Can anyone give me advice on how to get a child back after Social services put them in Foster Care

It is not the child's responsibility to save the parents from killing themselves. It's very manipulative and abusive to put that on a child. If they kill themselves it is because they are ill. Maybe too ill to raise a child.

They will have a social worker, they can advise on the steps but number one is stop the drug use, not for a few days but would need to be several months. They will also need to demonstrate that they realise that they have been an unfit parent and not blame extenuating circumstances. The courts and social services would love to have 2 less children to care for but the ball is very much in the parents court, reducing drug use isn't enough. The children's needs are the priority

How do you know social services arent helping the adults or offering them support? Because they say so themselves?

Not to be rude but everything you listed means your family member is unfit to be a parent. Yes, people can change, but the type of trauma your family member has been through may take years to recover from. Any short term parenting change will be superficial as the underlying issues have not been resolved.

I think your intentions are well meaning but misguided. As a family, you should be looking to see which one of you can take this child in instead and offer them a decent quality of life. The parent of this child needs to go on a separate journey unfortunately.

I totally understand your point here but left right and centre this is a huge problem they aRe being let down by mental health and welfare being the problem.there isn't means of help.

They will have to not be taking drugs at all.nor plan to ever again. It will need to be full on recovery. Not just stopped.paused.unhealed.

Whatever happens with the children get this poor person some therapy anyway! Its nit a case of ok,so we might not actually get the child back what's the point.you help your.family.member now regardless.for THEIR life's sake.for THEIR future.they have become seriously poorly for this to even happen.get them help.not just significantly less drug taking.this is not how drug taking or addiction work.you can't ever be in qausi recovered.

You should focus on what's best for the child.

Living with addicted parents (and all the associated neglect/deprivation/poverty/crime that goes with addiction), is NOT going to provide the stability and security a child needs. The very fact you cite the possibility of parental suicide if they don't get their way, illustrates how mentally unstable they are.

Removal from parental care by SW/ court order, is the last resort after all other interventions have failed. Before that stage, the parents were no doubt offered ample support, and opportunities to address their drug problems; which they failed to take. So please don't fall for any tale that they are the helpless victims abandoned by the welfare system.

There are actual tick box things rhey will need to do in order for this to even begin.and thereafter steps to be taken hoops to jump through.its long.its hard.fustratig as fuck.they must be ready for that therefore recovered enough.its not a case of recovered(even if fantasicly legit) now child can come home. It can feel awful to then be confronted with what you have to do.
Also if this is an addiction based from grief I'd go the therapy route.as they can stop the drugs but if you haven't healed the trauma and instigator it won't last.

You say “the dust has settled” but it really hasn’t. Parent is still using drugs and presumably this could be to a much greater extent than they are prepared to admit to you.

Why would it be in a child’ best interests to return to such a dysfunctional, dangerous and damaging environment?

If your relative is serious about changing their life then they will do it. But the child’s welfare is the top priority here.

My thoughts. The children should come first, it's not about what the parents want ffs

Focus on supporting the parent to go to narcotics anon. They have to make forster step. They need to help themselves

Sounds to me like the children are better off in foster care.
Encourage your family members to access support regardless of whether they will get their kids back. They have to do it for themselves.

It's a long road to recovery and they haven't stopped taking drugs cold turkey. Certainly the drug use has reduced significantly but not completely.

Then the child should not go back to them. Until they are clean and have stayed clean for a period of time. The child is the priority and deserves better. If they couldn't be bothered to stop using when their kid was taken into foster care, they don't deserve the child.

This is only a blip in a normal life, brought on by bereavement. -

I have never read such minimising of serious harm to a child.

You need to think about your own role in what looks like your enabling of this.

Where I live in the US Children's Services creates what they call a reunification plan when a child is taken from its parents. Do they have something like that? It outlines exactly what needs to happen in order for the child to be returned. But they wouldn't consider reunification, nor should they, until the drug abuse has ended.

Has an interim card order been granted? If so, they will be doing assessments until the court case comes up - SS will be working with the parents and probably have put regular contact sessions in place. how are these going? Some parents don’t even turn up for these. Has your relative not mentioned this?

If you contact the LA and ask to be assessed to card for the children, this might be possible before it goes to court.

If it’s already been to court, don’t forget there will be LAC reviews every 6 months to keep track of how the parents are doing, if any changes need to be made, new assessments ordered etc.

Thats my take as a former foster carer anyway!

Absolutely this, so much around the 'family/parent's rights' what about their responsibilities?!

OP your language of "getting the child back" sounds rather as though you consider these children the possessions of their parents.

I should think that what you could do would be to support your relatives to kick their addiction. Then you might suggest that there are short supervised visits.

But you sound too close, and you're making too many excuses.

And if one child is old enough to have lived independently anyway, maybe you could support that child, rather than potentially enable the child's parents?

But the children are probably safer in all sorts of ways in foster care than in the care of your family.

You could apply for kinship care, so you can look after the child to keep them in the family. This way you know the child won’t be lost to the system. It may be worth speaking to the child’s social worker as obviously in this type of situation the child is the priority.
There are lots of charities in the UK that could give you advice about supporting your adult family member.

Exactly this. The child comes FIRST, not the adult.
It goes sound as though the whole family has faced very difficult and traumatic situations but the addicts have to get convincingly (not temporarily) clean first. No child should be returned to an addict.

I wouldn't if they're still using. The kids will be experiencing less instability and risk than stuck with an addicted parent on a downwards trajectory.

Best thing you can do to support these children is to leave their parents to sort themselves out. They need to be the force behind getting clean and staying clean. They need to be motivated to do what it takes to get their children back. They will never get better so long as you are the one seeking out information and trying to support them. It has to come from them or means nothing.

You say parentS, plural. Are they both on the same page in regard to giving up the drugs, or do they self-enable? That‘s an important question as if one has more impetus than the other, will one drag the other back down? There‘s no point trying to help them get the child back if there‘s a risk either or or both will relapse and the child will have to be taken again.

How old is the child? Are they old enough to have their own view? Is there any reason they couldn‘t be fostered within the family?

A child in foster care stands some chance of a useful life. A child of 2 drug addicts stands very little chance. Children are only removed in absolutely desperate circumstances so the parents of that child must live in absolute chaos. Why would you want a child you know anywhere near that.