Appealing a courts decision

[JXH]

Hi,

Last month I lost my kids in a court battle against social care after over a year's involvement with them and their grandparents where granted SGO's 1 with my parents and my other 12 month old son went to his grandma on his fathers side who lives 40 miles away, I was cross examined and was truthful in everything that I said and even admitted to some small mistakes that I had made during the time which my 8 year old was in my care, my 12 month old son wasn't born until some time into social care involvement, it all started after my 8 yr old son went to school with small marks to his head and told the teachers that my at the time partner had done them to him. he did change is story a lot throughout the time of social care involvement sometimes he said he had caused them and other times he said my partner had done them. he also claimed in his police interview that I had hit him, which I had not. I had struggled with my 8 year's old extreme behaviour and left my then partner to deal with his bad behaviour because I did not know what to do. during the social care's involvement I undertook some parenting courses and was heavily involved with the local sure start centre and the family support worker who is based there and had the help and support from my health visitor, I attended all meetings and always attended supervised contact with my 8 year old ever since he was placed in my parents care under a section 20 in feb last year. I underwent 3 parenting assessments and a 4th one with a doctor to check for any mental problems, the one with the doctor came back fine but the parenting assessments didn't seem to please the social workers. I looked after my baby very well and made sure he was well loved and the professionals agreed that he was well loved and cared for even social care themselves thought so. When I gave my side of the story in court it did not match what my ex said when he was cross examined his account was not true but up until that point I thought that he was innocent of the marks to his head at least because he was with me at the time of the incident happening . I felt that my solicitor wasn't doing her job properly and my barrister was very horrible to me and treated me like a small child, both of them told me on the first day of court to give up on my 8 year old son in order to be in with a chance to being able to keep my baby in my care so being extremely frightened I agreed to do just that, after the last hearing where the decision was to grant the SGO's my solicitor never mentioned the possibility of appealing, shortly afterwards and after some research I felt it was needed as no one even considered the possibility of me keeping my baby in my care and me receiving help and undergoing more parenting courses, I was also never told that I could ask people that I know such as close friends and my family support worker and health visitor for a positive statements so there was nothing positive that was addressed to the judge in court. my mother and ex partner (my 8 yr old's son's dad) along with my sons school attended to give negative evidence against me which most of what they said was untrue and at one point it was obvious that the judge thought my mother wasn't being truthful and my 8 yr old's son's dad claimed to have a text message from me that was evidence against me to back up one of his claims only he did not have this message (it didn't exist) but never the less on the last day the judge believe everything that they had said and made findings against me on the grounds of probability, she decided that I did not protect my 8 year old from the abuse that had come from my ex partner while he lived in my home, but I was never aware of it and my son never mentioned anything to me at all. most of the supposed finding against me where untrue. so the judge decided that leaving my baby in my care posed too much of a risk and must be removed along with my 8 year old. I had a extremely close bond with my 12 month old we were inseparable for the 11 months he lived with me, he has been in the care of his grandma for a month so far and he has only just started to drink his milk and sleep in the night he was extremely distressed about the situation, I feel that is was very unfair on him to go through. I am utterly heartbroken. I have no support from anyone I was just dumped by social care and have been left alone to deal with it.

I asked my solicitor if I could appeal the decision a week after court which she replied she would apply for more legal aid in order to discuss with a barrister if I have grounds to do so, the application for more legal aid funding was refused and she said that I don't have a chance anyway because everything was done correctly.

I feel that it is very unfair and I simply had no chance at all not matter what I did or said.

If I seek out another solicitor would it be at all a possibility that I could appeal?

Thanks in advance for any advice that you may have for me.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear JXH

Welcome back to the Parents’ Forum.

I am sorry that you did not have the outcome you wanted from the court proceedings relating to your children.

In your post you say that the children have been placed with extended family members under Special Guardianship Orders. Despite this, you feel that you were not given a chance to care for your children and your 12 month old baby in particular.

You have already taken steps to try to appeal the decision made by the court. Your solicitor is likely to have advised you about the circumstances in which an appeal can made. This is usually where the Judge making the decision has made an mistake in the law of in respect of the evidence before the court.

Your solicitor and the barrister who represented and had all the information about your case have advised you that there are no grounds for an appeal. Although this is difficult for you I do not think another solicitor will be able to obtain legal aid for an appeal. Legal aid would only be granted if there is a chance of success and it is confirmed that you have grounds for an appeal.

If you wish, you can do the appeal yourself. Depending on when the Judge made the decision, you may be outside the time limit for an appeal. If so, you would have to seek permission from the court to appeal outside the time limit. Should you decide to do the appeal yourself you can find the appropriate court forms on the Ministry of Justice website under forms.

It appears from your post that you feel you were not considered to care for your baby but from what the Judge said, he or she did think about it but decided that it would be too great a risk due to findings of failure to protect made regarding your 8 year old. The Judge would have taken into account all the evidence including the assessments carried out as well as how you tried to improve your parenting

I understand that it is really hard to have your children taken from your care but I you can take some comfort from the fact that the children are with family. I hope you will be able to see the children. In your post you say one is 40 miles away but you could ask Children Services to assist you with travel.

To help you understand what a Special Guardianship Order means for you as a birth I have included a copy of our advice sheet here for your information.

I hope you will find this information helpful.

Best wishes

Suzie