[Solved] help!! very worried for my grandaughter

they are now denying access

Hi smallnanny

I don't understand why the police won't act, the child's aunt will not have parental responsibility so the police have an obligation to take her back and return her... Unless she took her and returned her to the mother?

With the information you have given I think there is a definable risk to your granddaughter, having said that the SS can be very slow to act on neglect and a mothers mental health sometimes...sad but true.

I'm surprised the legal advice didn't include putting in an emergency child arrangements order for residence. Had you done this it's likely you would have already been to court and possibly been awarded interim residency.

Have you called the SS out of hours emergency team? This might be a good idea.... Or you can call the Social Worker dealing with the case first thing, bring them up to date and ask them if they will support an emergency application for residence through the court. If they will (even if they won't) you could go to the court and the office will give you the forms to fill in and submit. You will need form C100 to apply for residence and form C1a to report the safeguarding and risks to the child. Tell the court that you are applying for an urgent no notice child arrangements order for residence, this means that the mother won't be notified to attend and you should then go in front of the judge more or less immediately. This will cost £215 unless your son is in receipt of benefits or on a low wage, in which case he will be exempt from court fees. You will need form EX160a to claim this.

Generally mediation must have been attempted before an application to court, but an emergency application is exempt because of the risk to the child.

There are lots of useful stickys at the top of the legal eagle section about the court process which you may find useful. There were new reforms put in place in April and the old contact and residence orders have been replaced by child arrangements orders which cover both. Here's a link to info about the new programme and how it is expected to work

www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/family-justice-reform/pd-12b-cap.pdf

Page 12 explains about the urgent no notice application but its worth reading through the whole fact sheet.

Best of luck with it.

That's going to be difficult - I think the first step is to see what the social services say, but I wonder whether his ex's sister is able to return his daughter to him, at which point he can apply for an interim order.

I'll ask the Chidren's Legal Centre to pop on and see if there is anything they can advise.

the ex's sister was the one who raised major concerns + her mum. dhe was taking care of the child, when my son rang SS to tell them he's not sending back, they had no idea that the sister had taken her due to neglect!!! but they are aware now but need update them on scenario, we have C100 + C1A forms, wished we'd been told about emergency residence. Thankyou

If the child is still with the sister, she won't have parental responsibility and the police have a duty to return her to the parent she took her from! I would call the police and ask them why they say they can't do anything when the person that took her without permission does not have parental responsibility and ask them again to facilitate the return the child.

i think the sister has returned her to her mother now, but syill wrong my eyes

also how do we obtain all the SS reports as son not had any!!

I think she has been given back to the mother. Police said could not do anything as no order in place, but I would have thought they could of as sister no parental responsibility

I think she has been given back to the mother. Police said could not do anything as no order in place, but I would have thought they could of as sister no parental responsibility .
Also how can my son obtain all of the social services reports.

Yes the police attitude is surprising.

Your son would need to contact SS department and request them under the freedom of information act. There will probably be a charge for this. Here's a link to a factsheet about it

www.frg.org.uk/images/Advice_Sheets/26-access-to-records.pdf

Hi smallnanny,

In terms of your son’s options moving forward and with the current position it is important to ascertain whether or not he has Parental Responsibility (PR) for his daughter. He will have PR in the following circumstances:

• If he was married to the mother at the time of his daughter’s birth; or
• He subsequently married the mother after the birth of his daughter; or
• He is named on his daughter’s birth certificate; or
• He has entered into a Parental Responsibility Agreement with the mother; or
• He has had a Parental Responsibility Order granted in his favour by the courts; or
• He has had residence of his daughter awarded in his favour through a Residence or Child Arrangements Order by the courts.

If your son has PR for his daughter then he will have equal legal rights for the child along with the mother, this in practice would grant him a right to an equal say in all key decisions in his daughter’s life. This would, for example, include any educational, medical or religious decisions or any decision on changing the child’s surname or removing her from the country.

When it comes to residency of the child in the absence of any court orders saying otherwise she can reside with either parent with PR. There would be no automatic assumption in favour of either the mother or the father and there would also be no legal obligation on the resident parent at any given time to allow the non resident parent any contact. Although both parties do have a duty to be reasonable over these issues and if they are not it could reflect poorly on them in any future court proceedings.

In practice this would mean if your son has PR and his daughter was in his care, unless there was a court order in place saying otherwise, he could legally retain the child and would not have to hand the child over to the mother or any members of her family. If the child is in the care of the maternal aunt your son could legally remove the child from her care and the Police and Social Services would normally be able to assist with this as the aunt would have no legal rights to retain the child. If the child is back in the mother’s care then she would have no legal obligation to hand the child over to your son.

If the child is back in the care of the mother I would encourage you and your son to continue to keep Social Services and the Police informed of your welfare concerns given the care being given to the child by the mother. They can perform welfare checks on the child to make sure she is safe and if they felt it was required could take emergency action, under Police Protection or Emergency Protection Orders, to remove the child from the mother’s care.

If you feel your granddaughter is at risk of harm in the mother’s care then I would encourage your son to apply for residence of his daughter under a Child Arrangements Order on an emergency basis. As stated elsewhere in the thread this should be applied for using forms C100 and C1A, these forms are available from your local Family Court or online at www.justice.gov.uk. There are two guidance leaflets, CB1 and CB3, available from the same sources that will assist you in making this application.

Your son would normally be expected to attempt mediation with the mother before applying to court for this order and under new legislation mediation is now mandatory and apart from in limited circumstances has to be attempted prior to any court application. However there are limited circumstances where a party can claim self exemption from mediation and your son should complete section 13c of the C100 form claiming exemption from mediation on the grounds of urgency given the risk that the child could suffer harm or is already suffering harm.

There would be a fee of £215 for applying for a Child Arrangements order. However if your son is on benefits or a low income he maybe eligible for a full or partial fee exemption and should consult fee exemption form EX160A. This is available from the same sources as above.

In terms of accessing reports from Social Services if your son has PR for his daughter then he would have an automatic right to see copies of any reports regarding his daughter. If Social Services refuse to make these reports available he could consider making a formal complaint to Social Services regarding this and could also contact the Information Commissioners Office, on 03031231113, for advice on accessing these reports.

If you require any further advice please do not hesitate to contact us. Our advice line phone service on 08088020008 is available Mon-Fri between 8:00-20:00.

Yours Sincerely

Coram Children’s Legal Centre