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

You seem to be looking at it from what’s best for the parent. What is actually best for the child though?

They need to speak to the gp or self refer to the local drug and alcohol service.

I'm gonna be blunt here. I do not believe they have not been offered help.They may have told you that, they may even believe that, but there's help and support out there to break an addiction. Recovery is possible for many people.
If they haven't already done so, their first step would be to speak with their GP about support to manage their addiction. If your family member's true priority is to get the children back (and provide a good home life) they need to also consider that they may need to consider separating if they can't take this journey together.
Good luck.

I don't know if it's even possible but for the child's sake we should do all we can do

Sometimes it is not in a child's best interest to return to their birth parents. When it is, Children's Services work very hard to achieve that outcome. And they will not have removed the child without being very clear to the parents why that is happening, what needs to happen to stop it happening, and what needs to happen to have the child returned. Whilst it is not Children's Services job to fix the parents, they will have referred and signposted to multiple places for support for the parents. If the parents have not sought and/ or responded to the support available, then that is where they must start. "Raging drug addiction" over many years is not a "blip" in normal life.

The starting point should never be to do something (give up drugs) to get a reward (your child back), because every time there is a problem with the latter it will fuel not bothering about the former. And without being harsh, you are not responsible for their bad choices, in the past or in the future. If they are serious about wanting to get some stability in their lives, they must want to do it for themselves, otherwise they will slip back every time they hit a bump.

There are lots of support organisations, some in the NHS and others in the Third Sector. Services vary depending on where you live, but a GP and / or MIND would be good starting points to look at what is available.

Very sad. At least the children are out of the drug effected home.
Autismproblem above has written what I was thinking.
I also think that it will take a long time to meet those requirements and perhaps never.
Thus, you could help facilitate that every contact hour with their parents that does happen and every contact that you have with the children is very positive, safe and happy.

You could help the children to understand why they are not with their parents and what it is about drugs that leaves their parents in a bad way. Be part of the support team for the child. Your relative should take a lot of comfort from seeing their kids' needs met by loving relatives.

Well first and foremost they need to deal with their addiction. Which means not using. At all. Ever. And for a sustained period of time.

It's unlikely they haven't been offered addiction support. I imagine parenting classes would come later. Not much point in giving parenting classes to a raging drug addict.

They need to engage with their social worker. Emphasis on THEY, not you. You can support them but the hard work needs to come from parent. Child needs to be their only priority.

If they can't manage that then they have no business attempting to get their child back.

If you really had the child’s interests first then you’d be glad they were away and safe from the so called parents.

I have found the Family Rights Group forums very helpful. They have a forum for friends and relatives, and one for parents/carers.

Has the final court hearing happened, if so what was the outcome?

Can your relative access any legal advice? Legal aid/pro bond?

They will be entitled to Legal Aid - when children are being taken into care the parents get Legal Aid and it isn't means tested

So the parent/s hasn't completely stopped taking drugs yet and you think they should be back in their children's lives? No they should be clean for Quite a while before any sort of contact.

the only thing that will give them a chance is by getting clean and staying clean and then taking classes, if drugs were the only issue ( no neglect or abuse stuff other than drug stuff) then they will just be expected to be clean for a certain amount of time and take regular drug tests etc, Only the social services will know what they can do, do they even want the children back?

If the social decide they arnt going to try and re establish a home then they wont.

This is only a blip in a normal life, brought on by bereavement.
For the child it’s a life altering event. It will be with them forever and have an impact on who they are as a person. I assume you’re talking about the parents’ drug addiction here and somehow not the impact on the child, but it feels wrong calling any part of it a blip.

I imagine the most hope would come from the parents’ overcoming their addiction and living a stable and secure life, attending therapy and taking responsibility for what happened.

If they can’t achieve this is time for their child to be returned to them (healing and growing as a person surely is a long term process?) they’ll be in a better position to then build a good relationship with them should they be reunited in the future.

