I am a little confused missy - did your daughter and grandson live with you when he was born? What age was the child when they were put in the m & b unit? How long were they in there and what was the outcome. I am assuming your daughter was not considered fit to parent the child and the LA went to court for an Interim Care Order and he is now placed with foster carers. Is that right? How old is your grandson now and are you allowed any contact with him. Sorry to ask so many questions, just trying to understand your situation.
It sounds to me like the LA (social services) have ruled your daughter out as being safe to care for him, and were going to court to ask for a Placement Order (which means the child can be adopted) and it sounds like they are trying to get your daughter to agree to this plan - is that right?
You obviously put yourself forward to care for your grandson and the LA have a duty to place a child in his extended family if they are found to be suitable to care for him. This is why the social workers carried out a viability assessment (which means that it is an initial assessment to see if it is worth carrying out a full assessment) and it seems that they have recommended that a full assessment should be carried out, as you say you "passed" this. Have you seen this assessment, if not, you must see it, as you have that right and your solicitor should request this on your behalf.
I say this because unless you see it, you don't actually know what they have said and it might not be very positive. You see if it was positive, they should proceed to carry out a full assessment and the judge would have no need to see the viability assessment. If on the other hand they are raising doubts about your suitability to care for the child, this will need to go to court for the Judge to make a decision.
They are obviously trying to rush things through and get your grandson adopted. They are not allowed to go to court requesting a Placement Order (meaning the child can be adopted) while you his grandmother are offering to care for him on a permanent basis. I'm glad you have a solicitor as you will need one by the sounds of it. They are not explaining things toyou in a proper manner. I would say though that one of the most important issues in a kinship application (which yours is, as you are a relative) is whether the relative of the child is able to ensure that the mother (who has been found unfit) does not have any unsupervised contact withthe child - ever. This can be difficult for grandparents, as they are having to go against their son or daughter (daughter in your case) In any assessment you would need to be very clear that you would not allow your daughter to just go off somewhere with her child, because the court has found her unfit (if that is the case) because if you allowed this you would not be keeping your grandson safe.
There is a Grandparents Association where you might find help. I think you can just type this into Google but I'll try it and if not, I'll come back and tell you how you can get hold of them.
So sorry you are going through this. I think the first thing is to ask for a copy of the viability assessment, you have a right to see it. I have carried out many of these assessments and fully comprehensive ones, and you have a right to see anything that is writtenabout you. Get your solicitor to contact the LA solicitor to request a copy and then you can go through it together. You could of course ask the sw yourself for a copy. It's very bad practice not to give applicants a copy of whatever you have written about them. So don't think the LA has all the power, they don't and you have a perfect right to be assessed as a kinship carer for your grandson, though obviously I can't say whether you would be found suitable. Do you mind my asking your age. Also where is your daughter living now?
Happy to help further if I can.