This does my head in. It should do yours in as well.
I spent an hour this morning interviewing a young woman who has three kids under the age of 12.
She was evicted from her flat at the end of last year for rent arrears. I have a letter from her council to her MP which says the council is likely to find her intentionally homeless, because of those arrears.
The young woman believes that the council has found her intentionally homeless. She has no fixed address, so she isn’t sure where any post advising her of her situation is going, or if it is being posted at all.
She’s sofa-surfing with her three kids at the moment – sometimes at a friend’s place and sometimes at her mother’s place. Her mother is in temporary accommodation herself and has eight family members in the flat with her. Two of the school-aged kids are sleeping on airbeds with their grandmother in the grandmother’s room. The older child sleeps on the floor in a room with two others.
At the end of that letter is this sentence:
“If [name removed] is found intentionally homeless, then the Housing Options team will not assist her into alternative housing and will only give her advice and support to find her own accommodation. A referral will, however, be made to Children’s Services in respect of the welfare of the children”:
In other words, people who are found intentionally homeless risk having their children removed, or, at least, having their children housed away from them. What a threat that is – and to so many people. So many people are evicted for rent arrears these days. So many women tell me that they are terrified that the council will remove their kids if they can’t find decent – or any – housing for them. Getting evicted and finding yourself without a roof is bad enough. Now, homeless people believe they risk losing their kids if they return to to their council to challenge an intentional homelessness decision, or if they approach a council for further housing help.
This shit has to stop. Councils cannot be permitted to threaten women with the loss of their children, just because those women are poor.
This situation is untenable. Let’s have some #metoo outrage about it. Imagine the headlines and fury if some council tried that that sort of threat on with a middle class family, or – gasp – a celeb.
“We’ll come after your kids.” I think not.
Image: the two airbeds on either side of the grandmother’s bed:
You are right – this has to stop. It is absolutely appalling that people are being treated like this.
I’m 9 months pregnant I share a single bed with my partner I was evicted because I fell behind on my rent (the housing association was still reviving housing benefit) my 2 kids sleep on the floor down stairs and have done for almost a year I revived the same threat .
I’m pregnant in a hostel and was awarded my daughter in court after being taken to court by social services because I’d left my kids with family members. The council say I’m intentionally homeless even though I was fleeing violence and threats to kill! Who would go back with their kids under those circumstances! I’d been beaten up by 3 men on my own doorstep! I may now loose my daughter as my new soctal worker is doing nothing to help with my housing. I was offered £500 towards my arrears which is now being witheld and I’m seriously considering a termination of pregnancy at 16 weeks because I couldn’t bare to have my baby removed because I’m homeless. Surely this isn’t right!?
Oh and there are no hostels for women with children in norwich unless you are under 30 or in an abusive relationship. Nether apply yo me. Where are all the women’s refuges I was led to believe ecited????
Hi Gina,
Sorry to hear of your situation, I’m not in your part of the country but I just looked online and found this, maybe they can help or advise:
http://www.womensaid.org.uk/
Yes, it is appalling & shocking that this is happening in 21st Century Britain. It must be 50 yrs since Ken Loach made Cathy Come Home, and nothings changed. But it is the Government who have intentionally made people homeless by their policies, removing the safety net, under-paying Benefits, introducing Universal Credit, Benefit Sanctions, etc. and failing to build sufficient houses. It’s a disgusting state of affairs.
p.s.
There are other contributing factors too that have exacerbated the situation, such as the Bedroom Tax for instance, & the under-funding & closures of womens refuges, also the fact that Councils are being drastically under-funded so they are charging people more Council Tax than they can afford to pay, plus wages are too low. How can people afford to live? Do you pay your rent first or your Council Tax? Or do you feed your kids? Our most recent woes are clearly the fault of the Tories. Meanwhile, during these years of Austerity the richest people in the country have increased their wealth by at least 300%. To be fair though, no government in the last 50 years have built enough Council houses, or done anything to solve the problems of homelessness and of families being broken up, kids put into care because of rent arrears and lack of affordable housing. The MPs should say something, DO something too, they get paid enough money & expenses so why don’t they do something useful? The situation never changes, just goes on & on, from bad to worse.
