My experience in retrospective…
Where do I even begin with this one? There is much ground to cover, so I will format this as a Q&A just to make it easier to digest and not such a long read!
Q- Did the social services recommend the SGO order? A) This was not their recommended order, their recommended order was a CAO. Which they referred to as the “lesser order”, in their view the lesser order was possible and therefore recommended.
Q How did you decide on the SGO, when the CAO was the recommended order? A)I did not rush into a decision, nor did I give my decision before seeking legal advice. I used my 30 minutes of free legal advice to contact Ridley & Hall (who are fabulous) and I asked questions about what which order would mean practically. The SGO worked for us practically better than a CAO. Both a CAO and the SGO provide parental responsibility shared with birth parents. The SGO provides a “final say” if issues arise, but with a CAO neither has a controlling share. Things like choosing schools or providing medical treatment are practically easier under an SGO.
Q- How long did the process take? A) I first applied back in February 2017, the SGO was granted January 2018, so just short of a year. My kinship child came to live with me in 2015, just to give you an idea of the timescales.
Q- What should I expect during the process? A) The social care team will speak to your kinship child as they include the child’s feelings as part of the decision. You will be financially assessed, medically assessed, the social worker will ask you quite intrusive questions at times about your education, relationships, support system, and hobbies and you will choose 3 referees to share their views about you, they will be asked questions by the local authority which will be used in the final SGO report. Birth parents will also be contacted, to attend court. You, anyone, who lives with you and any partners will also be background checked.
Q- Was the process stressful? A) At times yes, there are a lot of emails back and forth and a lot of information to get your head around. Ridley & Hall were fantastic, they answered any questions I had and were very supportive. They only made the formal application to the court, once we had gone through all the information I needed.
Q- What was your experience on the day of court? A) It wasn’t overly long, maybe around 30 minutes tops. The SGO was approved quickly, it was a small space and wasn’t as daunting as I expected it to be.
Q- Any recommendations? A) Yes, do not feel rushed into making any decisions until you have more information and legal advice. Ask about all the practicalities first, make sure you ask the legal team what would happen in the event of a contact breakdown with birth parents and financial help. Under a special guardianship order, the local authority can be asked to provide financial support, it is not an automatic entitlement however it is worth noting it is unlikely to not be approved. Push if you can for a longer entitlement, mine only lasted 2 years and my only regret was not pushing for it to last longer. Keep all communications via email, I still have information on my emails from the process before the SGO and I’ve found it useful to refer to it in times of need.
Please share your experiences of court in the comment section below.
Confessions of a Kinship Carer 