Care proceedings... section 20

[Sheenabeena87]

am in hospital with my newborn until Monday I have been advised to sign a section 20 I'm not even sure how it works I know they are looking to get an interim care order....I had one cp conference meeting 17th Jan and the plan never got started. My hair strand test came back positive for cocaine use (6months) I had a drink problem but haven't drank for 2 half years....it's not an excuse but my mental health was not good n some1 offered me the drug n I stupidly took it I haven't touched it for 3 weeks and with regular drug testing i am going to stay abstinence I'm determined to get my boy back...it wasn't going to court before the hair strand results as they said they didn't have enough....what are my chances of having him bk

Cooperate with everyrhing they ask you to do and get a legal aid family solicitors advice before you sign a s20.

Thank you for your reply...I was advised that if I didn't sign the section 20 then they would go for an EPo

I am willing to do everything I can to change my lifestyle and mindset for myself and children I am a good mother deep down I have raised my other two children aged 7 and 9 up until 3 years ago when their father left me I had a major breakdown I spent 2 half years working with all relevant services and eventually I got to have them Fri to Sunday. At present me and their father are now very close friends and we co parent really well. This time I feel the social worker has already judged me and isn't very supportive my gut tells me she doesn't like me and it's not just me everybody else around ( midwives... mental health worker...sister and friends) have all been really encouraging and know I can do this it's just the social worker who is negative. I don't trust her to do the parenting assessment as I feel she is judgemental and the communication is shocking! She doesn't tell me anything I have to hear things second hand either from other professionals or my sister....I feel like if I request for her to be changed it will be seen as negative so how can I work with this woman who I feel I can't be open and honest with?

Take your solicitors advice, you don't have to sign section 20 and sometimes as a social worker I don't think it is always the right thing to do but in your case your baby is very young and vulnerable and seeking an emergency protection order will be stressful and will not look good if it's due to your lack of cooperation.
If you sign section 20 you are keeping your baby safe while you are not in a position to care for them. Vow to make changes and work with agencies. Think about all friend and family alternative carer options.

Did you take cocaine whilst pregnant? How is baby? You probably have a better chance if there are no withdrawal issues for baby and if you voluntarily sign for him to be cared for till you are more in control of things . I hope you can work with social services and have lots of support to get through this

Solicitor can advise you about asking for an independent social work parenting assessment but tbh everyone thinks their social worker is wrong, the court needs reason for another report to be commissioned.

All you can do is cooperate - you were using cocaine as recent as 3 weeks ago whilst heavily pregnant - it's hardly going to demonstrate to the social worker that you have a new mindset - you had 8 months to do that.

Requesting a change of social worker at this point I agree would look negative

Agree with all this. A one off or not, it was showing you struggle to put the child's needs before yours.

You say you had a pre-birth child protection conference which SS don't undertake lightly, so there must be other concerns?

I would sign the section 20 then do literally anything SS asks you to do to get your boy back.

You need to be honest with yourself about your drug use as hair strand testing would not really show one isolated incident of cocaine use. If the hair strand test has shown medium or high levels of cocaine then you need to think about that and what you can do to address your drug use.
Your social worker isn't against you or needlessly judging you and it's the role of midwives and mental health workers to be positive and supportive because you need to keep working with them.
You need to be real with yourself here. In the interim get some legal advice and sign the section 20 as you'll end up in emergency court otherwise by the sound of it.

I never said it was a one off Its a phase I went through....I was suffering with my mental health at the time the GP stopped all my meds wouldn't prescribe anything I was around people using at the time n I wasn't strong enough to say no....I am addressing my problem and working with cgl (drugs and alcohol service) I will have the strand test repeated and it WILL be Negative

Yes the other concern was they say I'm vulnerable to DV

Yes I am going to sign it address my issues n try get my boy bk

I don't recommend asking for a new social worker TBH. You'll do much better working with the one you've got even if you don't feel you like her much. Remember if the parenting assessment feels biased or is incorrect you have the opportunity to challenge it through your solicitor and the barrister who will represent you in court. Barristers are very good at pulling apart negative assessments if that's the way it goes. Who is the father of this baby? Could he take him?

@Sheenabeena87

In their eyes the time you should have been testing negative is throughout your pregnancy when your putting things into your babies system as well as your own.

And you also said previously six months ago you were taking it so that's two phases you went through in a very short space of time.

You're making wrong choices by being around people taking it and that's YOUR choice to put yourself there so it's showing you aren't making choices based on your babies needs.

That and it's happened previously with your other children shows social services that they are at risk with you.

Does your ex know you've been using drugs again this time?

Yes the other concern was they say I'm vulnerable to DV

Are they right?

At the moment you haven't got custody of your older children, there are DV concerns, you're a current cocaine user and you've got a history of alcohol misuse.

I hope things improve for you, OP. It's very difficult to overcome all these problems.

You need to get real here. There are red flags going off. You have a coke problem and aren’t in either a detox or rehab so the likely hood of you not relapsing are pretty slim.
cooperate until you get yourself together. Be honest. No more making excuses.

OP can I ask why you woulndt consider adoption for this baby?

You've chosen to put drugs into their system multiple times throughout pregnancy, some very recently and dont have your other children living with you? Theres also a massive lack of taking responsibility and blaming other people here here eg your MH was bad, you were surrounded by other drugs takers, gp stopped meds, sw is bias etc.

Is this actually helpful do you think?

Well she certainly needs a reality check so you never know.

Do you have any idea how common this sort of situation is??
There are many babies born into this situation and vast majority aren’t adopted out.
While situation is a mess it is salvageable with the right attitude and support.

Well maybe if we put the innocent babies first they wouldnt have to grow up like this.

This woman is taking 0 responsibility for the fact she put cocaine into her baby, she is blaming everyone else and also doesnt seem to have custody of her other children. The time to sort herself out has been and gone...yes she can still do this for herself but give the baby a chance at a good life. She already has 2 kids that didnt help her turn her life around, at what stage do we protect the children?

Sod all the professionals involved and the court proceedings that are going to result in her baby being removed from her - your mums net post will be the thing that gives her a reality check!!

FWIW I've never known a mother agree to an adoption care plan until the very last point of the proceedings. It's usually very important to parents who can't care for their babies that the records show they tried and they fought. I've no idea what the outcome of these proceedings will be but asking a woman if she would consider having her baby adopted is never called for from a random on the internet.

The child is being protected 🙄 that's what the care proceedings will do. And she won't resume care of the baby if she doesn't sort her life out in the next 6 months. But she has a chance, as every parent is entitled to.

You have a romanticised view of adoption.