Latest news: Prime Minister told a room full of the super-rich that their way of life is under threat from JEREMY CORBYN!!! Now we know why there are so many Tories popping up and calling for him to go!
Don’t assume nothing will get better. Tories don’t fret for no reason…
Their way of life? That takes the biscuit. GOOD! All the more reason to vote Labour then.
Her exact words were that “populism” is threatening capitalism, economic liberalism and “the rules-based order”. So she said the Tories will “defeat socialism”.
“Their way of life” was me paraphrasing it!
Yes, you were right though, it is their way of life, it certainly isnt ours. To hell with the “rules based order”, their rules don’t serve our interests. She might be referring to the ‘old guard’ Establishment, or perhaps the New World Order of dominance & total social control that conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones have been warning against for a decade or more, and everyone thought he was just a crank (well he is, but…). Policies like Austerity & Universal Credit are the stuff of nightmares. Big Brother has been Privatised.
I think “rules-based order” just means that we do what they want and think what they want us to think.
It takes the Ferrero Roche, Trev. They’re far too pretentious to eat a humble Rich Tea.
I have a tenant who has been served notice I have offered her half rent for the notice period that was in effect the same amount as her housing benefits she did not pay then the council came up with a payment plan I agreed to and she has not paid now I have no choice but to go for eviction. She has two children and she has it on her head she will be rehomed. The council have told her with rent arrears and refusing to pay anything she won’t she has made herself homeless with children.
She is the irresponsible parent I’m not an evil landlord should children stay with her in this case debateable.
Hi Rob, I can understand your frustration in this difficult situation and I’m not saying you are an evil landlord, after all from your point of view you’re not a charity. I just think that the tenant in question must have some underlying issues and reasons why she’s not paying the rent, perhaps heavily in debt or in arrears with bills. In her situation you would think that paying rent ought to be the priority but I don’t think people withhold rent for the sake of it. Maybe she has tough choices to make; pay the rent OR buy food, pay the electric/gas OR pay Council Tax, pay Council Tax OR buy clothes for her children, etc. What would you do? Maybe she has Credit card debts, or an addiction, who knows? She should really go to the CAB for help and advice or some other organization for help and support.
Just brought Kate Belgrave’s alarming blog piece to the attention of the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, fellow Canadian OHCHR | Ms. Leilani Farha – Special Rapporteur on adequate housing http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Housing/Pages/LeilaniFarha.aspx.
Disclosure: Since January 2012, I’ve been reporting voluntarily to the UN on the welfare crisis impacting Britain’s sick and disabled.
Montreal, Canada
Good for you Samuel. All of this needs to widely publicised if we are to get things changed. But I have to say the UK government have just ignored the UN over the austerity etc.
the British Government are arrogant swines. They also chose to completely ignore the Council of Europe too a few years ago, when they ruled that British State Benefits were (and still are) being underpaid by something like 45%. They saidsingle persons JSA was supposed to be over £100 per week,and IDS was enraged. The Gov. were in the process of being taken to Court in Strasburg over the issue, but Brexit has put paid to that.
thanks I thought that was the case ,have informed people that the area needed to be highlighted and here is some usefull evidence could you let me know of any links,i thought the euro courts might be able to put a few things to rights ,now I fear the worst
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jan/29/uk-benefits-inadequate-council-of-europe
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/01/29/uk-benefits-european-council_n_4688263.html
I can’t find any links about the UK Government being taken to Court over this but I used to have an email reply from the DWP that stated it was the case, as I had (cheekily) immediately contacted them to complain that my JSA was being underpaid and asked them to increase it and back date the increase to the beginning of my claim. No chance!
