Family Solicitors

As a child care law solicitor I advise and represent parents where social services have child protection concerns. This article is designed to shed some light on what a parent can and should expect from social services when there are concerns about the welfare of their child and to highlight the key advice I give to parents.

The role of child protection social services

Children’s social services have a legal duty to safeguard children they believe to be suffering or at risk of suffering harm or neglect. Harm includes physical, sexual and emotional harm. It can include a child witnessing physical violence and/or verbal arguments.

As soon as a social worker is aware of a child protection concern they must investigate. The aim of the investigation is to identify if the child is suffering or at risk of suffering harm and if so what can be done to protect the child and support the family to ensure the child’s needs are met.

Understandably many parents panic when contacted by social services and their first conversation with the social worker can be a daunting and emotionally charged experience. Many parents I have spoken to believe social workers are ‘nosey’ and do not care about keeping families together.

My advice to parents is that social workers do work with families to try and keep them together but parents can find this difficult to believe as the social worker’s focus is and always must be the child concerned and what is in their best interests.

I always advise parents that however angry and upset they feel, it is extremely important to communicate with the social worker and professionals in a calm way. The social worker will feel assured that the parent is listening to what they are saying, understands what the concerns are and is able to work with the social worker to address those concerns.

What social services will do?

First they will decide whether it is safe for the child concerned to remain in the care of his/her parents whilst they investigate. If social services think a child will be safer living with someone else whilst they investigate they must consider whether there is a family member the child can be placed with. If this is not possible they will ask the parent to consent to their child temporarily being placed in foster care under what is known as a ‘section 20’ agreement. There is a common misconception amongst parents that social workers can remove children without consent. This is wrong. Social services cannot remove a child without the consent of the parent or a court order.

However, the police can, without a parent’s consent, remove a child for up to 72 hours if a police officer has reasonable cause to believe the child would suffer significant harm unless removed to a place of safety or, if already removed, is kept in a place of safety.

I have many parent clients who have been asked by social services to sign a section 20 agreement. Usually in such circumstances social services have serious concerns. Each case must be considered on its facts in terms of whether I advise the parent to sign the agreement. It is important that a parent seeks legal advice before signing such an agreement. It is also important that the parent informs their child’s social worker of their intention to seek legal advice so that the social worker knows the parent is giving the request consideration and not ignoring it.

Whether a child remains with a parent or is temporarily placed in foster care, social services will usually undertake what is known as a ‘core assessment’. This should be completed within 35 working days and is an investigation in to all the circumstances in the child’s life. It looks at the child’s specific needs, the parent’s and/or other family members’ ability to meet those needs and what resources/professional support the child and family require in the short and long term.

Social services should consult parents at all stages of the care planning process concerning their child.

Child protection plan

If social services believe they can work with a parent to keep a child safe in the parent’s care the child may be made subject to what is known as a child protection plan. Such a plan may require the parent to undertake specific actions such as parenting classes, attending an addiction service (if the parent has drug or alcohol issues), undertaking work with domestic violence specialists, counselling etc. The process involves regular meetings of the parents and professionals involved with the child such as teachers, health workers, police and the social worker.

Looked after children

Where a child is in foster care (whether with the parents consent or a court order) they are known as looked after children and they too will be the subjects of regular meetings known as looked after child reviews. Looked after children have the benefit of an independent reviewing officer (IRO). The IRO’s role is to oversee a child’s care planning, to ensure social services are doing what they should be doing and to ensure the child’s wishes and feelings are fully considered in the process.

Court proceedings

Sometimes social services concerns are so serious that they may start court proceedings. I often advise parents this is not always a bad thing. The court will scrutinise social services’ plan for the child and will oversee any assessments of the parent and child. In addition the child is separately represented by their own solicitor and court appointed independent guardian from an organisation called CAFCASS. This means that the child’s wishes and feelings will also be expressed to the court.

Ultimately the court will have the final say about the child’s future and must base any decision on what it considers to be in the child’s best interests having taken in to account the views of the parents, social services, court appointed guardian and any independent experts.

It is important that parents understand once court proceedings commence, they are automatically entitled to free legal advice and representation.

Contact between children and parents

Social services have a duty to arrange reasonable contact between a parent and child as long as that contact is safe for the child. That contact will probably take place at a venue called a contact centre and may be supervised on a one to one basis by a professional supervisor. If a mother is breast feeding social services should arrange for her to breast feed her baby unless this would place the baby at risk. In such circumstances the mother should be given the opportunity to provide expressed milk.

Being open and honest with social services is key

The key piece of advice I give to parents is to be open and honest with social services and other professionals involved with their child. If a parent is honest, social services will feel they can work with the parent to ensure the child is kept safe and ensure their needs are met. If social services find that a parent has been dishonest, this will raise their concerns and increase the risk of them wanting to remove the child or make it more difficult for a parent to secure the return home of a child who has already been removed.

Legal advice

It helps to get legal advice as early as possible when social services become involved. A specialist child care solicitor can advise a parent on what they need to do to keep their child in their care or secure the return of their child. A solicitor can also advise whether a parent is entitled to free legal advice.