Helping a Father maintain contact with children in foster care

Sandria acted for a Father in a case where the Local Authority sought a Care Order with Long Term foster care for the children, after initially seeking to place both children with the Father. The Father had not had contact with the children for several years, and re-introduction had only recently commenced. There was a question mark over the Father’s misuse of drugs. The Mother suffered from difficult mental health issues, although there had been some recent improvements.

The children had settled in well with their foster carer, who indicated that she would be prepared to keep both children until majority. The Final Hearing was listed as being contested. However, the Mother was able to understand that she was not currently in a position to resume care of her children, and with some reluctance accepted the Local Authority’s application.

With Sandria’s support and guidance, the Father also agreed to support the care order on the understanding that the children would remain in their current placement, which he was impressed with. He also agreed with her proposal that his current contact would not be significantly reduced, but would become unsupervised and out in the community at a reasonable level. Contact would also include his wife, and introduction of members of the paternal family in due course.

Sandria successfully achieved the level of contact that her client wished for.