This is shocking, but, do they give any clarification about what they deem to be intentional homelessness? It always appears to me that local housing authorities make their own rules up as they go along, particularly now they have involved the like of Civica in their money saving schemes. On the point about middle class women, surely, in some circumstances a middle class housewife fleeing domestic violence is just as likely to find herself in this position.
Juliette, I absolutely agree . I don’t think it matters what class people are from, or their previous circumstances. It doesn’t matter if they are upper class, middle class, or working class. If they need help, and particularly if there are children involved, then they should automatically be housed. It’s a disgraceful state of affairs that we have now come to this as a society. And yet strangely, there is still no real protest about this from the British people. Or at least not nearly as much as you would hope in this situation.
That section of the letter is so badly worded that it can only have been deliberate. The idea is presumably to give the false impression that assistance is not for families but for children on their own. I suggest a complaint to the Housing Department about such inappropriate and distressing text being used.
I wrote a blog post about this sort of thing a few years ago. It’s a bit out of date but the law is still the same. Here is a link http://wflack.com/the-social-worker-says-the-only-thing-they-can-do-to-help-us-is-to-take-the-children-into-care/
As if it’s not enough for the children to lose their home, they are now under threat of losing their mother as well. There can be no moral justification for any of this.
Needs a Court challenge on this Jeff. Like they’ve done with the NHS.
Yeah, maybe crowd-funded ? Take some of these councils to court, and have it splashed all over the newspapers.
Some of these councils are getting really ruthless about the homeless. They put down spikes to stop rough sleeping, run campaigns against the homeless, and use the excuse of austerity and the budget cuts as a cover to justify their harsh attitudes. Now they are trying to drag in social services as well.
Not to mention reporting the foreign homeless to immigration so they can get deported .
Trouble is you cut the council budget by 40% – 50%, and things are bound to start getting difficult. Only encourages a hands-off approach.
How awful for this woman to have the threat of losing her children as well as the problems of homelessness. This nonsense about ‘intentional homelessness’ has got to stop. If you fall behind with the rent, even if its not your fault, as with Universal Credit and get evicted, this is so-called ‘intentional’ homelessness.
So is complaining about dangerous or unhealthy conditions, and then getting evicted. The French, a nation of private tenants, have a much stricter system, which we might do well to adopt.
I find it hard to believe that anyone would be intentionally homeless. People are homeless for a variety of reasons, but i don’t think It’s intentional.
Well there is a small minority that basically get thrown out by the landlord for doing damage etc. I know of someone who was evicted after he set his flat on fire. Caused massive damage, water everywhere from the fire brigade. Landlord evicted him.
Could have had mental health issues, addictions (?), none of which is intentional.
I will be intentionally homeless, due to antisocial behaviour from neighbours which has made me just give up my tenancy, I can’t take any more abuse or antisoical behaviour from mentally ill and drug addict neighbours. For some reason “I” am their next target. I’m still waiting, just three more weeks to go. After I am homeless, I will get no help. I know in advance what the future holds for me. I tried to get a move for 2017, only to be rejected. The council do not care to help, and make it hard as possible to move, or even to get a transfer. I can’t wait any longer, the antisocial behaviour has gotten really bad, so I just had to give up my tenancy and am currently upset, scared and waiting it out. It’s horrible waiting something out, because I have so much more to endure. I did want to go back to a hostel, but nope, nobody would help me, so I guess the streets it is – I won’t last.
Just to note I’ve lived in my area for years and had no problems, only from one crazy neighbour, but over the years some really “nasty” people who rob and break things and vandalize moved in the area. Everything was fine from 2013 to mid-2017. And now 2018? It’s just horrible. People have no respect for others, and the only possibility is to move. If you have kids and you are “IH” they take them away from you and put them into care – that’s what I forgot to mention, which I think is bad. And worst of all, you don’t get them back, unless you fight for them and have a place to live.
