public law outline

[s900]

Good Morning
I'm new here and I would like some advice if possible and please no criticism
me and my partner had had kids removed from our cared 11 years ago we was in a very bad place with our relationship and I had no idea how to be a good mother to my children which I regret every second of everyday.
The children were taken on the grounds of neglect house was untidy lack of food in the home my partner had anger issues so we used to argue all the time which wasn't good for the kids to be around I see that now. The children our with family so we still see them which is a positive, anyway we now have a 7 week old baby boy and living in a new area of London and children services are involved again but this time round they have no concerns we have grown up a lot since then home is always clean and tidy plenty of food in home but the only problem they have is the past history with the other children they now want to a parenting assessment and cognitive assessment (partner has learning difficulties ) but this time round he is very hands on which i wish he was last time but wasn't but the most scary thing is the Public Law Outline meeting they want to do should i be scared about this I don't want to lose my baby I AM SO VERY SCARED PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear s900,

Welcome to the parents forum. I am sorry to hear about your children being removed from your care 11 years ago. I can see what a difficult time it must have been.
I am glad that things are so different now.

It sounds like the earlier issues of neglect (lack of food and untidy home) and possible emotional abuse-due to your partner’s anger (and domestic violence?) have been addressed. The assessments of you and dad up to now have all been positive. You say you have grown up.

This is really good news. I would expect that your baby will be able to live with you if you can cooperate with children services and get the support that is needed.

However, because of the history, it is understandable that children services still have to carry out a parenting assessment now that your baby is born.

Assessment

The assessment will look at your baby’s needs and your parenting ability and the environment that you live in and your family support.
If the assessment identifies that you need help and support, then children services should provide the support that you need.

So for example, if they were worried that dad might still have anger issues, they will want him to attend a course to help him deal with this.
Do you have family and friends who can help and provide support to you as a family? If so, have you considered asking for a family group conference?

If during the assessment, children services suspected that your baby could be at risk of suffering significant harm, they would expect steps to be taken to protect your child.

Why the Public law Outline?

The reason why children services are doing everything under the public law outline (PLO)-is to ensure:
• That there is no delay in planning for your baby in case the parenting assessments are negative and your baby has to live elsewhere.
• To make sure that you can have access to good legal advice-the PLO process will entitle you to legal aid.

The public law outline-PLO does not mean there will be definitely be care proceedings. Instead it outlines what you need to do as parents and what support will be given to you to help you. Your solicitors will be able to advice you if everything is fair or whether more support should be given to you.

See pages 7 to 11 of our advice sheet about care proceedings which explains the public law outline, (PLO).


What to do now

The most important thing to do now is to find solicitors. Even though you are parents together, you and dad will need to have different solicitors.
Your solicitors will need to specialise in children law and should be accredited by the law society- (be on the “children panel”).
Have a look at the Law Society-find a solicitor .

As dad has a learning disability, the assessment of his cognitive ability should also come first-so that any support he might need to help him parent your baby, can be given to him during the parenting assessment.

Your local authority may have a policy about assessing parents with a learning disability.

I know that you are very scared. But remember that your recent assessments have been positive so this will stand you in good stead.

I hope this helps but if you want to discuss in depth, you could also call our advice line.

Best wishes,
Suzie

[s900]

So we had PLO meeting and the children services manager said it was a very positive PLO they are doing a cognitive assessment on partner and then a joint psychological assessment on the two of us

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear s900,

Thank you for coming back to the Parents’ Forum and letting us know how things are going.

I am glad that the children services manager noted all the positive steps that have been taken by you and dad.

You should receive a plan about what is happening (the assessments) and timescales in writing. If you don’t- you could ask your solicitor to chase for this.

Best wishes,

Suzie

[s900]

so what happen in regards of assessments if either one is negative

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear s900

If either of you have a negative assessment, what happens next will depend on the issues raised and your ability to accept and engage with the identified assessments. It would be advisable to be open to ongoing professional support that is being offered to you at this time.

It is possible that the Local Authority could assess one of you as a protective factor and recommend for instance, that you became the identified main carer, whilst they continue to assess you, for instance.

Apart from that it will be important to continue to work closely with your solicitor in the pre- proceedings (PLO) process. Hopefully, this will enable you to demonstrate your ability to sustain any changes you have been able to make in the care given to your new baby.

I hope this helps.

Best Wishes

Suzie

[s900]

they have seen changes and all the good work we have done and are still doing i am just so scared that they may take our son from us even though they have no concerns at all with the care of our son now it just all past history