Child Care
I have been served with Care Proceedings by the local authority. What do I do?
Contact us immediately. If you are a parent you are entitled to legal funding whatever your income.
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What orders can the court make at the first hearing?
The court can make several types of interim order:
Interim care order (ICO)
The court can make an ICO only if it decides there are good reasons to believe your child has been seriously harmed or is likely to be seriously harmed, and that an ICO is the best thing for your child. The order can last for up to eight weeks to begin with, and can be renewed for four-week periods after that.
When social services make an application for an interim care order, they must have prepared an interim care plan that sets out where and with whom your child should live until the final hearing. This plan will include arrangements for contact between the child and you and other people who are important in the child’s life. Social services will ask the court to agree to this plan.
An ICO means that social services share parental responsibility for your child with you, which includes the power to decide where he or she will live, even if you don’t agree with the decision. The court can also make an ‘exclusion requirement’ alongside the ICO, which can force an adult to leave the child’s home if the court believes this person is a danger to the child. However, this can happen only if you agree.
Social services must show that they have discussed the care plan with you and your child (if this is possible) and that the plan will match your child’s racial, cultural and religious heritage. If you do not agree with the care plan and you feel that someone in your family could look after your child up to the final hearing, you should tell social services, your solicitor and the court so that the court can consider what is best for your child.
Interim supervision order (ISO)
An ISO does not give the local authority parental responsibility but it does mean that social services must monitor how your child is being cared for, either by you or by someone else in the family who is looking after them. The court can make this type of order only if it decides that there are good reasons to believe your child has been seriously harmed or is likely to be seriously harmed, and that this is the best thing for your child.
Interim residence order
The court can make an interim residence order if it agrees that someone in your family can care for your child until the final hearing. You then share parental responsibility for your child with the person named in the order.
Interim contact order
The court must consider what arrangements are proposed or have been made for your child to see members of his or her family if the child is not living at home. The court must also invite the people involved to comment on the arrangements. If there is any disagreement about these arrangements or the court is not satisfied that what is proposed is best for your child, then it can make a contact order setting out what the arrangements for contact should be. If you are not happy with the contact arrangements, discuss them with your solicitor so that your views are presented to the court.
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What happens when social services start care proceedings?
Social services may tell you that they are going to start care proceedings, but if they do not, you will find out when you receive a notice from the court telling you when and where the first hearing will be.
It is very important that you get legal advice. You may be upset or angry or feel that nobody is listening to you. It is important to have a solicitor who knows the law about children and how the courts make decisions in these types of case. These solicitors are usually members of the Law Society’s Children Panel. Nigel Priestley the head of Ridley and Hall's Care Team is a member of the Children Panel.
People who are involved in care proceedings, including parents and people with parental responsibility, can get public funding (legal aid) to pay their solicitor’s fees. You can get this however much income or capital you have.
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What happens when social services apply for a care order?
The local authority will apply to the court for a care order on the grounds that your child has suffered serious harm or is at risk of suffering serious harm in the future, because:
the care you are giving or have given them is not what it would be reasonable to expect a parent to give; or
your child is out of your control.
Care proceedings are started in the Family Proceedings Court and are dealt with under guidelines known as the Protocol for the Judicial Case Management in Public Law Children Act Cases. These are meant to make sure cases are dealt with fairly and without unnecessary delay. The guidelines say that care proceedings should be finished within a maximum of 40 weeks of the local authority asking the court for a care order, unless the case is very complicated.
If you are a parent or carer of the child, you will be a ‘party’ to the proceedings so you will receive a copy of the application and will be told the date, time and place of the first hearing.
If you have not already got a solicitor, you should go and see a solicitor on the Children Panel Nigel Priestley and his team will act on your behalf and represent you in court
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Who can make decisions about my child's care?
The right to decide how a child is raised and cared for rests with people who have ‘parental responsibility’ for him or her. Parental responsibility is the legal term used to describe all the rights and duties that parents (and sometimes other people) have towards their children. For example, it gives you the right to agree to medical treatment for your child, or to choose the school they attend.
When a child is born, the mother automatically has parental responsibility. So does the father, if he is married to the mother when the child is born; or he is registered as the father on the baby’s birth certificate (for children born after 1 December 2003).
However, later in the child’s life, the unmarried father of the child can get parental responsibility by:
marrying the child’s mother;
making a Parental Responsibility Agreement with the mother;
re-registering the child’s birth (if the father was not on the birth certificate and if the mother signs a statutory declaration that he is the child’s father);
getting a parental responsibility order from the court; or
getting a residence order from the court.
Adoptive parents get parental responsibility when they adopt their child.
Other people caring for children may get parental responsibility if they obtain a court order. For example, the local authority will get parental responsibility if it obtains a care order from the court.
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What if social services think my child is in immediate danger?
If social services think your child is in immediate danger and needs to be made safe straightaway, they can take a number of steps to protect your child.
They can ask the person they believe is a danger to your child to leave the home or keep away from the child;
discuss with you having your child looked after by the local authority in a way you agree to;
ask the police to take your child into police protection for up to 72 hours; or
apply to the court for an emergency protection order.
If the person who social services believe is a danger to your child says they will leave the home in the short term, social services can help that person to find somewhere else to stay.
If it is not possible for the person to move out, social services can ask you to put your child in ‘voluntary accommodation’ under their care, normally in a foster home or with other family members. They will also do this if they have other concerns about your child remaining at home. You should always seek legal advice before agreeing to voluntary accommodation. If you do agree to it, social services should draw up a plan about how your child will be cared for. The details of this plan should be discussed and agreed with you first.
If you do not agree to have your child put in voluntary accommodation, but social services believe that your child needs urgent protection, they can ask the police to take your child into police protection.
This means the police can take your child from your home, or stop your child being taken from where they are living.
If the police take your child from your home, social services must then find your child somewhere to stay while under police protection. This would normally be with foster parents or with other family members. Your child can be taken into police protection for at most 72 hours (three days). If social services think your child should be taken away from their home for longer, they need to ask the court for an order.
Social services can ask the court for an emergency protection order (EPO). This gives them some parental responsibility, including the right to take your child into their care, keep the child from returning to your care – for example, by keeping him or her in hospital or with foster carers, or see your child when, without a good reason, you or someone else with parental responsibility have refused to let them.
An EPO lasts up to eight days, but social services can ask the court to extend this for up to seven more days.
Under an EPO, the court can also make an ‘exclusion requirement’. This means that, instead of your child having to leave their home, an adult who social services believe is a danger to the child can be ordered to leave the home. But this kind of order can be made only if you agree, and you make sure that person does leave.
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For further information please call us on 01484 538421 or contact us via the online enquiry form.
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