Thing is, the council always threaten to take away people’s children because it’s a way of scaring people into submission. Some people’s children are taken away, but most of the time the councils back down at the last minute and provide a hostel room.
Don’t forget how expensive and difficult it is for any council to take any more children into care. If their care homes and foster placements are not filled up with local children, they will be full of child asylum-seekers, often sent across the country from areas such as Kent to anywhere at all where there is a space.
Chances are, your council will decide it’s easier to give you a room than to take your children into care.
It’s interesting because I have lived in my current flat for 10 years and I have had no problems with neighbours. Suddenly, in the last six months, TWO sets of neighbours have moved into two different flats and BOTH are causing me sleepless nights.
What is it about 2018 and bad neighbours?!!
You’re not “intentionally homeless” if you’re fleeing antisocial behaviour. The council may try to say that you are, but I would have thought you would have grounds to challenge that.
Have you had any advice from Citizens Advice or local free legal advice?
I would strongly recommend you telephone Shelter. Their number is free and they will happily talk to you for an hour. I have always found them very polite and helpful. Far more helpful than the council.
N.B. If they don’t answer, try again later.
How many more unbelievable instances do we have to hear of what this government is doing before something actually happens. They all deserve to be thrown behind bars for their crimes against humanity!!
This country absolutely stinks & it’s getting worse day after day!!
Something needs to change & quickly!!
Down to the British people Ritchie, how much more are they prepared to take ?
I myself am waiting to move from a 2 bedroom flat to a 1 bedroom place. Although disabled I am hit with £54 a month bedroom tax but most of the places that come up on the local bidding site that are suitable are for over 55 or over 60’s
Did this person vacate the property when asked by the landlord? If they did then that is why the council are saying she made herself intentionally homeless, she didn’t wait for the court order, she moved out at the request of the landlord making herself and the children intentionally homeless. But why should she wait for the landlord to get a court order all the expenses are then added to the rent she owes?
KATIE, PLEASE READ THIS!!!!
Hi Terminator.
The whole system is as crazy as this bloody very Corrupt government!
I won’t bore you with my story but, what I will say for the Tory voters that see this that label me, as they do! As a scrounge on the state, I’m 50yrs old, worked every single weekend from age 14 till I left school as my parents raised me to work hard!
Worked every day without having a day of sick for for 33yrs & paid 40% tax during my latter years till I was struck down with this illness which means I cannot work, even though I hate being this way & so desperately want to work!
At My ESA assessment, OBVIOUSLY I was told I was fit to work, I won the appeal & proved the evil Scumbag had blatantly LIED at the assessment!!! (One of many thousands)!!!!!!
My daughter was living with me when I lost my job. At time I rented private, so I got a 2 bed council flat.
After spending my life long savings before claiming ANY benefits till I had nothing left I was left with no choice but too!
During waiting for the appeal I was given £73 per wk. My daughter moved back in with her mum as it was easier for her to get to college. Then due to bedroom tax, living on my own in a 2 bed flat, the council decided to take away £26.24 from my £73 per wk leaving me with £47 per wk to live, eat & pay my bills!
I was on the bread line & didn’t know what to Do, I could hardly afford a pint of milk for a drink!!
Yet, when I won my appeal & was put back onto ESA, the council said I no longer had to pay the £26.24 bedroom tax!!!
WHAT!!!????
So, my daughter goes back to her mum, I’m living on the breadline & they take more money off me! Yet when I get an extra £29 due to being on ESA they say I no longer have to pay it!!
It can hardly be called rich by any means at all but, it’s as if when you have NO money spare at all they take & take till they finish you. If you’re a tiny bit better off, they help you!! Typical of a Tory government!
Incidentally my daughter has now moved back in with me again so I went through all that stress for NOTHING!!!
MAY GOD HELP US!!!!
