Social Services

[jedimistress]

Anyone know how the social services work when a child's sole parent is an alcoholic and does not meet the childs needs? (feeding, care, nappy changing etc)

If the child was removed, would there be options for it to go to responsible family members, or would the child go into care?

Many thanks.

[stoo_pid]

Should SS decide that the parent was not fit to look after the child, in most cases they would try & place the child with another family member first. Primarily this would be with the aim of reuniting the child with the parent (after they've sorted themselves out). Obviously a reunion would not always be possible and the relatives may end up as permanent carers.

[lynnod]

the social services strive to work in the best interests of the child. surprisingly this doesn't always mean removing the child from their home. as far as i know- an assessment is usually carried out once the child becomes known to the department and any supports available are offered(eg, councelling for he parent, nursery placement for the child etc- to ease the pressures of the parent). If the situation is really bad then the decision may be made for the child to be removed. Depending on age- this could be to a foster placement or a childrens home. Unless the parent no longer has parental responsibilities-it is unlikely that the child could be placed with another family member as the parent would have to give their consent. either way they try to keep the child in the family home-as removing them can surprisingly cause them more harm. i work at a childrens home.

[stoo_pid]

Sorry lynnod, have to disagree on one small point. We were in precisely the above situation and looked after my nephews when it was deemed my sister was no longer in a position to care for her boys.

For various reasons our initial position was that the boys would be better off with a foster family in their part of the country (250+ miles form where we live) near their mother. SS had other ideas and from the very first meeting were pressurising us to take the children. This pressure continued and in the end they told us that to foster the boys in their area they would have to be split up. (We later discovered this was an outright lie.) Rather than see that happened, of course, we took them in.

Obviously I can't speak for all SS around the country. However if you fancy reading the forums on the Family Rights Group website you'll see our situation was far from unique.

[stoo_pid]

The Children Act 1989 puts local authorities under a duty to place looked-after children with family and friends carers unless this would not be reasonably practical or consistent with the child's welfare.

from: here

Bit more info here