I have called the social services and they are going to put him in a children’s home

Oh no, that's awful. Did you have to stay in the children's home after that?

@littleluncheon I'm at the point now where I'm backed into a corner, so I have said to them this morning (by text, as they never call me), that he has no where to go this evening and therefore if they do not collect him from school he will be walking the streets. So far, no reply.

I'm just interested to see how OP has managed to get him a placement so quickly, as they're basically telling me they would absolutely try to avoid this at all costs. Yet they've been telling me this for 3 weeks!

Unfortunately, while you are voluntarily accommodating him and not costing them any money they will leave him there as long as possible.
I've heard of cash strapped social services departments encouraging homeless teens to just sofa surf with a different friend each night to avoid having to take them into care.
You will probably have to force the issue by taking him to school and telling the safeguarding lead that he is now homeless and won't be coming home with you, make it the school's problem.

All they told her was when he would be moving out of her house and into foster care. Would you rather a crack team of ninjas whisked him away in the middle of the night?

Very odd....

I don’t expect you to.

I do respect you for coming back and admitting you were wrong. Not many people would have done so. It shows integrity.

It sounds like you've had more help than I have!

I'm currently on week 3 of taking in a young homeless person whose parents have also kicked him out. I'm a family friend, nothing more. I phoned social services and they told me far more than I ever thought they would, and this thread has explained why. But 3 weeks on and I'm no further forward finding a permanent solution for him. He's currently staying in my summer house as my house is full. It's so far cost over £300 in electricity to heat. Whilst it's a tested structure (for electricity), it's not authorised as a dwelling, so he simply cannot stay there. SS gave me £50 so I could go buy him clothes (as his mum won't hand them over), and that's it.

How have you managed to get the Section 20 so quickly OP? SS here are saying it's absolutely the last resort due to the high costs involved. There's also no facilities for him in our immediate area, so he's likely to be placed elsewhere away from school and his friends. On Friday I told SS I couldn't keep him here anymore from both an affordability and legal basis (my kids now going without as electricity bill so high), and so far I've heard nothing from them despite me calling them 11 times today!

Well I’ve apologised so won’t be self flaggelating over it. I didn’t want to do what too many posters do - fuck up then scuttle away.

@Crazyclover I'm pleased for you that you live in a world where you think this situation is identifiable, but it really isn't that unusual for teenagers to stay with friends parents because their own parents have kicked them out.

I used to work in a team where our sole responsibility was assessing under 18s who tried to present as homeless (ie at a housing office)

Next time it might be worth not starting your reply with a single word sentence “wrong”.
It’s rude, smug and arrogant and will only ever result in pissing people off.

Why would you post this update on a public forum where he may be identified by his unusual situation?
Additionally his parents may now be prosecuted for child abandonment and their other child/children be placed on a child protection plan, personally I hope they are prosecuted as they don’t sound fit to be parents

@MustDoNothing meant to add this link you might find it useful
https://www.careleavers.com/what-we-do/access-to-records/

(OP sorry for hijacking the thread a little hope you understand!)

@MustDoNothing sorry didn't mean to suggest it can't happen now - more that it's much less likely to happen without a child having any interaction with support services or social workers beforehand.

As others have mentioned the route for section 20 is very different to court, though social services will try to avoid it being used. Mainly because once a child is moved out of the home, it's very, very difficult to rebuild the relationship for them to go back, and separating a child from their family (even if a parent requests it) isn't something we should do lightly.

Not true

Yes, if the child's family has fucked them off. He doesn't live with his parents he is temporarily staying with the op. She can't have him living there for good she has other children. Social services will talk to Gus parents about removing their other son most probably, hopefully 🙏

What. The. Fuck.

Fucking horrendous. I hope you are doing well in your life now.

Yes I know which is why I’ve eaten humble pie later in the thread

Because she's looking after the child in the meantime, FFS. Why not at least try to acquaint yourself with the facts before leaping in to criticise? This is MN at its worst - people are so eager to beat up the OP that they don't care about checking whether there is any basis for it.

The child in question has already been thrown out by his parents. Of course SS will act quickly to accommodate him.

His parents don't want him. They kicked him out so his younger brother can have his room. He has to live with the opshe is his main carer at the moment.

They must have been incredibly serious allegations for that to happen. They must have believed the children were at serious risk of harm

It’s interesting that you say the allegations were never proven, rather than saying you didn’t do anything

Of course they exist.

Where do you think they go whilst they wait for a foster home (if they ever get one).

There’s nowhere near enough foster carers to meet demand.

Poor kid 💔

He will never get over this.

I hope his parents get in trouble but u doubt they will.

My PP was supposed to say 19 years later not 29, won't let me edit the post.

@Hibernatingtilspring thank you for that information I will look into it as it may give some form of closure to those unanswered questions.
Also, of course I understand it's probably a lot harder for the situation I was in to happen nowadays, especially with the state the services are with all the caseloads. I was just trying to say that it is possible to happen without a long drawn out and open legal process. However I would like to hope, for everyone's benefit, that times and procedures like that have changed over the years

This can and absolutely does happen, as I can attest from my own experience. My children were taken away behind my back, the first thing I knew was that SS came to my house and told me that they had been taken into care due to some allergations against me. They had been staying with some friends who ended up being their foster carers. The allegations were never proven, but they still grew up in care thanks to the family court system..