Do long term fostered children ever get returned to their parents?

[BadgerBadgerMushroom]

I posted this in fostering but thought there might be a bit more traffic here today. I wondered if anyone knew how likely it would be that a child in long term foster care for 7 years would be returned to their parents after all that time. Is it a complicated process? Does it happen often? My step children's mum has recently met a partner who states they are getting their child back after that long and I would like to understand the process a bit more. Thanks for any help or advice. :)

Yes it does happen but there are a lot of hurdles and meetings to clear.

After 7 years I’d be very surprised to be honest, I’d have expected the local authority to have started permanence proceedings long before a child had been in care for 7 years.

@gothamgirl thank you. I read that a review is done four weeks after the order is put in place. Then after 3 months and then every 6 months after.That would be 16 meetings. As I understand it this has got the the place where they are going to court but I guess that could just be to appeal?

@jellycat that was my gut instinct too. I also wonder if my step children will be factored into this situation. If the child isn't returned should they be spending time with the partner. Is all so very complicated!

It depends on the reasons for the children being removed, which you may not ever know the full circumstances of. I’d have expected an appeal at court very quickly after the decision to remove, you can’t really appeal after 7 years of the child being looked after. How old is the child/children?

As a parent if adoption for whatever reason has been taken off the table. The parents have the legal right to challenge the court order any time they wish. If they have hit the threshold for improvement i.e left an abusive relationship and done all the therapy etc requests of them then the court will look at it properly. When a child is in long term fostering in my areas not sure if it’s the same all over there are two LAC (looked after children) meetings a year where the parents, careers, school etc all discuss the child and what should happen going forward.

It’s a long difficult process and the child’s parents have to do every single thing they are told.

I think the child must be 13 or 14. Not 100% sure though. Yeah I don't think we will ever know the circumstances. It all seems very disruptive for the child though. Just wouldn't want step children to get involved in a tricky situation. Their mum is adamant it was a mistake and the child is 100% coming home and the children won't be at risk.

@gothamgirl thank you so much. You sound like you are in the know about all of this. Is this something that could take years then? In your opinion do you feel that a child would be in care that long because of the initial reason or could it be because the parent at that time hadn't ticked enough of those boxes to have their child returned? Sorry for all the questions!

My children are in lfc and it depends on many things. The parent can go back to court anytime after 6 months from the final hearing but it would depend how settled the child is now. My children have had many placement moves but now my Daughter especially is settled and in a good place. She has a life where she is, friends and a lovely set of carers. If in your case the children have been moved about a lot, maybe haven't settled as well then Mum may have more chance of getting them back. They increase contact to start with and do it gradually if they think reunification is an option.
I was told though by my solicitor not many children come out of long term fc but then I know someone personally who got all her kids home apart from one who got adopted... So it can happen.

It depends why they were removed and if a substantial change has been made eg drug treatment and clear tests for a year.

Once the LA or the court decides it’s in the best interest of a child to be returned it happens quickly.

If the child is 13-14 their wishes will be listened too and taken very seriously by all professionals.

It could be a whole list of reasons the child has not been returned before. Engagement from parents, how will contact goes, what the child wants, is the placement settled.

@blackcountrychik bless you that must have been a hard decision for you to make. But sounds like your daughter was really considered. Do you still get to see her regularly or is it up to the court? The person in my situation has moved 300 miles away from her child so I'm not sure if they would factor that into a final decision. From what I understand this child has been with the same foster carers for 7 years.

@Gothamgirl Really informative thank you! From what I understand they have a court date set so hopefully a decision will be made quickly. Would the fact the parent of the foster child is currently being supported by social services with another child have an impact on that decision do you think?

I don’t know much about this, but as your concern is for the step children who will I assume be living with an adult whose children have been taken into care, do you have a right to find out the reasons?

I would want independent assurance that this adult was not a danger to children. I know there are lots of reasons a child could be in long term foster care, but some of those reasons would be a big concern.

