What Happens After A PLO Meeting?

The Written Agreement

After the first PLO (Public Law Outline) meeting usually there will be an agreement put in place, usually referred to as the “Written Agreement”.  A written agreement is a document which sets out what the local authority (social services) expect you to do, as well as what the local authority are going to do during the PLO process to support your family. This agreement will be reviewed at each of the PLO meetings to check whether the actions have already been completed, are being completed or are still outstanding.

The Process: Aim, Timeline and Representation

The aim of the PLO process is to try and intervene and help families before getting to the stage of making an application to the court. Your legal representative will be available to discuss any concerns that you may have, answer questions for you and liaise with the local authority on your behalf during this process.

The PLO process will usually be around 16 weeks long and there will be review PLO meetings every 4-6 weeks during this time. The local authority can extend the PLO process if necessary for around another 12 weeks. Your legal representative will attend PLO meetings with you.

Working with your Family: Assessments and Family Group Conferences

It is likely that the local authority will continue to complete announced and unannounced visits to your family during the period between meetings, and wherever possible you should cooperate with these visits.

The local authority may complete assessments with your family, such as a parenting assessment or risk assessment, as well as other assessments with wider family members to look at whether they could provide support to your family or potentially care for the children if that became necessary. These are called initial viability assessments.

Family group conferences sometimes called family solutions meetings are recommended as a good way to get wider family on board and to investigate what support they can offer to your family so a conference may be arranged.

Importance of Engagement

If parents don’t engage, the process will simply carry on without them and it may end up in court without the parents having had much input into the plan of support. Lack of engagement will make it much more difficult for parents to argue that their child should remain in their care, if court proceedings are issued, as the court may be concerned that the parents don’t understand the concerns, are not able to engage with professionals and are not taking the process seriously.

What happens after the PLO process?

PLO Outcome: Step-Down or Court Proceedings?

At the end of the PLO process, there will be a final PLO meeting. If the local authority is happy with the progress that your family has made and there are positive improvements, then the local authority can decide to ‘step-down’ from the PLO process and go back to child protection or child in need. This usually happens when the risks to children have reduced, and families have been working well with professionals.

If the local authority determine that not enough progress has been made or there are still significant concerns, or that the situation has declined further, then a legal planning meeting may be held to enable the local authority to consider whether  it is necessary to initiate court proceedings.

Understanding the Decision and Next Steps

The local authority will explain the decision reached within the PLO meeting, whether this be to take a step back to child protection/child in need, or whether it is to initiate court proceedings. Your legal representative will be able to discuss the outcome with you and advise you as to what will happen next, including the availability of legal aid.

Contact us on 0330 333 2613  or email enquiries@elliotmather.co.uk for further assistance.

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