[Solved] Would it be sensible to go back to court now?

maybe some of the more experienced admins can post on this but this is my view

From my experience I would try and get things moving while your children are on a protection plan and do what you see as in the best interests of your children.

I regret now not going back and getting my order amended while my children were on a plan and i am having to start from scratch and essentially go through
the torment of going back to court again

There is a high chance you may get the residency and i would take this opportunity to start proceedings while also following the actions laid out on the plan.

Good Luck!

As the child has been placed in your care, you are better placed to apply to have him with you. Permanently, have you spoken to his social worker about this? I think it would be advisable to do so as it would be in yours and your child's best interests to have their support in is.

If the incident was extremely serious and the ex isn't compliant and you have the support of Social Services, I would say put an urgent, no notice application in to vary the existing order and a Prohibited Steps Order to prevent the mother from removing him from your care. There's no way of predicting the outcome, but from what you say, you're in a favourable position to be successful...the court are more likely to transfer residence when the safeguarding situation is current.

Best of luck

I regret now not going back and getting my order amended while my children were on a plan and i am having to start from scratch and essentially go through the torment of going back to court again

Is it really starting from scratch? Even with a history? Thank you for your reply.

As the child has been placed in your care, you are better placed to apply to have him with you. Permanently, have you spoken to his social worker about this? I think it would be advisable to do so as it would be in yours and your child's best interests to have their support in is.

If the incident was extremely serious and the ex isn't compliant and you have the support of Social Services, I would say put an urgent, no notice application in to vary the existing order and a Prohibited Steps Order to prevent the mother from removing him from your care.

The social worker has alluded to how far I was willing to go which is what prompted me to ask. The extremely serious event was an disclosure by my son to his MGM, which he did not repeat to the social worker and police officer who subsequently visited him to talk about it - though the social worker has indicated in a section 47 report the belief that this was done to protect his mother. The end result though of course without him repeating the allegation is NFA. Common sense tells you that this is the next step in what appears to be an escalation from incident to incident.

Could you elaborate on the prohibited step you mentioned? What is it you're thinking I should ask? Also, thanks again for your help Mojo.

My concerns with going ahead are twofold. How inclined are the court to want to see how the action plan goes and tell me to wait and see? If anyone has experience with this specifically I'd be interested to know. Secondly, were I to get residence, it would be practical for me to change his school to one closer to me. There's 11 miles between his current school and my home. It would mean his day would need to start a lot earlier and there's potential his punctuality could suffer should there be delays either on the road or with public transport - something I know that schools regards as vital. Is there a probability of being told he wouldn't be allowed to change school for the sake of his well being? I agree it would be a lot easier on him to stay where he is and likely he would want to, but functionally it's going to prove tiring for him, without considering that getting him there on time may be well out of my hands.

Further things I'd like to ask.
I stumbled upon this - https://childlawadvice.org.uk/information-pages/legal-aid-if-your-child-is-at-risk-of-abuse/. Can anyone tell me if this applies to me at this stage?
From the Child Protection Conference - I've had nothing from Children's Services and it was a week ago tomorrow. Although I'm expecting the plan to come through in writing in the post, am I entitled to also get a copy of the minutes? There's a lot the CAIT officer contributed that would be extremely beneficial should I go through with this, namely specific details of historical incidents which aren't gone into anywhere else.

Thanks to all for your time.

Hi there

I thought it better to answer this thread rather than the new one that you started earlier.

The PSO is to prevent her from removing the child from your care, at the moment you don't have an Order stating that he lives with you...and you would also be asking to have the existing order changed so that it is ordered that your child lives with you. (They don't use the term residence any more, it's who the child lives with and who the child spends time with). The C1a is to tell the court about the risks and I would say that the reasons he was placed in your care.

I would hold off on bringing up a change of school,at this point, they're generally cautious about implementing any but the most crucial changes, so yes, they may question whether it's in his best interests straight away... but by all means discuss it with the Social worker to sound them out and maybe bring it up once the case is underway.

With regard to the legal aid funding, I would say give it a go, choose a solicitor that is experienced and specialists in family law, they'll soon tell you if you're eligible or not... Child Law Advice are a reputable source and in fact used to give advice as our resident law experts here on the forum.