Welcome to the DAD.Info forum: Important Information – open to read:
Our forum aims to provide support and guidance where it can, however we may not always have the answer. The forum is not moderated 24 hours a day, so If you – or someone you know – are being harmed or in immediate danger of being harmed, call the police on 999.
Alternatively, if you are in crisis, please call Samaritans on 116 123.
If you are worried about you or someone you know is at risk of harm, please click here: How we can help
Hi,
My son is 16 & slightly autistic.
He was living with his mum & stepdad. His mum passed away & he stayed on with stepdad.
I always had him a least a day\week & followed his progress at school, etc. No court orders.
Now he is temporarily staying with his mum's relatives since the Coronoavirus due to stepdad being vulnerable.
Relatives said I can't have him because of the lockdown. They said there're vulnerable people with them. They informed me without discussing it with me.
(No old people live with them but they have a 10 yr old child.)
I've been seeing my son on a daily basis for about 15 mins from a distance. The relatives live nearby.
Relatives now decided that my son is going back to stay with the stepdad for 4 weeks then he's coming back to theirs.
I only found out through my son. The relatives didn't discuss anything with me eventhough I asked them to in previous texts.
When I texted them to find out the details, they confirmed what my son said.
They said he can stay with me as long as it's in a block of weeks rather than days.
Haven't hugged my son since th lockdown.
Can the relatives take decisions like these without consulting me?
Any suggestions on how to approach this ?
Thanks.
hi,
legally and by parental responsibility, you have more rights over your son than his relatives. it should be the other way round, with your son living with you, and him spending time with relatives.
your son should have the right to make decisions where he wants to stay. do you know if he is able to make such a decision with his condition?
because of his age, going to court may not be successful. some info :
A CAO that provides for a child to have contact with a person cannot be made once a child reaches 16 years of age unless there are exceptional circumstances. An order will last until the child is 16, unless brought to an end sooner by the court, or unless the circumstances of the case are exceptional.
----
may be good idea to seek legal advice or speak to childrens services.
you could simply decide to keep your child with you permanently the next time he visits. but may cause more tensions with family.
Now that my son is back to the stepdad place (for 4-6 weeks), can I ask for the 'Support bubble' to be implemented so that I can have close contact with my son ?
Stepdad lives by himself. I live by myself too.
Doctors said to stepdad the Coronovirus would kill him.
Can the stepdad refuse to implement the 'Support bubble' ?
How do I approach this?
Thanks
Your his dad . you have more rights than all of them. I do agree with them that if you do have your son it should be in blocks though. With there being no court order being in place you are within your rights to just have your son live with you especially if your son was agreeable to it as well. it would be them then arranging contact with you instead.
Welcome to the DAD.info forum.
We don’t like to set ‘rules’, but to make sure that you and the other dads are kept safe, we have some requests. When engaging with the forum, please be aware of the following:
- The forum is not moderated 24 hours per day.
- Many of the moderators do so on a voluntary basis. Whilst they may be able to provide some guidance, advice or support, they may not be able to deal with specifics.
- We are not an emergency crisis service so if you or someone else is in immediate danger, please call emergency services.
- If you are concerned about the safety of a child, please click here to find the support you can get for them (link to new page)
- If you are in crisis, please call Samaritans on 116 123. They are open 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.
We hope you find this forum a supportive environment and thank you for joining us.