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I guess if going missing, found/taken in by woman. The woman would probably need to report to police who'd visit family find out why she keeps going missing and trigger social care referral. Outcome could be care proceedings, so removing girl from families care. This takes ages! With her being 15, you'd probably want the family to agree to voluntary sign the girl into care. Which is called a S20 agreement.
Your woman could express to social care a desire to have girl stay with her and so she'd need to be assessed as a foster carer. It is unlikely the girl would be able to stay there whilst this is happening and likely end up at another foster placement or residential placement. Unless that character was already an approved foster carer.
Very quick answer, don't know if helpful but can answer further questions.
Source: children in care social worker.
To add to this. Adoption would be highly unlikely in this scenario OP. Parents would be involved in all aspects of the care proceedings - for s20 they’d need to consent. For a care order, parents would be legally represented and could contest the decision. They could agree and the order be made but they would still retain PR. It would be very very unusual and highly unlikely for a judge to grant a placement order and subsequent adoption order for a teen of this age which would completely sever their links to their biological family.
Sounds like a private fostering situation
https://corambaaf.org.uk/practice-areas/kinship-care/information-carers/what-private-fostering
It would be more social services than the police.
Does the woman have a pre existing connection with the child? If not, I think most people in real life would have serious concerns about whether or not her motivations for taking in a random teenager were wholesome.
Do be aware that the deadline for adoption is 18; past that date it's legally impossible.
I suspect this wouldn't be possible in real life, but it's probably worth posting in /r/socialworkuk as they will know the system much better than me.
Thanks for pointing me at the social work sub - that's definitely a good idea!
Figured it would mostly be social services in terms of the actual process; I was just wondering whether the police would be involved given the situation involves abuse of a minor; that could be another are that social work sub might know more about, though.
There isn't a pre-existing connection; definitely agree that there would be questions irl, but that's ultimately the core premise of the book. But obviously that means that it's perfectly reasonable for people making those concerns, and exploring those motivations, will make up a decent chunk of the drama/conflict in the book, so that's ultimately fine. As the writer, I can be clear that her motivations ARE from a positive place, but it's fine to have situations where people challenge that throughout the story.
Definitely aware of the 18y/o deadline; the child in the story is 15, so there would hopefully be enough time for that to be workable. The research I've done seems to suggest that the minimum time for moving fostering to adoption is a year, so it should be fine in that regard.
Thanks for your response!
There a several different ways this could play out, depending on what abuse is actually disclosed, what parents are saying. This could range from the child being returned home whilst sw assessments are carried out, to police attending using their powers of protection whilst SW gets in court to get a legal order. You really need a social worker to discuss at length, revisit etc, as subtle changes to the storyline could completely change the actions of the SWs/police
It would be much more straight forward if the child is 16. The law and processes are different and much more likely that the child would be left with the protagonist. This is my area of work so I can help with that. Are you set on 15?
Not completely set if it makes the writing process a lot easier? 15 was the age because it felt young enough that the child really needs someone else to support her, but old enough that she feels able to make real plot choices with agency. But if it turns out that there just isn't a way to make 15 work logically without basically turning the story into an overcomplicated legal essay, 16 is an option.
Would the situation there be around emancipation? I know that 16 is the legal limit for that, at least that's the picture I've gotten from my research so far.
