Social services, also known as the local authority, will usually only take a child away from their parents if they believe that the child is at risk of significant harm suffering harm or neglect in their current circumstances. They are obliged to investigate any complaints or concerns reported to them.
Common reasons why social services would remove a child include:
- Physical abuse
- Sexual abuse
- Emotional abuse
- Neglect
- Abandonment
The Children Act 1989 places a duty on social services to provide services to promote and safeguard the welfare of children. It is a social services duty to ensure that children are not placed at risk of significant harm. Social services priority has to be the child, and they have to take the necessary steps to protect the child when they have significant concerns regarding their welfare.
In a lot of cases social services will be involved with the family before the removal of a child is contemplated. The child may have been placed on either a “child in need plan” or “child protection plan”.
Social services will try and assist families as much as they can under a child in need or child protection plan. However, sometimes enough changes are not made and social services are still worried that a child is at risk of significant harm. In these cases if social services are considering issuing proceedings they may instigate a pre-proceedings meeting (sometimes known as a PLO meeting) to see what can be done to assist the family, to work with the parents and see whether changes can be made in order to avoid proceedings.
If during the pre proceedings meetings, the local authority believes the child remains at risk of harm and the issues cannot be addressed in the children’s timescales, the local authority may issue care proceedings and the court will ultimately make the decision as to whether to grant the order sought and approve a plan of removal of a child from the parents’ care.
Sadly there are times where social services have no other course of action but to remove children from the care of the parents to prevent children from suffering or being at risk of suffering significant harm. In an emergency the local authority may apply to the court for an emergency protection order or interim care order to safeguard a child who is considered to be at risk of significant harm.
If there are immediate concerns for a child’s safety, a child may be removed by the police and placed in police protection for up to 72 hours. Before the end of the 72 hours the local authority must either return the child to the parents care or seek an order from the court.
The Local Authority may apply for an emergency protection order which will allow them to remove the child from the parents care for a further 8 days. A parent should be given notice that this application for an emergency protection order by the local authority has been made, to ensure that they can be represented at the hearing, unless the circumstances are exceptional. If you received notification of an application you should seek independent legal advice without delay.
The local authority may apply to the court for an interim care order. The local authority will need to evidence that the child is at risk of harm or has suffered significant harm because the parenting was not the parenting that a reasonable parent would provide. This is the “threshold” which must be met for such orders to be made. The making of an Interim care order gives the local authority parental responsibility for a child, which is shared with the parent, and they are then responsible for the child’s placement and decisions about their care. The local authority can then ask the court to consider sanctioning removing the child from the parents’ care. Again a parent should be given notice of such application and urgently seek independent legal advice,
A local authority can still apply for these orders if your child has not previously been known to the social services and they are worried your child is at risk or suffering significant harm, or has suffered significant harm in your care.
Sometimes social services can ask parents to agree to their child being ‘looked after’ by the local authority which could mean them being placed with a family member or friend who is approved as a temporary carer for them by the local authority or placed in foster care. This can happen by the local authority asking a parent with parental responsibility to ‘consent’ to their child being ‘accommodated. This is often called ‘S20 consent’. This is voluntary consent and you can remove your consent at any time. Depending on the circumstances, if you remove consent, the local authority may apply to court to ask for an interim care order.
When social services become involved with your family in relation to your children, you are entitled to legal representation and you should seek legal advice if social services are seeking to remove your child. We can provide you with expert legal advice and legal aid is often available in such cases.
If you are concerned about potential or existing court orders, known as emergency protection orders or interim care orders, or any are concerned about any of the issues raised in this blog, our team can offer expert advice. Get in touch for more information.
I met a woman a few days ago who is really down on her luck. She has two sons and a daughter, She has been selling 'The Big Issue' for several years to try and make ends meet but then her son was ill and she stayed in hospital with him and was not able to earn enough money to pay her rent. She borrowed from a friend but then when her friend needed the money back and she had to take out a loan and was not able to meet the payments and pay her rent from her earnings. Eventually she lost her flat and for several months has been living in a tent or, when she has earned enough been paying for a hostel. I don't know a lot about her and have not seen the children but she is clean and tidy and I can believe that she is doing the best she can for her children. She is petrified that if she claims any benefits the authorities will know that they are living in a tent and will take her children away from her. Is this a genuine possibility or are her fears groundless?
Response from Stephensons
Thank you for your comment to be able to advise your friend accurately our team would need some additional information, if they could call us on 0161 696 6193 or complete our online enquiry form we will contact them directly to discuss the situation.
What chances are of my friend loosing her child 2 year for been intoxicated while in her care, local person called police police came arrested her kept her in jail till see seen a judge now the child is in foster care for the past 5 days, can she get her child back? Thank you for your services.
Response from Stephensons
Thank you for your comment to be able to advise your friend accurately our team would need some additional information, if they could call us on 0161 696 6193 or complete our online enquiry form we will contact them directly to discuss the situation.
Can we remove a 14yr old from out house. She refuses to go to school. Smashes the house up and prevents us from going to work. She is both verbally and physically abusive. Social workers, youth workers and the school have all been involved and all gave up. Can we kick her out? The answer we've been given is no, deal with this by yourselves
Response from Stephensons
Thank you for your comment to be able to advise you accurately our family law team would need some additional information, if you could call us on 0161 696 6193 or complete our online enquiry form we will contact you directly to discuss your situation.
