Social services

[Ifeelhelpless]

Hi all,
I’m new to this.
I have a 6 year old nephew which is my brothers child. The child mothers has some mental health issues and often takes overdoses. She has done it since when my nephew was present. Social services are now involved and she has basically told them that she hears voices that tell her to harm my nephew and brother. Social services have asked for an initial child protection conference. There is already a plan in set where by if mum feels down the. I have to take my nephew to my place. I have him nearly every weekend and also sometimes in the week. I am so scared that social services will want to take my nephew away. I have anxiety and this has really caused me concern where all I can think about is I’m going to lose my nephew. My question is if it came to that my nephew could not be there with his parents. What would be the chance of myself taking him on? I have no children of myself so this little boys means the world to me and if he was ever taken I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. I’m sorry if this make little sense I’m just so upset/scared of the outcome

Thank you for taking the time too read

Hi I don’t really have advice in your situation but you sound fab. I think you should ask for this post to be moved though, to a more appropriate forum so you get some replies?

I work in Children's Services, though I'm not a Social Worker. If your nephew needed to be removed from his parents SS will try to place him with a suitable relative. They would need to do an assessment, have you already been assessed?

Morning.
The first thing they will do will be to see if the situation can be managed and improved so he can stay at home without these difficulties.

If the situation doesn't improve and social services feel that your nephew will not be consistently safe in his mother's care, they may look at applying to the family court for an order to protect him.

In this case, they will always try to see if he can stay within the family network. The first option would be dad, if he's suitable and able. If not, they would ask mum to put forward family members. You could put yourself forward.

We're getting a long way into a hypothetical future here buy they would then need to assess that... looking at your financial situation, your stability, how you'd adapt your life to cater for bringing up a child, your ability to commit too looking after them right through childhood, and how you would manage your and his relationship with his mother if she poses a risk at certain times, or if she tries to get him back how you would prioritise him.

Hi Ifeel,

It sounds as though social services already consider you to be an important person in your nephew's life and a stable presence. Therefore it seems very likely that if Mum was at some point deemed temporarily or permanently too unwell to look after your nephew, and your brother was unable or unwilling to do so alone, you would likely be the next port of call. This is called kinship care and is preferable if a child cannot live with their birth parents as it retains the relationships within the family for a child which is important for their stability. Social services generally want to keep families together as much as possible. This is not only what is best for the child when it's safe for them, more pragmatically, it's extremely expensive to take a child into care. The only time that kinship care with a supportive, stable relative is considered inappropriate is if the birth parent[s] are refusing to stick to official contact arrangements and keep turning up to see the child unannounced. As you already have a working system in place, this seems unlikely.

Do you have a social worker, or contact details for your nephew's social worker? Perhaps you could contact them and express your concerns about losing contact. They might not be able to tell you what their thoughts/concerns are right now because of confidentiality but they may be able to answer the question of if he was removed for his safety, whether you would be likely to be considered and if not if it would be possible for you to keep in contact, since you have such a strong bond.

I am a social worker and I also sit on our LA kinship panel. I would reckon that if you are already a significant part of your nephew life and care package and he needed a longer term placement you would be the first port of call. It is much better generally for children to be placed with relatives rather than foster carers when suitable family placements are available. Your nephew is lucky to have you.

Hi I’m new! I’m a mother of one preschooler.

Have joined to ask others their opinion on home educating. Is this the right area to post in? Thanks

Apologies! I’ve just noticed this is somebody’s post! Sorry I’ll have a root around for the right area oops!