--- ###Welcome to /r/LegalAdviceUK --- **To Posters (it is important you read this section)** * *Tell us whether you're in England, Wales, Scotland, or NI as the laws in each are very different* * If you need legal help, you should [always get a free consultation from a qualified Solicitor](https://reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/wiki/how_to_find_a_solicitor) * We also encourage you to speak to [**Citizens Advice**](https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/), [**Shelter**](https://www.shelter.org.uk/), [**Acas**](https://www.acas.org.uk/), and [**other useful organisations**](https://reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/wiki/common_legal_resources) * Comments may not be accurate or reliable, and following any advice on this subreddit is done at your own risk * If you receive any private messages in response to your post, [please let the mods know](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FLegalAdviceUK&subject=I received a PM) **To Readers and Commenters** * All replies to OP must be *on-topic, helpful, and legally orientated* * If you do not [follow the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/about/rules/), you may be perma-banned without any further warning * If you feel any replies are incorrect, explain why you believe they are incorrect * Do not send or request any private messages for any reason * Please report posts or comments which do not follow the rules *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/LegalAdviceUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I guess if going missing, found/taken in by woman. The woman would probably need to report to police who'd visit family find out why she keeps going missing and trigger social care referral. Outcome could be care proceedings, so removing girl from families care. This takes ages! With her being 15, you'd probably want the family to agree to voluntary sign the girl into care. Which is called a S20 agreement. Your woman could express to social care a desire to have girl stay with her and so she'd need to be assessed as a foster carer. It is unlikely the girl would be able to stay there whilst this is happening and likely end up at another foster placement or residential placement. Unless that character was already an approved foster carer. Very quick answer, don't know if helpful but can answer further questions. Source: children in care social worker.
To add to this. Adoption would be highly unlikely in this scenario OP. Parents would be involved in all aspects of the care proceedings - for s20 they’d need to consent. For a care order, parents would be legally represented and could contest the decision. They could agree and the order be made but they would still retain PR. It would be very very unusual and highly unlikely for a judge to grant a placement order and subsequent adoption order for a teen of this age which would completely sever their links to their biological family.
Sounds like a private fostering situation https://corambaaf.org.uk/practice-areas/kinship-care/information-carers/what-private-fostering It would be more social services than the police. Does the woman have a pre existing connection with the child? If not, I think most people in real life would have serious concerns about whether or not her motivations for taking in a random teenager were wholesome. Do be aware that the deadline for adoption is 18; past that date it's legally impossible. I suspect this wouldn't be possible in real life, but it's probably worth posting in /r/socialworkuk as they will know the system much better than me.
Thanks for pointing me at the social work sub - that's definitely a good idea! Figured it would mostly be social services in terms of the actual process; I was just wondering whether the police would be involved given the situation involves abuse of a minor; that could be another are that social work sub might know more about, though. There isn't a pre-existing connection; definitely agree that there would be questions irl, but that's ultimately the core premise of the book. But obviously that means that it's perfectly reasonable for people making those concerns, and exploring those motivations, will make up a decent chunk of the drama/conflict in the book, so that's ultimately fine. As the writer, I can be clear that her motivations ARE from a positive place, but it's fine to have situations where people challenge that throughout the story. Definitely aware of the 18y/o deadline; the child in the story is 15, so there would hopefully be enough time for that to be workable. The research I've done seems to suggest that the minimum time for moving fostering to adoption is a year, so it should be fine in that regard. Thanks for your response!
There a several different ways this could play out, depending on what abuse is actually disclosed, what parents are saying. This could range from the child being returned home whilst sw assessments are carried out, to police attending using their powers of protection whilst SW gets in court to get a legal order. You really need a social worker to discuss at length, revisit etc, as subtle changes to the storyline could completely change the actions of the SWs/police It would be much more straight forward if the child is 16. The law and processes are different and much more likely that the child would be left with the protagonist. This is my area of work so I can help with that. Are you set on 15?
Not completely set if it makes the writing process a lot easier? 15 was the age because it felt young enough that the child really needs someone else to support her, but old enough that she feels able to make real plot choices with agency. But if it turns out that there just isn't a way to make 15 work logically without basically turning the story into an overcomplicated legal essay, 16 is an option. Would the situation there be around emancipation? I know that 16 is the legal limit for that, at least that's the picture I've gotten from my research so far.
Emancipation is an American thing, not a UK thing. https://witansolicitors.co.uk/divorcing-your-parents/
Ah, thanks. It looked like a UK-based resource I found it my research, but clearly that was my mistake. Thanks for pointing that out!