Hi Ritchie
I sympathise with you. Was in a similar position a few yrs ago, paying £14 p/w bedroom tax, & £35 p/w to npower, + other bills, water, phone, internet, bank debts, out of a £70 JSA income = impossible. I asked the housing association for help, got none, was told pay the bedroom tax or we’ll evict you. I’d been a trouble-free tenant for 15 yrs, never in arrears. I lived on home-grown spinach & 10p noodles for 3 months & got behind with bills, then finally got moved to a one bed flat. Left there after 2 yrs tho due to harassment from neighbours. Still paying off npower debt from 3 yrs ago.
Trev, unfortunately mate, our stories are all too familiar in today’s Tory run Corrupt government who don’t give a damn about anyone but themselves & their rich friends who hide their money in shell companies in places like Panama to avoid paying taxes that they CAN Afford to pay!!
This whole bloody country is so corrupt no one would believe you!!
yes sorry Richie looks as though you should be given a tv show with some athers to just show how bad the situation can get looks like a lot of other people have stuck through some real hardship as well
You too? What’s it with neighbours and harassing/bullying people? Is there nowhere in the world where you can go and have peace of mind? The only time I never had problems with neighbours was when I lived with two sets of my families in single houses that were not attached to others.
very sorry to here this news it is just a very harsh reality to live with ,I have been there,with nothing I got through and it took a lot out of me. so iwish you well.
Considering that so many families are targeted with the nebulous “emotional harm” label by social services to claim allege abuse, look at the logic of their actions towards children of families in the above situation. Is it not severely emotionally harmful to separate children from their parents? Oh I forgot, social services often don’t care about the children they use as weapons anyway. If they did, they wouldn’t behave the way they do, taking children from innocent parents under false allegations.
And now no increase in the benefits for another year. Totally wrong.
Yeah, but Council Tax is going up.
So is handing out money to people who run railway lines.
This is just another turn of the screw Zac. Just to make being on benefits that bit less appealing.
It’s pathetic the way the government has kept down the benefit rate again this year. Just playing Cat & Mouse with claimants.
it’s being grossly underpaid to begin with. The Council of Europe said single-persons JSA was supposed to be over £100 per week about 4 or 5 yrs ago.
Trev, its one of the worst in Europe so they say.
Good turnout for the NHS demonstration at approx, 60,000 people.
But still some way short of the 200,000 who demonstrated against the Poll Tax in Trafalgar Square 31st March 1990. Complete with rioting, mounted-police charge etc. A key event that triggered the ousting of Thatcher. Something still lagging in rejection of this new system of austerity in 2018.
I think people are stunned by everything that’s happened. The speed at which the safety-net of social security has been dismantled piece by piece. Now we have a million plus using foodbanks, and they are forcing the terminally-ill to ‘work’. But I think there is going to be an enormous backlash against all this. When the vast majority of this country, not the ones who can afford private jets, realise they have been taken for suckers over austerity and all the rest of it.
If they privatise the NHS it’s going to cost people a lot more than a couple of hundred pounds for Poll-Tax. Medical debt is the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the USA.
In another world, the Telegraph today has the following, ‘HA-420 HondaJet Review: A compact jet perfect for family flying.’ And people wonder why the country is so divided.
Think I’ll order a couple, be better than walking to the Jobcentre in this weather! 🙂
How about a submarine, ‘perfect for family diving’ ?
Or a compact multi-stage rocket with re-usable space capsule ? Perfect for family trips into space.
Or a compact Interdimensional Travel Vehicle, perfect for family trips to other dimensions ?
If you ask me Kathy, there’s more than a few people travelling interdimensionally. Look at the way some of those UFO’s just disappear.
Thats where they go, back into inner space.
Or a compact Time Machine, perfect for family trips into the past or future ?
@ Hugh T.
Actually I do have some personal experience of other-worldly phenomena, having had many paranormal experiences throughout my life, including O.O.B.E.s & Astral Travel, and have sen UFOs, suffice to say my previous Doctor said my brain was playing tricks on me and that seeing & imagining such things was a part of my condition, but wtf does he know? I know what I saw and experienced.