So if you are the child’s step parent, are you married to their dad?

Is there a reason they’re in foster care and not with him? If he’s allowed them to remain in care for 7 years why does he feel he has input now?

The fact that their mum is saying it’s 100% a mistake after 7 years would suggest to me she has not made any attempt to change things.

Just to clarify, incase I upset anyone, I know there are heartbreaking reasons why good people sometimes can’t are for their children.

I know a girl who went back to her mother from foster care at the age of 15. It was always the plan and everything was about making progress to enable that. I don’t know the details about what happened in the early years but I assume 15 was the age at which the girl would be relatively independent and she was.

The fact the parent is being supported could be a help or a hindrance depending on if it was the same reasons the first child was removed. If a court date has been booked then the parent should be receiving the reports with recommendations and which way the LA and the other professionals are leaning. So it could be a contested hearing or it just could be to time table the child’s return home and for the court to approve.

@dippypippy we can't know the reasons but we can know whether the children would be safe in her care.

@bluebluezoo step children live with us (their dad and I) full time. Mum sees them as and when they want to see her (court ordered) mum has met a new partner who has had a child in foster care for 7 years. Mum now wants step children to sleep over and we are a bit concerned about the impact of that on SC. Step children's mum is adamant new partner was wronged by social services and has told us they will be safe because new partner is definitely getting their child back. We have no proof of this. Obviously of the child is returned great. But if not we are unsure of where we stand with the children seeing their mum.

Hi I'm an adoptive mum whose son was in FC for four years before coming to me.
Yes theoretically it could happen. But two things have to be satisfied - that the birth parents have made the necessary changes and that a move back is in the best interests of the child.
I would be astounded if a court decided that a 13/14 year old who had been with the same FC for 7 years would be sent 300 miles away, regardless of what the birth parent had done to make positive changes. Unless the child had maintained some kind of relationship and wanted it.
Co-incidentally my son was 7 when he came to me and has been with me 7 years. He loves his birth dad, we have sporadic contact. But the idea of uprooting him from a settled home half way through his GCSEs is unthinkable and if you asked him he would say no

@gothamgirl very complicated! The Safeguarding hub in our local authority have advised us to not to leave the children on their own with the new partner. Would they say this because of solid evidence or could they say this because they are not sure but because there is a child in care to be overly cautious? The children's mum has said there is no risk because the fostered child is coming home.

@Ted27 I think the new partner sees the child 3 or 4 times a year. I'm guessing that's because of the distance and possibly money. It's nice your son still sees his dad sporadically but I agree that uprooting doesn't sound in his best interests. It's all such a fine line isn't. Case by case. This person has been very cagey about the reasons and is adamant it is all because social services were overly harsh. I feel that if me and the DP could sit and talk to them about it we might feel reassured. The secrecy is worrying though...although I get it is none of our business of course!

What @Ted27 said, if parental rights have never been removed there’s always the possibility of the child being returned but this would be a planned process and depending on levels of contact between the child and parent it might not happen all that quickly in that I’d expect social workers would want to see how the relationship developed before uprooting a child from a 7 year foster placement. Ultimately the decision should be made in the child’s best interests which means the parent may not pose a risk particularly but the move isn’t in the child’s best interest at this time.

I’d be surprised at a child being in foster care for 7 years as a result of “wronged” by social work. Long term placements are both challenging and expensive, if the intention is that the child will ultimately return to their parent, social work will generally try to have the child in care for as little time possible.

I would hazard a guess that their are genuine safeguarding concerns around the partner still and need to be taken seriously.

I would take the word of the safeguarding team over that of an unreliable mother and unknown (to you) new male partner.

Omg... you MUST listen to the Safeguarding Team. I would also seek advice about contact with their Mum because she is obviously blind to the reasons he doesn't have his children, and may leave your SC alone with him - which is going against the advice of the SG Team.

Can you ask the police for advise on how to find out his background? I.e Sarah's Law