Many parents find themselves in the unfortunate position where social care will not allow them to go home or remain at home with their child due to concerns about the child\u2019s welfare. This is often the case where a previous child has been removed from the parents\u2019 care and they have just given birth to another, or where concerns have been raised by professionals around the parent\u2019s ability to provide basic care to the child.<\/p>\n
Whilst in some situations social care feel strongly placement with someone else would be safer, whether that be a family member\/friend or foster carer, sometimes they prefer children to remain with their parent or parents but with added supervision and support.<\/p>\n
The two most common forms of placements allowing children to remain with their parents are as follows;<\/p>\n
Units can differ in that some are self-contained flats (with their own kitchen and bathroom areas) and others have individual rooms but with a communal kitchen, bathroom and living area. No matter the layout of the unit, they are ultimately used for the same thing \u2013 to allow professionals in the unit to supervise through CCTV the care being provided to the child by the parent or parents. This can be at different levels depending on the needs of the particular family. If placed there as part of Court proceedings, the Local Authority will usually pay for the family to live in the unit and a full, in-depth parenting assessment of the parent or parents will be completed during their time at the unit.<\/p>\n
Placement in a unit generally lasts around 12 weeks (although this can be longer or shorter) and the assessment looks at numerous things, including the parent(s) ability to meeting the child\u2019s basic care needs, whether they can keep the child safe, whether they sufficiently stimulate the child and whether they offer emotional warmth. The parenting assessment completed by the residential unit will guide the Local Authority when deciding the long-term plans for the child and whether they can safely return home with their parent(s) or whether alternative arrangements need to be considered.<\/p>\n
A \u2018foster placement\u2019 usually suggests that a child is being removed from the care of their parent(s), however, there is a special type of placement known as parent and child foster placement which allows a child to remain with their parent(s). This is often referred to as a mother and baby foster placement. This placement essentially means that both the child and their parent(s) go to live with a foster carer who is experienced and can provide 1-1 support. This placement is often considered by a Local Authority where the parent(s) has special needs which may make learning parenting skills more difficult and more support is needed.<\/p>\n
This placement also usually lasts around 12 weeks (although it can be longer or shorter) and an assessment is completed by the foster carer during this time. Similarly to the residential unit, the outcome of this assessment will guide the Local Authority when deciding the long-term plans for the child and whether they can safely return home with their parent(s) or whether alternative arrangements need to be considered.<\/p>\n
If social care are not recommending either of these placements and do not want the child to remain in the parent(s) care, this is still something that the parent(s) can ask the Court and other professionals to consider as part of any Court proceedings and when asking the Court to keep the family together.<\/p>\n
If your child has been or is going to be removed from your care and you feel that placement in a residential unit or foster placement would be appropriate for you and your child\/family, please contact our team on 0114 218 4000 or via email at info@tayloremmet.co.uk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Many parents find themselves in the unfortunate position where social care will not allow them to go home or remain at home with their child due to concerns about the child\u2019s welfare. This is often the case where a previous child has been removed from the parents\u2019 care and they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4805,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"blog_posts.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"yoast_head":"\n