Being in care - The Mix

BillieTheBot

Being in care - The Mix

The Mix's guide to being in care; arm yourself with the facts and know the right questions to ask.

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DC2009

Hi . Don't know if you can help but here goes. In a Nutshell.
I am a Foster Parent with a 14 year-old boy with ADHD and Autism. But nothing severe or un manageable until recently.
He was referred to mainstream school which was from the start a disaster for him mentally.
Bullying and ridiculed from the start. And continued they didn't have the facilities for him. We wanted him put into another school with facilities with kids with similar challenges.
Social Services refused saying no funding etc.
Anyway after 8 months of torture for him he had a breakdown and they took him out off our care where he is now.
And he has been for 6 months.
We are fighting constantly to get him back and now just to stay in contact.
Social Services are fully responsible for what is happening they didn't support us at any stage when we asked. And are incompetent.
And because we are against their plan which is Barbaric they are going to get rid off us.
We were given our boy when he was 2 he is now 14. We and our big family off Aunties and cousins are he's ever known. We are powerless and desperate to help him. S.W. has blocked our child from getting help from a solicitor also. Which our solicitor said would be our child's best chance of being heard. He desperately wants home. Where he is now is not good..

Aife

You've been really brave to reach out for support @DC2009 and I'm so sorry to hear about everything you're going through.

I can't even imagine how hard this is feeling trying to do everything you can to help your boy and feeling powerless with social services. You've done the right thing to reach out for help and I really hope we can help you find some services that can support you. Here at The Mix, our services are designed and targeted directly at young people who are under the age of 25, so whilst we're not able to directly support you, we wanted to help share some options where you can go for further support.

Young Minds are a great place to reach out to and they offer support to parents via their helpline. You can call them on 0808 802 5544 and they are open Monday - Friday 9:30am - 4:00pm. They also have a webchat service too. You can find out more over on their website - https://www.youngminds.org.uk/parent/parents-helpline/

Child Law Advice - Child Law provide legal advice and information on family, child and education law affecting children and families in England. They cover legal issues that may arise following relationship breakdown as well as Local Authority intervention and child protection issues. Their website has range of how-to guides and information pages but if you would like to speak to anyone on their helpline, you can contact them on Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm (0300 330 5480 for family or childlaw and 0300 330 5485 for education law). Alternatively you can email using their website on www.childlawadvice.org.uk.

Fostering Network - The Fostering Network is the UK's leading fostering charity providing support, information and advice to families. They have a 24/7 legal helpline and a support service as well as range of information and resources on their website. The various helpline numbers for the different departments as well as their opening times can be found on their website at https://www.thefosteringnetwork.org.uk/

Citizens Advice - Your local Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) provides free, confidential information and advice to everyone on their rights and responsibilities. You can call them on 0800 144 8848 (England), 0800 702 2020 (Wales), and 0800 028 1456 (Scotland) between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday. You can also webchat with an advisor.

We really hope you're able to find some support to help you through this. Keep going