Author: DAVIS SIMMONDS & DONAGHEY SOLICITORS First posted on their website: 12 Mar, 2018

THE ROLE OF THE INDEPENDENT REVIEWING OFFICER

Our most senior family judge, Sir James Munby once said: ‘If the State is to justify removing children from their parents it can only be on the basis that the State is going to provide a better quality of care than that from which the child has been rescued’.

So it’s clear that making a care order is not the end of the story – for the child, parents and the local authority it is just the start of a new chapter. But the court is no longer involved and has no control over what the local authority actually does with the care order. So what safeguards are there to ensure that care plans are put into practice? In 2004, after some cases came to light when local authorities failed children in their care terribly, the government introduced the new role of Independent Reviewing Officer …

Read the full piece at source: The role of the Independent Reviewing Officer