I don’t know how much you personally can impact this though.

What a sad situation for everyone involved. I’m sorry OP.

-deal with the addiction asap
-parenting courses
-always attend contact sessions - on time and not under the influence of substances
-clean the home environment, make it safe for a child and maintain this
-engage fully with professionals
-show that there is a support network
-have a plan in place where they can recognise dangers and seek immediate help (eg if they were clean , got their child back but felt the urge to use again )

I would not support a drug addict who is still using to get their kids back.

Especially if their neglect was bad enough for them to lose custody in the first place.

I'd be trying to support them to find a rehabilitation programme, and then possibly to help reunite them with their children after several months clean.

While I know you mean well and feel you need to make every effort now because you feel guilty for not doing so previously, but this is not a blip in normal life. It's not. You can't sign them up for a six month course and it will all be "normal". If it was that easy, the care system wouldn't exist.

The social workers will have spelled out very clearly and repeatedly, on many occasions what the parents need to do in order to keep the children, and they weren't able to do it. You mention in the beginning when child was first taken, but that wasn't the beginning of this.

You don't have the power to change this situation, unfortunately. If they are still using drugs, the penny has not yet dropped, and if the removal of their children didn't make it happen I don't think there's anything you can do that would be more powerful than that.

This is a sad situation but the children’s needs need to be at the forefront. If they are happy, safe and thriving where they are, I wouldn’t be fighting to return them home.

It is up to the parents to get themselves clean and in a position where they can sufficiently care for their children. You can’t do it for them.

Like other PP, I don’t agree with the motivation behind getting the children back. They shouldn’t be used as a prop to prevent suicide. They are the victims here and their needs come first. Not the needs or wants of the adults.

I hope that the adults get the help that they need but please consider what is right for the children in this.

Removing a child from their parents is the very last resort by ss. So much support will have been offered, and not taken up.

The child will not be returned while the parents are still using drugs as THIS IS NOT IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILD.

Maybe the parents haven't hit rock bottom yet if they still can't give up drugs. Maybe they aren't fit to be parents. Maybe the family wasn't asked about kinship caring as they cannot see the harm the parent is still causing the child by refusing to engage with the support.

This.

They know what they need to do. They need to get clean. Anything else is just obfuscation.

Yep. This.
The traumatised child victim should be the focus. The parents will know what they need to do in order to get the victim back in to their house, they can choose if they want to take action. Hopefully someone has got the victim in to intensive therapy and counselling. What a horrific start to life.

It's a very sad situation for you all and I really feel for you, but can you honestly say that it's in the child's best interests to be returned to a situation which they were removed from because their needs weren't being met? How can they be assured of the safety and stability which every child needs to thrive? I think you need to remember that the child is an individual in their own right and they're not going to get a second chance at childhood... what happens to them now will set the scene for their own adulthood and how happy and stable this is.

Can your relative access any legal advice? Legal aid/pro bond? That would probably be the best place to start.

How old is the child OP? If it’s a baby then adoption may be on the cards. I notice a social worker has replied to offer advice so hopefully you come back soon and take them up on it.

How is the child getting on? Are they thriving? Do they have contact with their parents? Would it be in their best interests to return home?
Ime birth parents are told what needs to happen if they want their child returned, ie get clean, have safe housing, possibly a parenting course, I have known children returned to their family once they complete all of the requirements. The important thing is that they cooperative with SS.

They tend not to do that if they feel that the relative will facilitate continued abuse. Given OP’s support of her relative over in spite of the child’s rights, SS may have made a judgement call on this one.

This. 100% this.

You’re genuinely saying you want a child returned to the parent, regardless of that child’s needs/wants/safety/future, because you’re more worried about the offending adult than the child victim. If you want to help this adult to improve their life then that’s a noble aim, but doing it purely to drag a child back into a potentially dangerous situation, without any regard to their rights to a decent home life, is awful. A child is not a prop to make people feel worthwhile.