This is a special time of year, revolving around family and friends. Understandably, parents want to see their children over Christmas. They want to be able to hand over presents and let their children know that their parents are thinking of them during what may be a time of upheaval.
Contact arrangements...
In some circumstances, parents have to accept that the best thing for their children, is for them to continue to settle in Foster placements and spend the day with their current carers rather than leaving placement for contact sessions.
In other circumstances it may be that the children will benefit just as much as the parents from some sort of contact during the Christmas period.
If this is something which would outside of, or in addition to the usual contact arrangements you have for your child, this will have to be negotiated with the Local Authority and with the Foster Carers so that it can be properly arranged and supervised if needed.
The best way to approach this is through your solicitor or via your Social Worker directly. Although your child’s Social worker is unlikely to be at work on Christmas day, they may be able to help with setting up arrangements for Christmas contact if they feel that is in the best interests of your child.
Please make sure to give them plenty of notice as certain checks may be required, or creative solutions may need to be thought up. In some circumstances, a named family member may be able to assist with supervising a visit to drop off presents, or to spend some time with your child in the community and Social Services may be able to help with that.
It may be that additional direct contact is not possible. However, indirect contact via Skype, FaceTime or telephone may be able to take place. Again, the Social worker will help to guide you on that.
In the best interests of your child...
The key to this being that the contact must be in the best interests of your child and it needs to be handled safely. It is easy for a parent to say that any contact with them at Christmas time would be beneficial to a child. However, parents may have to accept that professionals involved are not able to facilitate such contact, or may not agree in the circumstances of your family for whatever reason.
What is important is that discussions around this are handled in a child-focused way. Ensure that you have the needs of your child at the forefront of your mind and if contact at Christmas cannot be arranged, you may want to create your own mini-Christmas at the next scheduled contact session.
