Ameeta Bhuhi
Solicitor, Care Proceedings
English
When social services are very concerned about the welfare of a child, the social worker may wish to consider taking the case to Court so they can make Court Orders to protect the child.
PLO stands for 'Public Law Outline', a set of rules which tells social workers how to deal with these sorts of cases.
The Public Law Outline rules say that when social workers are thinking that they may need to go to Court they should invite the parents to a meeting to discuss their concerns. This is also known as a "pre-proceedings" meeting.
This meeting considers what needs to be done to protect the child from harm, and how an agreement can be reached to ensure this. The aim here is to see if any problems can be fixed without needing to go to Court.
For initial legal advice, get in touch with our Care Proceedings Solicitors.
Social Services will need to carry out Kinship Care Assessments of any family members. Kinship Care Assessments are usually done in stages:
An initial “screening” assessment takes place to check that the relative does want to put themselves forward as a possible carer for the child. Social Services also check that there’s nothing immediately obvious, such as a serious criminal conviction, which would stop them caring for the child. This would usually take just a few days to complete.
If the screening is positive, a more detailed “viability assessment” is carried out to consider in more depth what the relative could offer and whether there are any obstacles which weren’t immediately obvious.
If the viability assessment is positive, a full “kinship assessment” takes place. This usually takes around 3 months to complete.
We're rated‘Excellent’You’ll be expected to commit to having several meetings with a social worker, often on a weekly basis. The meetings will cover a whole range of things such as:
The social worker, with your permission, may also ask for references from people that know you.
Our experience is that many people consider this assessment process to be quite intrusive, and you should be aware that you may be asked searching personal questions about sensitive matters, which some people can find difficult to deal with. Remember though, social workers can be criticised if they haven’t looked deeply enough into an issue that might be a concern.
The social worker will keep notes of every meeting and will write up a report at the end of the assessment process and you should get a copy. You should be given the opportunity to comment on and have your comments included in the report before it’s finalised.
If there are Court proceedings, this report will go to the Judge and everyone else involved in the Court proceedings, including the parents.
If the social worker assesses that you can provide long-term care for the child, then this will be one of the options that will be looked at by the Court when final decisions about the child’s longer term are being made.
A positive assessment does not mean that the child will automatically come to live with you as there may be other options which the Court feels better meet the child’s needs. The social worker will make a recommendation to the Court about what they feel should happen.
You may want further advice the social worker’s recommendation to the Court, so it’s important to get specialist legal advice from a Care Proceedings Solicitor at an early stage, to consider whether you should become involved in the Court proceedings in order to have your say.
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If the social worker assesses that you cannot provide long-term care for the child you may choose reluctantly to accept this decision, or you may want to challenge it.
If Court proceedings are ongoing, you will normally have been given a date by which you must let the Court know about any challenge that you wish to make. It’s really important not to miss this deadline because the Court will not always allow extra time, and decisions could be made without your involvement.
If you want to challenge a negative report, we strongly recommend that you get specialist legal advice from a Care Proceedings Solicitor as early as possible.
It’s very important that the right Court Order is made to meet your needs and also the child’s. We can advise you about which Order would be best for you.
If the Court decides that the child should live with you then there is a range of Court Orders that can be made to make sure that this happens:
This Order places the child in your long-term care and gives you Parental Responsibility for the child. You would become a “special guardian”. This is usually considered to be a permanent arrangement and is not easily overturned
This Order would also give you Parental Responsibility for the child, but might not be regarded as quite so permanent as a Special Guardianship Order
Social Services still have Parental Responsibility for the child, but they would place the child with you and you would become a foster carer. You would not have Parental Responsibility
If the child is already living with you and you have Parental Responsibility under a Child Arrangement Order or Residence Order, then if care proceedings have already been started you will automatically get legal aid to allow you to take part in the Court proceedings whatever your financial circumstances.
If you don’t have Parental Responsibility for the child, or if care proceedings have not been started, Legal Aid is not automatic. Access to it will depend on the strength of your case, and your financial circumstances. We can tell you if Legal Aid is available.
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