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I have 40% care for my three children 10,9 and 3 my ex and I are in court atm regarding where the children live, the eldest two are running away from their mothers on a regular basis, she lives in a town 9 miles away. They get a train or con friends mothers or fathers to drive them over. I've spoken to social services Duty team who give me one peice of advice and then to Children and Parenting services (whom are working directly with the children) and they have another. The court order in place atm gives specific dates and times for when I have the children, but they keep running away from their mother, the police are here on a weekly basis now looking for the children but they always turn up here they never run from here.
Now the question is: what should I do, I've asked for legal advice, they say listen to social services, social services say get legal advice! Now I am banging my head on a brick wall.
Concerns the children have: extreme canabis use by their older half siblings and mother, excessive drinking by the same, 17 yr old half sister having [censored] in full view of the the younger ones. Shouting and physical abuse, lack of food consistantly, and when they turn up here they are unwashed and unkempt as well as crawling with nits
And social services will not listen to the children. The court have just given the children a solicitor of their own and a Guardian ad litam and the next court hearing is in 5 weeks. But my eldest son refuses point blank to go back to his mothers. I have been threatened with contempt of court and 90 days locked up. But I am told by social services that the court will not do that. WHAT do I Do? any advice
Hi
I would personally ignore the Social Services advice that the court will not lock you up for 90 days for contempt. I agree that they are probably correct, but you do not want to be going to court to fight your case having been in contempt of court, it would immediately put you at a disadvantage, and you really have to do everything by the book. If social services have an immediate concern for the welfare of the children, then I would ask them why they can't remove the children from their mother - I believe they have that power, and I would have thought that they could then place them with you.
You need to get your solicitor (I assume you have one as you said you've taken legal advice) to get statements from everyone who has been involved in helping your children come to you - their statements will paint a picture of the situation and show that it is their wish to be with you.
What you do in the meantime is trickier, and hopefully others will give advice here. I think that if your children turn up again, then the thing to do is to explain to them that you have to ring the police and for the police to take them back to their mother. This will be difficult as you have to get them to understand that you are not rejecting them, but that if you don't do this, it could be jeapordising your argument in court. There is the added advantage that if the police take the children back before your ex contacts them, then the police may well turn up at your ex's house with the children at an inconvenient time - if the police can report on the situation at her house, this may help you in court.
Hi Martin
This is a horrendous situation for you and your poor children. I am assuming you have a solicitor acting on your behalf but if not the Children's Legal Centre may be able to offer advice. I will forward your post on to them assuming anyhow for their input. It may take a few days for them to respond.
I now have two of my children here refusing to return to their mother, and we've had to put a complaint in against the social worker in question, as have my solicitors, it turns out the social worker in question has not been passing on reports to the legal team for court, this has of course dragged the court case on. I've now applied for residency for my eldest but thats now going to be all of them.
My solicitors have said that because my ex wife has left the children with me then I cannot be found in contempt of court 🙂
I now have two of my children here refusing to return to their mother, and we've had to put a complaint in against the social worker in question, as have my solicitors, it turns out the social worker in question has not been passing on reports to the legal team for court, this has of course dragged the court case on. I've now applied for residency for my eldest but thats now going to be all of them.
My solicitors have said that because my ex wife has left the children with me then I cannot be found in contempt of court 🙂
That's an excellent bit of news for your case, and for you and your children. 😀 Applying for residency for all of them is a much better proposition as the courts would much rather keep the children together if possible, and quite rightly so.
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