Any Social workers?

[mariemarie]

not sure where to put this so please move if its not in the right place.

I am in the middle of a situation where social care are involved, with a child I know and I know the parent. I was invited to a meeting and we all thrashed it out. Alot was said and basically the mother of this child has bi-polar and several other mental problems (some self diagnosed) is on a cocktail of drugs and quite frankly (IMO) is not capable of providing a safe secure environment for her child. In this meeting the social worker for the child looked quite shocked and concerened at the conditions this child lives in.

What I would like to know - under what circumstances would the mother actually lose custody of this child - or would the father (who is in another county but is very good at paying maintenance and helping out financially in a crisis) have to actually sue for custody.

crappy situation but any advice knowledge would be greatly appreciated. Also can't give too much detail.

thanks

[mummyplus2]

I'm a student social worker so I will give it a go but don't have amazing knowledge.

Do you know if the child is classed as a Child in Need or under Child Protection? What was the outcome of the meeting?

If there is serious concerns (and they would need to be extremely serious, I know many children still with parents that I would not consider well looked after but apparantly provide adequate parenting) the social worker would need to gather evidence to provide to a judge in order to get a protection order to remove the child.

Basically what I'm saying, is if the child has clothes on their back and food to eat, provided they are not being abused, it can be very hard to remove children.

Does the father ever see the child? If the father wanted to fight for residency of the child, he could try as long as he can prove they would be better off with him. If the children were going to be removed from the mother then SS would look for a relative to take the child first and would assess them to make sure they are suitable, so the father could be a possiblity. It might be worth him speaking to his solicitor.

Don't know if that helps, is a bit hard not knowing the exact details as to whether she is a suitable carer for the child. Whitemoon is a Social worker, she might be along to answer more or you could PM her. Not sure what area she works in.

[mariemarie]

Thanks, your reply does help.

the child is a child in need. She has clothes but only because her father pays for them. She has food because she eats at school...to be honest her home food is questionable. Adequate parenting - also questionable - (VERY) which did actually come out in the meeting. I do think that between the wider family we do have enough evidence. Thanks so much for your reply.

[Bop]

I am also a social worker, although I'm not currently working.

The decision to remove a child is taken thinking about the best interest of the child and then, as MP2 has already said, the first option would be to look for a family member who can take the child and the father is a strong candidate, especially if he is already involved.

Initially, if SW assess that the situation is inadequate, they will seek to support the mother to see if she is able to adequately parent the child and if this does not improve the situation, then they will then look to remove the child.

Do be aware that if a child is removed, then they often need a special type of parenting to help them overcome some of he chaos of their early lives - it can very very hard work, but very wortwhile too.

I hope that helps. but do come back to me (via PM if you are more comfortable) if there is more you want to know.

Bop