Social workers/Family law solicitors...please help

[OnWhatGrounds]

Okay, so I generally know I'm not in the wrong here due to my own professional background but because of the emotion involved I'm wanting to sound this out....

My nephew has always been a cause for concern. Mum is not around and lives in a different country - very little contact and relationship. He lives with dad and has done since he came to England age 4. He is now 13. We've always had input with him and cared for him frequently. At one point age 5 we cared for him for 5 months whilst social care were investigating my brother.

We have made referrals due to concerns re emotional harm over the years, never meets threshold. I know it's hard to prove. I have always suspected physical as well but no evidence - there is a lot of context here re my brothers violence growing up. A long story.

My nephew alleged physical harm a month ago but social care closed it, not enough evidence allegedly. He has now alleged physical harm, being punched in the face and hit. He has had a black eye and police have taken a statement and want to video interview. Social care are finally involved and have asked us to have him for the moment , but say it's child in need. So my query is:

1.) I know this isn't acceptable. You can't just have a child. Under what grounds am I caring for him as I certainly won't do this on private arrangement like last time. It was wishy washy and no support or structure. If he isn't safe enough to go home then they need to be transparent on whether they feel a threshold is met for significant harm. Currently when I rang up they said it's at child in need. This doesn't sit right with me. You can't have a child who isn't safe to go home but is only CIN.

2.) what grounds am I caring for her. I am going to be emailing the s.worker/manager to let them know I do not agree to care for him under private arrangement. We don't even know if my brother has agreed to a s20 or whether he has been told we have volunteered. We did not. We were asked.

I have a background in children services so I know this isn't right. I want to help my nephew but I won't be messed about and I know they aren't being transparent which is such a shame, as it sets a bad tone when I know the majority of social workers want to do good. Context; I have had cases with this allocated social worker before and she has told me she is on the edge of burnout in a professional capacity so I'm already wary

I may also put this on AIBU as I know it's more traffic there.

How old is your nephew? Personally I'd want to have mine with me in the circumstances you describe no matter what.

Sorry, just seen you have put his age.

Where will he go ?

IME they will try and get away with the cheapest option, so kinship carer eventually rather than the ‘proper’ rate. It’s awful.

Ignore me I totally read the post wrong … il re read it x

Is it a boy or girl you mix the two?

You can make your own application to court for a Special guardianship order and I’d suggest you spend a bit of money (can’t remember how much, £2k-ish) on this if you can possibly do so - apply today!

Children’s services are pissing about here - that needs to have been a s47 investigation with an injury that left a mark. Did police take police protection or was it a s20 agreement? Anyway doesn’t matter much, they won’t remove him for this as they’re useless clearly.

The power is all in your niece/nephew’s hands. Where does he/she want to be? If at yours you need to get to court. They will treat this as a private application, under section 8.

in the meantime you let social care know what you’ve done and you ask he/she stay with you under s20. Try to communicate same to your brother.

You are absolutely right. This is NOT a cin plan. The child is looked after, and S20 should have been signed

Absolutely agree with your point but they’re not actually applying to court to remove this child and place him with family are they, so they are placing him very short term. If money is tight OP you must seek the fostering allowance and look up regulation 24 placements.

Request to be assessed as a kinship foster carer and financial support. Get a solicitor to write to them if needed. There are court judgments to say it shouldn’t be done this way

Does it matter? I’m assuming there’s either a typo or OP is trying to change a few minor details to make the situation more anonymous.

It doesn’t matter and you’re quite right. There’s no need to trip someone up when they’re asking for help.

If he is open on CIN then he is not looked after. You need to ask the sw if they are asking father to sign s20 so he is looked after or if they are going to issue care proceedings and ask for an interim care order from the court. If they do either of these two things then they need to regulate the placement which means making you a friends and family foster carers either by doing a regulation 24 assessment and then a viability or full kinship carer assessment (and giving you the appropriate foster carer funds) or via the court regulating the placement under a 38/6.

if they are not doing these then your nephew can just go back to dad at any point. If he is not under an interim care order then social care do not share parental responsibility and he can go home as they can’t tell any of you what to do.
if they are saying this is a private agreement between you and the father (which it doesn’t sound like it is) then this would be a private fostering arrangement which they still need to assess, and it would be expected that the father pays you the child benefit to do this.
it sounds like they are trying to keep the child safe but trying not to do this via the child becoming cared for and having to pay you. This is not correct procedure, and unless dad asked you to have the child and you said yes, this is arranged by them and therefore you need to be regulated and paid in some way. Hope this helps but ask anything else if it’s not clear

Sexual abuse is more likely male to female was all I was thinking. Being a female survivor of domestic and sexual abuse my feelings around this are heightened plus the long investigation into the brothers background is a factor.

I'm a SW, and am pretty confident your nephew's SW will have been told to frame it as a 'family arrangement' or that it falls under private fostering, which definitely is not in this case in this scenario due to the physical harm. I'd ask for a meeting / discussion with the SW and TM. Point out that they have worries about your nephew returning home and as the LA doesn't consider it safe, he should be placed with you under s.20, or the LA should initiate care proceedings.

Under. s.20 or s.38 he would then be considered a looked after child, and unless the LA has completed a viability assessment of you, his placement with you would be considered unregulated which they will not be happy with due to OFSTED requirements. My LA pays family/friends assessed as carers the same fostering allowance as you'll be temporarily approved as as a foster carer pending full family and friends fostering assessment.

Equally, at 13 your nephew needs to be listened to about his views and what he wants. He could ask his SW for an independent advocate who may support him in saying he wants permanence with you, which should initially be under s.20.

Force the LA's hand and say you can't/won't care for him without a legal framework in place ensuring his safety and permanence with you. Offer to have him under a CAO as the least restrictive order, but again put it back to the LA to fund your application. Or, suggest an SGO which they fund, where a financial package of support will be assessed.

This in not a family arrangement and the SW needs reminding of it.

Also, your nephew has an injury and will be completing a video statement with police. This should be as a joint s.47 enquiry. Ask the SW if a Strategy Discussion has been held. Your nephew needs to be supported through this under Achieving Best Evidence.

I’m very sorry that happened to you and I understand your thinking. Unfortunately sexual abuse of boys is also common enough that it’s not really that useful a parameter for people giving generic advice on a forum. Knowing that something like 4/5 child sexual abuse victims are girls doesn’t really change anonymous advice on a situation where the child is described as being a boy - because he could be the 1 in 5.

Thank you everyone - I suspected and already knew as much, just needed to sound it out.

They are now saying that he can go home even though there is an active investigation and he literally still has a black eye. They say they don't have threshold for removal.

I have said they need to get a service manager to call me if they are essentially telling me a child at risk of physical harm can go home.

I'm so sorry I've put this on AIBU as well ad I didn't expect anyone to respond on here. I'm really grateful.

I'm fed up with the silly games they are playing. They are trying to double bluff us into private arrangements.

@stickssss This is what I said to them (I'm a social worker too so I know all of this, needed to sound it out) but they have said they don't have threshold! I'm so angry. I absolutely know this would meet threshold.

In any case my nephew will refuse to go home so they will need to secure him.