Yes I was very confused at the MrBojangles as I had been reading his/her posts before and couldn't work out what was happening. How peculiar that there should be 2 MrBojangles. I would have thought MNHQ would know if there were 2 MNs with same nickname, but apparently not. However I take it the OP is now MrPip, though unsure of gender. However that is not really important.
I am a little confused at your post - have the LA just done a viability report on you, or an assessment for temporary foster care. Under the terms of the Children Act children are only meant to be placed with relatives for 6 weeks before being assessed and approved (hopefully) by a Fostering Panel, although many placements go on far longer than 6 weeks, sometimes running into months and even years.
I think you are mainly asking about contact and how it can be managed. I can't give you any first hand advice as I am not a foster carer but a retired soc wrkr and tm mgr of a Fostering & Adoption Team (with 30 years experience in all) You say that your sister has frequent contact with the baby as do the older sibs - is that right? If so what sort of frequency is this and how is it managed, and are there any problems at the moment? In an SGO report the issue of contact has to be addressed and the assessor will talk to the birth parents about their wishes for contact, in terms of frequency (though the decision about this is madein the best interests of the child) not the birthparents. An assessor should be clear about what ongoing contact is meant to achieve, and usually this is so that the child grows up knowing the identity of her birthparents, rather than finding out at some later stage. Your own views on contact should also be taken into account of course.
The assessor also has to interview any member of the extended family who wishes to have contact with the child to assess whether this is in the best interests of the child. Are your sister and the child's father still in a partnership or not. Do you know this man? Would you feel happy to have him in your home. I think the issue of extended family having contact is something that the assessor would need to consider carefully, as given that this child is going to live with you on a permanent basis, and will not be allowed to have any kind of unsupervised contact with either parent or member of the extended family, it does beg the question what is the point of so many members of the extended family supposedly wanting contact, though of course this may not materialise.
As far as frquency is concerned it is usually recommended to the judge that this be on a quarterly basis or x 6 per year. The thing is once a SGO is made you will be a "closed case" to the LA social workers and will not therefore be able to get any help/support from them. I think this can be very difficult because whatever problems arise, you have to deal with them yourselves. It is possible for the assessing sw to request that a 1 year Supervision Order is made alongside the SGO just to ensure that all is running smoothly.
I don't understand when you say the social workers can't advise you???
I may be on the wrong track but I think this is what you are asking about. It wouldn't really be possible to talk to others with an SGO and contact as the circumstances are confidential to each case, and of course every case is different and what might be happening with family X may be very different from what is happening in your case.