Hi social said my partner could be home for Xmas with possibility of him being home for may then suddenly changed plans wen I disagreed to fo public supervised due to my sons condition and my partners. This is after 2yrs of social not doing anything only spoke to my partner once in June even tho the enquiry is about him and have never rung him bk to tell him wat to do . But now say he's that much of a risk if we remain together they will take me to court just because he was was arrested wi t h Air pistols and hasn't been going to probation but has been no abuse since last February other than sexual consentual but they say that is abuse what will court likely do.
Response from Stephensons
Thank you for your comment to be able to advise you accurately our family law team would need some additional information, if you could call us on 0161 696 6193 or complete our online enquiry form we will contact you directly to discuss your situation.
My 8 month old grandson has been removed from his mum due to none mobile injuries, appalling living conditions and not meeting basic needs as well as finding drug paraphernalia in living room and dog wee and poo everywhere. The social worker has said supervised contact only but dads have refused due to safe guarding issues. Social worker is happy with the dads decision. Mum has decided to go to mediation but dads thoughts are not changing to her having contact as the social services report isn't completed yet. There are ongoing concerns regarding the children. What are the next steps
Response from Stephensons
Thank you for your comment to be able to advise you accurately our family law team would need some additional information, if you could call us on 0161 696 6193 or complete our online enquiry form we will contact you directly to discuss your situation.
Hi, if a house is clean and a baby/ children have their own beds to sleep in and everything they need but the house is overcrowded can they still get taken away from you?
Response from Stephensons
A court can only make an interim care order authorising removal of a child if it is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the child concerned is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm and if so, any removal should be proportionate to the actual risks and in the knowledge of any alternative arrangements that would not require separation.
To determine the above social services will consider whether the overcrowding is causing any physical or emotional harm to the child, for example whether the overcrowding is causing or may cause in the future any developmental issues for the child. If this is the case, social services may first look to assist in searching for a larger property to resolve the issue of overcrowding. It is important that you work with social services to try to resolve the issue to avoid the matter being escalated to court.
If you would like to call our family team to discuss further, please contact us on 01616 966 229 or complete our online enquiry form.
I left abusive marriage nine years ago. My sons are 16;13. My younger son wasn't taken in holiday by ex in October and said he was suicidal. I have done all the right things to help him. My 16 year old chooses now to not see his dad for last two years. Will social services get involved as I have a drink drive conviction in 2022. ( School are worried as dad is denying sons mental health)
Response from Stephensons
Thank you for your comment if you could call our family team on 0161 696 6193 or complete our online enquiry form we will contact you directly to discuss your situation and advise if we can assist.
Can a children be removed from the parent if the children haven't be harmed and have never had a injury sustained by the children and they have never been reported for any injuries in the past but the children missed a lot of school days
Response from Stephensons
A court may only make an interim care order authorising removal of a child if it is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the child concerned is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm. “Harm” includes the impairment of health or physical, intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural development. Public law proceedings of this nature should be a last resort and local authorities should seek to work with families to address concerns.
I have had my children removed for the second time while they on care orders. Social turned up without telling me and said my children are been taken into care today. Without going to court, I was told they only had a legal meeting and was said to remove them. Can social services just do this?
Response from Stephensons
Children’s services should give notice of their intention to remove a child at home under the care order, unless the child’s safety and welfare requires that they be removed immediately. It is important that you seek independent legal advice without delay. If you would like to speak to our team please call us on 0161 696 6193.
The social worker is involved due to past disputes and upset with baby's health and PTS my daughter has suffered and inability to deal with the stresses she's had in the relationship. The father (who has cheated before and during my daughter's pregnancy and has still returned making my daughter think he was with her by sleeping with her then saying he has girlfriend and going off again) knows my daughter gets very upset over soured relationship but he admitted to social worker last year she is a good mother, as he is a father. The social worker has also said she has seen how good my daughter is with baby and how well she looks after her. My daughter just wanted a nice family unit and out of character and to everyone's shock left the baby Thursday night asleep in cot and went to look for father. The father went back to the flat after my daughter told him she was looking for him and he took the baby to his parents house. My daughter is is very distraught (has been without my physical support since beginning of December as my husband and I have had to shield and could not bubble with her and baby because the father kept going back and forth and has been in contact with other people) and now the social worker says the father wants her to sign a paper saying she will not attempt to take the baby away. The social worker says this is until my daughter has a mental health assessment but my daughter is inconsolable thinking this is a ploy to get custody as, after the baby was born and their relationship was under strain because of baby's health problems, he said he would get custody and get their flat sold (which she is half owner of and put half into). Can you offer any advice as my daughter has now lost her job last week after being furloughed and she is desperate to have her baby back and knows what she did was wrong even with monitor on phone and sleeping baby and said she would never do that again and in a few weeks I will be having second vaccination and able to support her physically again. She has been looking after the baby mainly alone 24/7 for months now and I'm certain she would never do this again. Her whole world is that baby girl.
Response from Stephensons
Thank you for your comment if you could call our family team on 0161 696 6193 or complete our online enquiry form we will contact you directly to discuss your situation and advise if we can assist.