But anyway, hurtling back down to earth and crash-landing dangerously close to the topic, I would say that if it takes an Alien invasion to get rid of the Tories than I’m all for it. Take me to your Dealer!
Yeah but why don’t they just introduce themselves ? Instead of just disappearing all the time ? After all if they have perfected interdimensional travel they must be very advanced. We would be no threat to them. Why don’t they do something positive, and share some technology with us ?
The Toiries are certainly on another planet. I’m sure IDS is really a shape-shifting lizard….
Brilliant!!!
I too have had paranormal experiences that I cannot explain Trev and, people who don’t believe in UFO’s I just say, think how big the universe is, every single star is a planet, & thats the ones we actually know of!!
It’s far more comical to think there actually isn’t other life out there for being called a loony for believing that there is!!!
Take me to your dealer, I love it mate!! 🤣🤣🤣
And also Trev!
Your comments made me laugh so much, I actually forgot about the pain I was in for almost 30 seconds.
Better than i expected when I woke up in agony at 3.a.m this morning!!
Why is it always 3.a.m!!???
So, thank you so much for making me pain free for 30 seconds Trev! You’re a star matey!!!
Even though the Doc. had said I was imagining things he still wouldn’t give me a bloody Sick Note! and then he back-tracked and started saying that UFOs are secret military drones etc being tested out and I shouldn’t talk about it. He said people like me cause a lot of problems for the authorities by drawing attention to what they are doing!!!
Also, remember Thatcher once famously said (when asked about the Rendlesham Forest incident); “Oh, UFOs? You can’t tell the people”. that’s the smoking gun right there!
Anyways we better leave it at that as this is wandering so far off topic it’s “boldly going” where no man has gone before… 😉
David Icke has shown us all about this. The shape-shifting lizards and The Brotherhood, all of it. But will people listen ?
No, because they don’t understand how their minds are being controlled by the aliens.
He might really be. It wouldn’t be the first time that they had used a human host to disguise themselves. What about McVey ? If you think about it the way she and IDS used to sit together in parliament, kind of moving their heads in sync.
Remind you of anything ? Lizards maybe /
And the lip-licking, that’s another giveaway. Lizards can’t stop doing it for very long. And that way of staring at things, not moving.
One day they won’t have to hide any more. They can stop using the molecular compression fields that they wear to squash themselves down to human size. David Icke believes the lizards are really 3 metres tall in their natural state.
Yes but what about the risk to us on earth Peter ? look at human behaviour in the past. Have we respected native cultures in the past, or just pushed them aside ? It’s only a hope that they would be friendly. What if they were hostile instead, with ships and weapons far better than our own, then what ?
People on this forum, if “dealer” offers you any more, just say no.
I wrote a long helpful comment saying sorry do not know where it went ,yes that is genuine prolonged hardship,glad it is reciognised
Yep, your previous comment came through on the email: that they should get a tv show!
Myself going through hardship I am 59 years old woman work most of the last 18 months my depression got bad so my doctors sign me off I claim esa on till 2017 just a phn I was told it stop and to claim this terrible universal credit I don’t know much about benefits because I worked most of my life this terrible benefit is not paying my rent so my rent arrears has gone up because I had rent arrears before I paid it down and it’s gone up even I have lived in this house for 31 years and I am losing it because of this terrible they make mistakes after mistakes and you suffer want can be done for poor people let it’s sad .
Pingback: Let me tell you how useless councils are at answering questions about homelessness, intentional homelessness and threats to separate families. I give you Barking and Dagenham… | Kate Belgrave
You have misunderstood the letter. It states: “A referral will, however, be made to Children’s Services in respect of the welfare of the children”. It does not state your children will be removed or placed away from you. Where did this leap come from? The wording is given further to guidance that housing departments must provide referrals to Children’s Services when appropriate. The support that would then be provided would be further to the Children Act 1989, within which there is a requirement to keep families together. Therefore this is a positive reference. This is yet another uninformed blog which takes one of the best social care systems in the world and critises it due to a lack of understanding and misinterpretation.
