Don't know where to turn

peteduk

Hi all,
Can someone advise us please?
My granddaughter has had a baby which she doesn't look after so my daughter has given up her job to look after the baby. At the same time my daughter's husband left.
My granddaughter is not working and still claiming all the benefits of looking after her baby

My daughter is therefore left with no income at all.
- Social services were involved but when my daughter started to look after the baby they said that finances don't concern them and that they are happy now that the baby is safe.
- My daughter cannot claim job seekers allowance because she is looking after the baby.
- When claiming benefits my daughter has been told she can receive nothing because my granddaughter is claiming them all. (My granddaughter is not responding to letters regarding her status etc and the benefits people have said they cannot stop her benefits until she says she is no longer looking after her child).
- The Council have advised my daughter that she is at risk of losing her home due to non payment of rent and have threatened to send bailiffs for non payment of Council Tax.

She is surviving by selling possessions and handouts.

Does anyone know how we can bring this to a head as there seems to be no-one we can turn to to resolve this issue?
Thank you

[Deleted User]

sounds complicated,as family matters often are,has she tried CAB for help?
other than that i cant help,only sympathise

whitewing

Try your MP, perhaps.

elsien

I would go back to social services and say that although your daughter desperately wants to look after the baby, she is not able to do so without risking making them both homeless due to having no money coming into the house. Therefore if the baby is not to end up in care (which no-one wants) they clearly need to get their fingers out and start helping properly. I strongly suspect that they are able to do more than they have so far, so your daughter needs to contact them again (via the duty team if she can't get hold of anyone else) and prod them into taking her situation seriously. It won't be the first time they've come across the situation, so even if they can't intervene directly re finances, they should know the channels to go through to try to make things happen.
Social services sometimes need a real kick up the backside to get their @rses in gear (not all, obviously but definitely some.)

peteduk

Thanks for the advice.
My daughter has already tried writing to her MP who has asked for the situation to be looked at again but with debts mounting and no income it is very worrying.

I was hoping someone may have had experience of something similar and know a way to expedite matters.
This is a very new situation for us.

McKneff

Where is the grand daughter living then, does she work.

Time for a grandmotherly slap. A big one.

Sorry, I know that doesnt help but I feel your frustration as a nana myself. I have seen one of my grand sons go into sefl destruct mode for about 5 years, where no one and nothing could help and its all just so frustrating, he came through it all and has a good job now but i remember that time so well.
Good luck.

elsien

Have you heard of these people - they have a confidential helpline and may well have come across your situation before. They might be worth a try.
http://www.frg.org.uk/working_with_family_and_friends_carers.html

mickey54

peteduk wrote: »

Hi all,
Can someone advise us please?
My granddaughter has had a baby which she doesn't look after so my daughter has given up her job to look after the baby. At the same time my daughter's husband left.
My granddaughter is not working and still claiming all the benefits of looking after her baby

My daughter is therefore left with no income at all.
- Social services were involved but when my daughter started to look after the baby they said that finances don't concern them and that they are happy now that the baby is safe.
- My daughter cannot claim job seekers allowance because she is looking after the baby.
- When claiming benefits my daughter has been told she can receive nothing because my granddaughter is claiming them all. (My granddaughter is not responding to letters regarding her status etc and the benefits people have said they cannot stop her benefits until she says she is no longer looking after her child).
- The Council have advised my daughter that she is at risk of losing her home due to non payment of rent and have threatened to send bailiffs for non payment of Council Tax.[/FONT]

She is surviving by selling possessions and handouts.

Does anyone know how we can bring this to a head as there seems to be no-one we can turn to to resolve this issue?
Thank you

cant answer about having Grandchild and benefit for this....but, regarding HB/CT - advise what income is by completing an application - and you should be ok. I would advise contacting Social Services - and also, get a support agency involved. Have you been through courts to be named as the guardian? This may be different requirements as to where you live!!

LL30

Are grand mother, mother and baby all living together? It sounds awful but your daughter is going to have to stand up to her daughter to get the situation rectified. If her daughter is not looking after her child, she needs to ring up SS and state this clearly. I would presume that the daughter still has PR at the moment, this needs to be addressed and SS need to sit up and take control of the situation. Is the daughter able/capable of looking after their child? She cannot simply state that she is - this needs to be proved, which will involve your daughter standing up to her and letting the appropriate services know. A good place to start would be the health visitor (if she's a good one) as the child is at risk. The health visitor can help to action a plan. I would suggest that your daughter a) rings SS b) rings the HV and c) calls a CAF - her HV should be able to guide her through this process. The emphasis needs to be on a) the child is at risk and b) the mother is not looking after her child. HTH pm me if you need any help xxx

[Deleted User]

Your Daughter needs to see a Solicitor and get a Residency Order for the baby then she can claim the benefits. My friends Son had this problem his ex girlfriend, after going to all lengths to stop him seeing the child, rang him out the blue and informed him she didn't want the baby anymore. Baby was dropped off with Son's Father (As Son was working 300 miles away at the time) with no clothes other than the filthy set he was wearing, no pushchair, Conjuntivitis in both eyes :-(. Son worked a weeks notice whilst my friend looked after the baby then he moved home with his Mum. He went down the job centre for advice and luckily managed to go onto job seekers. Everyone rallied and clothes, toys and a pushchair soon rolled in, but he had about 50.00 per week to live on and buy nappies for about 10 weeks whilst the Solicitor dealt with everything. He has now started getting the child benefit, but Solicitor trying to see if he can get any arrears.

Oldernotwiser

Does your daughter claim LHA/HB/CTB?