Parental kidnap of 2 children and with with PR

[Wonderlander]

Hello,

I'm new here so hello and thank you for any advice in advance.

My friend was moving house and dropped 3x children at their farther. He is on the birth certificate for the eldest but not the other 2. This was supposed to be over the weekend but he moved address and refused any contact. Police made 7 welfare checks before child support/social care was contacted who he mother was already in contact with.

She was not aware of where they were for 4/5 months as could not produce an address for the farther. In this time the farther enrolled the eldest in school and a GP. As the mother home educated and had private medical care, social services believe they are better off with the farther. Social services encourage the mother to allow the other 2 children to attend the same school and GP which she did.

During this time one of the children told the school the farther beat him with a belt, he was taken to hospital. They did not inform the mother has the farther clams she is unstable. However, the social care noted the farther smelled of cannabis.

A drug tests was performed on both parents. Mother clean, farther tested positive for cannabis and cocaine. Farther has a charges for possession of a class A drug and concealment of weapon in a public place.

I had asked my friend to complete and file C100 and there is a child arrangement court date listed for Nov 4th but this has all been a whirlwind and my friend is very under prepared. She cannot afford and legal representation and i have put steps in process for legal aid but i feel this is a case of the blind leading the blind.

Does anyone know how i would seek pro bono/free/discounted advice?

The paper work from social services is fairly shambolic, several errors and written incoherently. It appears to be very much on the side of the farther. Their main issues are that they were not registered with a GP, not in mainstream education and the mother has no fixed address. The mother has produced all of the documents to prove this is not the case but this has completely fallen of deaf ears and not mentioned is any of the reports. They seem to claim she was neglectful on the basis of home schooling, not easy accessible medical records and the mother moved house frequently, 3 time in the last 5 years as a purchase fell through.

At one social care meeting I was present at, the chair got the mother's nationality (very and laughably (African rather than British)) wrong. When they mother asked if this could be correct she was told to 'shut up or you'll be kicked out'. I was astonished. She was not allowed to speak at all!

Any advice on next steps or to navigate social services would be very much reciprocated!

She won't get legal aid unless there is well documented evidence of domestic abuse.
Why weren't the children registered with a GP? That rings alarm bells for me, much, much more so than home educating. Those two facts indicate that mum us trying to hide the children from the authorities.
I've worked alongside families and attended hundreds of case conferences and I gave never heard anyone being spoken to as you claim, everyone gets their say.
I'm sorry I have no real advice and I wish your friend well.

Thank you Clangus. The children where registered with a GP, there is proof of this but never attended as the mother preferred private health care. The social worker has been provided with the documents from jabs all the way up to present day medicals yet there is no reference to this in the newer reports.

It appears if though social services believe that the mother was indeed trying to 'hide' the children from the authorities, hence their fairly hard line against her. It is very hard to reason or explain with them. I have written a complaint in regards to the meeting i attended to the relevant governing bodies and am awaiting a response. This is my first time dealing with public bodies and I'm mortified in this particular case.

She can afford private health care but not legal representation? I think there are problems here. She keeps moving and doesn’t have the DC in school. One house purchase falling through doesn’t account for numerous house moves. Nor home schooling. What about health checks? Is she on the electoral roll?

I think she needs to demonstrate she will stay in one place, get the DC into school and register with a GP. I’m not surprised there are concerns. Nationality is the least of the worries.