Removing a child from the home is always the last resort. But as CHRIS HUMPHREYS finds out, sometimes it is the only way to keep them safe.

SOCIAL workers try, wherever possible, to avoid removing children from their family. But sometimes there is simply no other option.

Many of the cases that are brought to the attention of the council prove straightforward, but there are others where a concern for the welfare of a child means further work is needed.

In such cases, the child will be passed to one of Swindon’s four long-term teams. They’re responsible for convening child protection conferences, ensuring protection plans are adhered to and overseeing some looked after children.

And ultimately, where necessary, they are the teams that initiate the court proceedings aimed at securing a child’s safety through the legal system.

Debbie Curd is the team manager for the Central South Long-Term Team.

“The whole ethos is for children to remain in their families, as far as possible,” she said. “Social workers cannot just turn up at a home and remove children. We can only do so with the court’s agreement.

“The reason we go to court is there is nothing else we can do. We’ve exhausted our options and we need to get these children out.”

A court must be satisfied that a child is at risk of ‘significant harm’ — that is a high threshold to meet and extends beyond some harm, or poor care for example.

Care proceedings are by no means routine for that reason. For example, of the 360 children that Debbie’s team is responsible for, only a relatively small number will have their cases brought before the court.

“The majority of the care proceedings involve young children,” she said. “In the past year we’ve issued on six babies at birth — they’re the repeat cases where mothers have had previous children removed.

“In many of those cases, parental substance misuse is high. The unborn baby may be subject to a protection plan while we help the mother to try and reduce substance misuse, for example. But if they continue to use drugs then the child is already harmed and we have to act.”

There were times in the past when care proceedings could linger in the court system for a year or more but changes have been introduced to make the process more efficient.

“It has changed significantly in the past three years,” said Debbie. “Proceedings were taking too long and now we have a time frame of 26 weeks.

“Swindon are doing really well with that — for the majority of children we should be able to make those decisions in that time frame.

“Over the 26 weeks we’re determining permanency. It may be that the child goes home and lives there permanently. Or the child may go and live with another family member through a special guardianship order.

“There can be a lot of challenges for a social worker — clearly the parents aren’t going to agree and it’s a journey over the 26 weeks.

“We’re making decisions that could have an everlasting impact. The ultimate decision that could be made by a court is that a child is released for adoption.

“We’re talking about decisions that impact on the rest of their lives and beyond.”

A family court can be a hostile environment with passions running high. The local authority, both parents, and even the child have solicitors. Those solicitors then have barristers. It is a formidable place to work with the welfare of a child at its heart.

Such care proceedings, and child protection more broadly, are among the most challenging roles undertaken by the council’s social work teams.

Fionuala Foley, the cabinet member responsible for children’s services, has spoken of her admiration for the work they do.

“The average burn-out time for social workers can be as little as four or five years, such is the pressure they face and the amount of effort they put into helping very vulnerable children.

“Social workers really are the unsung heroes of the council.”