Social services and PLO

[Chrissy81]

Just had a relapse over the weekend and my little girl, whose 2 has been taken into emergency care. I'm heartbroken. I've been told it's going to PLO process. I live alone and have no family here. I'm meeting with drug and alcohol service on Wednesday an seeing my GP tomorrow. Is there anything else I should be doing? I'm devastated, I miss her so much.

You need legal advice from a family solicitor.

Where you getting any support or were you just trying to stop alcohol on your own? Have you looked into AA?

What happened for her to be removed
?

This is literally your last chance to explain what you are going to do to make sure you can look after your dd, and prioritise her wellbeing over everything, including addiction.

IF they accept that, you will get a chance, but if you break that agreement they will apply to the court for your dd to be removed.

SS are involved, and it takes a lot to get to this stage. You need to be honest about how bad your relapse was, what has happened previously, the risk your child was put at, and the impact on her of your behaviours.

You say you are alone - that means your dd relies on you to keep her safe and cared for. They put her in emergency foster care because you weren't fit to do that because you relapsed. If you truly love your dd you need to ask yourself IS she actually safe with you? Can you guarantee you won't relapse again? If not,then you should put her first, not yourself. Of course you miss her, but is being with you best for her at the moment?

Good luck to you and your daughter.

Normally children won't be removed just because a parent is an alcoholic, so I am assuming something else is going on that has caused the removal of your daughter

I'm a recovering alcoholic and have been through the PLO process. It's awful. I wish you luck OP.

You have GOT to jump through their hoops. It's very, very likely they'll demand hair strand testing and blood testing at a later stage, to prove sobriety.

Whatever they tell you to do, do it. You will probably be sent on various parenting courses and have to take part in group/individual sessions with the addiction service.

AA can provide solid peer support, but be warned that a lot of LAs don't endorse AA (they can't monitor it), so you can go to meetings in addition to the other work they'll expect you to do.

Effectively, this will be ruling your life for at least a year. You've got to pour EVERYTHING into sobriety.

You will be given information for family law solicitors, which are covered by legal aid during PLO.

What happened during your relapse?