

Suzie

[Sue colborn]

He was on an adoption order but recently his social worker contacted me and told me that there going to have my son in long term foster care but it has to go back to court

[Sue colborn]

Thankyou charmed1 that was really helpful

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear SueC

In the event that the Local Authority are proposing a change to the care plan (from : adoption to long term fostering) and if you have not done so already, it may be advisable for you to seek legal advice from http://www.lawsociety.org.uk.

Best Wishes

Suzie

[charmed1]

Dear SueC. We hope to be in a similar position to you come June. At the moment we have an agonising wait to see if the LA can find adopters for our son aged 4 and daughter aged 6. The Judge gave them just six months to find adopters who will support an open adoption and will take them as a sibling group. Our daughter has severe learning difficulties, speech and language delay (global development delay) so we are praying that they time out and as they cannot be separated. We too will be facing a return to court for an amendment to the care plan from adoption to long term foster care.
The problem being faced then is how we can promote our attachment with our children as with the search for adopters will be difficult, so we envisage the search for long term foster carers. Not knowing your son's needs it is hard to say if you will face the same dilemma. At the moment we see them for an hour every two weeks. This will be reduced to once a month for an hour from the 27th February. That will be our last contact for another month. Our little boy is "pushing boundaries" in the foster placement. Poor kids they don't understand. When we show them affection we get their cheek to kiss as the carers aren't long term and are trying to avoid attachment. It should be positive that they have chosen to revoke the placement order which is why you will need to return to court. The full care order will again come into play where you continue to share PR. make sure to get a contact order in place if at all possible as we are being led to believe that it could be as little as once every two months for contact in long term foster care. That will be so damaging as I've said they are already confused