I’m going through same situation where been threatened to provide accommodation for my kids and not for me on this Monday
Hope social services will help me out under children act 1989 to keep us together and provide us some sort of accommodation
I’m very depressed and desperate at the moment.
I am in this situation right now. My landlord served a section 21 notice in September 2017. In November, after contacting the council and MP several times I finally got told it was for rent arrears. I knew there had been mess ups with Hb but the landlord never mentioned a build up of arrears.
We waited as told by the council for the eviction to go through. We were then placed in a scumm, run down hotel miles away from my childrens schools. They couldn’t go to school for the 6 weeks we were there as I had no way of getting them there. When I asked he council for help I was told I couldn’t get any. When they finally moved us back into the area near the schools I could out that my youngest daughter had her school place taken away from her despite being told it would be kept open. She now hasn’t been in school or socialised with anyone since the end of February 2018.
I was given a letter threatening the same thing and social services did turn up at the hotel and even though they have no concerns they still haven’t helped. She said she isn’t pursuing a child in need case.
We had to move to my sisters a week ago and it’s utter hell here. We have to sleep on sleeping bags on the living room floor. My eldest has to travel for 85 minutes each way to get to school and as I don’t have an igo pass it’s costing me £32 per week to get her there.
I also have all of our property in a storage locker the council were paying for. I now have to somehow make my £800 a month benefit stretch to cover the £400 pm fees, travel, food, pay my sister money for bills and save up to move.
The stress of all of this is too much. We don’t deserve to be treated like we’re nothing.
Sorry to hear about your situation, Amanda.
I wonder if you could fix yourself a room in a shared house for £400 per month, instead of paying all that money for a locker.
Pingback: Homeless mothers: we feel the ever-present threat of social services and losing our kids. That’s how they keep people quiet | Kate Belgrave
My ex-partner has intentionally made her self homeless, by cutting her tenancy short. She is now stopping at a friends house with our two year old son.
What if any legal actions can I pursue in regards to this, as I am living up to all my parental responsibility’s?
I am named father on our sons birth certificate, up until one month ago I was also having our son four nights a week, I have no court orders against me and no criminal record. Also there has never been any violence against her or our son.
Thank you for your time
Anonymous
We’re now in 2024 and my daughter is going through exactly this and with my 3 year old grandson!
The local authority are ‘claiming’ that she has made herself intentionally homeless, 3 months after they have housed her in temporary accommodation. The claims are incorrect and absolute false!
They’ve reported her to social services as in their words, she may be on the streets! Are we in Victorian England?!
I am going through the same thing with my family.
My partner and I have been homeless for nearly 2 years.
The councils are still accusing me when I was on my own (before having children and a partner), I had a property that was unsuitable for me due to mold, damp, plaster defect on one wall etc. I suffer from asthma and I was constantly going back and forth to Hospital and Doctors as I was having numerous asthma attacks.
The Doctors advised me that as this property is unsafe and that it is affecting your overall health, it is not advisable to return. I informed the council and was told that they would find me an alternative property and for me to sofa surf with friends and family.
I have 2 children under 2 and have been in and out of temporary accommodation with my family 2 years in February 2025.
The councils are penalising me for my health conditions and have threatened my partner and I on numerous occassions that because we are homeless they have reported us to social services and safeguarding team behind our backs and want to take our children away from us and place them into care until we get a place of our own. We have followed every single guidelines that the council have told us to and promises after promises that we would be housed but nothing at all.
The council have now closed our homeless application down and refusing to provide any further duty of care for us.
We have complained to the ombusman for the 2nd time and also approached citizens advice and not had any luck with citizens advice. But currently waiting for response from the ombusman again.
We are in Suffolk staying with my partner’s family.