Can they take my baby away

[saraheve]

HI i really need some advice, my 9 year old son was taken into care due to depression i was unable to keep on top of housework, I was binge drinking on weekends and I was in a unhappy relationship with childs farther, since my son has been taken into care I have attended therapy, hired a cleaner, attended a parent recovery group, relapse prevention group and took parenting courses. I am 8 months pregnant due to give birth very soon, I was given a prebirth assessment that said social services will go to court if they see that babys needs are not being met, unborn baby is on child protection and on the plan it says the same, yet social services say they want to take me to court? I was told their is no present concerns and I have addressed all previous concerns yet they want to still take it to court based on pre historic. I have so much evidence of significant changes yet they want to keep me in hospital once baby is born and have a discharge planning meeting where they may take baby away. Have they got any grounds since I have made significant changes and their is no present concerns. I am very devastated please can somone advise me? Thanks.

sits and waits for the "there's a big difference between weed and heroin comments

Well there is

Digestive you are totally right. I wouldn't be surprised about the update stating something like... they took my baby. No way are ss going to leave a helpless newborn with someone who has had a 9 yr old taken away. Also the pp commenting about hoping the father is nowhere near, op has stated many times that ss want him near. Aparantly. I do wonder why he wasn't at the birth if he isn't a threat though. There are too many holes in ops story. Let's hope ss do the right thing.

Digestive, I suspect most of the support comes from women who can relate to a situation caused by living with an abusive partner for 15 years. That they can empathise with Sara and wish her well.

It's not for any of us on this thread to decide if she should or shouldn't "keep" her children. I would suggest it's not helpful to anyone, least of all her children, for you to try to kick Sara down from a place where she is desperately trying to do the right thing by them.

No way are ss going to leave a helpless newborn with someone who has had a 9 yr old taken away

My friend has had 5 children 'taken away' and placed with family members. Baby number 6 is with her and has been since birth.
It can can and does happen.

No way are ss going to leave a helpless newborn with someone who has had a 9 yr old taken away

That's not how it works.

Digestive a couple of hours post birth I don't think I could of told you my children's names.

I am massively anti cannabis but I'm not stupid enough to compare cannabis to heroin.

Your sticking the knife in when a poster is clearly vulnerable having just given birth.

I'm certainly judging, just not the OP.

I still think that this won't be the case. Or they would not be taking her to court. They would leave her be.

Gallavich

Probably the reason social workers/social services have their names dragged through the mud.

Gizmo that's really not how it works. Children's services go to court for reasons other than removing children. Sometimes they may want a supervision order or even no order but they want the court to decide which assessments need to be ordered.
They may also want the op and baby to go into a parent and baby placement.
Having had one child removed doesn't automatically mean that subsequent children will be removed. Different children have different needs. It may be that an older child's needs could not be met by a parent but a newborn who has not experienced prior harm could be patented safely.
It's really not simple and it's not ok to say 'this will definitely happen' when you know almost nothing about the situation.

I really hope things work out as it sounds like op has tried to turn her life around but I'm confused, I may have misunderstood a comment further up the thread so correct me if I'm wrong but if she is shown to have turned her life around for a year she can have her son back? Would they really do that to kid? Keep him waiting a year with no actual idea of what's going to happen in his life? What if she relapsed after 11 months (not that I'm saying she will) but they are willing to take that risk with the sons life? Just keeping him in limbo?

"Digestive, I suspect most of the support comes from women who can relate to a situation caused by living with an abusive partner for 15 years. That they can empathise with Sara and wish her well."

Well this supporter is teetotal (doesn't like the taste of alcohol), tried about 5 cigarettes at the age of 14, has never tried a drug in her life, and has only had one partner, who has never been abusive in all of their 15 year marriage.

But I can empathise with Sarah and wish her well. I can see that she has had a very difficult time, which has led to some bad decisions. That she's realised how bad those decisions are when it's too late to stop her son being taken in to care. Now she has to work extremely hard if she wants him to return.

Depression doesn't come into this sob story.

Depression can massively increase the chances of abusing drugs and alcohol.

The chances of a dual diagnosis of a mental health disorder and addiction is extremely common.

None of this makes thread simple as.

I am sick of arguing about MH this week.

The mental health team do not get involved when there is no prevalent MH issues.

Yes depression does come into it.

sense and UNBORN* I'm not even going on about Mental Health now let alone arguing about it so i don't know what your on about.

Depression doesn't come into this sob story.

You can't dismiss depression or in fact any MH disorder in regards to the op's situation. It's offensive.

I don't know what it is about depression that turns people into fully qualified Doctors.

Some GFs on this thread.

sob story

Congratulations, op. Your dd is beautiful. Been following your thread. We can only see your side however if what you post is true then you have done amazingly well. Shit happens but you're know the road to turning your life around. Best of luck.

On the road

Sara when my son died I started developing a problem with prescribed medication (It's not a massive secret I've posted about it before) I wasn't taking the medication the get "high" I was taking it to numb the pain.

I ended up ODing. I spent five days in a coma and 9 in a psychiatric hospital. I technically shouldn't be alive to write this post.

It is completely possible to admit mistakes and turn your life around.

How are you feeling today Sara?

Thanks im doing very well. The social services seem like their getting desperate to find current evidence against me. I was seen by a psychiatrist and a psychologist who then wrote a report to the social worker to say im in a good mental state and I pose no risk to my child and I am bonding well. So social worker got midwife to do a drug and alcohol test on baby today, which the midwife is annoyed about as baby would of showed signs already if she was drug and alcohol dependant. And I havnt touched any drug or alcohol for months. The more evidence they try to find against me in the present time the more I can use that evidence in court to show im not harm to my child. I'm just enjoying the time I have with her now x

DigestiveMuncher good news their not going to reduce contact with my son to 5times a year they were going to but they know this is not in my sons best interests as he misses me very much. And I will fight to get my son back, but I have to fight to keep my baby to get my son back. Also you mentioned about me taking drugs and drinking while pregnant. I wasn't drinking but did have a blip with cannibis when I was 4 months pregnant just one splif when son was taken before I had theraphy ect to learn to deal with things in a better way. Baby is very healthy and not drug or alcohol dependant.I have the proof of that.