Source: Michael Brown 'MentalHealthCop' Extract: One specific amendment to the Mental Health Act 1983 which will be with us shortly: it will no longer be lawful to hold children in police stations as a Place of Safety under the Act – ever! The legal amendment in s81 PaCA on this is a simple one: the MHA … Continue reading PaCA – No Children in Police Stations
By Luke Stevenson on December 6, 2017 in Community Care | Children Judge praises council social workers who ‘simply got back into the ring’ but criticises lack of secure accommodation provision. Read full piece at source: Social workers praised for commitment to child with complex needs
The Court of Appeal delivered a judgment in Re B (A Child) [2017] EWCA Civ 1579 last month. In it they consider (but do not resolve) the question of how the Family Court should deal with evidence obtained by covert recording. Implication is that covert recordings of both children and adults are admissible in the … Continue reading Covert recordings in family proceedings (Re B (A Child)) – a subjective determination for judges
A sector-led review of the rise in applications for care orders and the number of children in care Applications for care proceedings in England and Wales are at record levels. This is one factor contributing to the rise in the number of children looked after in the care system, now at the highest level since … Continue reading Care Crisis Review – Family Rights Group
Provisions coming into force on 31 October 2017 The Children and Social Work Act 2017 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2017 bring specified provisions of the Children and Social Work Act 2017 (c.16) (“the Act”) into force on 31 October 2017. The following provisions of the Children and Social Work Act 2017 come into force on … Continue reading Children and Social Work Act 2017 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2017
This is a helpful piece for IROs to consider - it provides good guidance as to the workings out of the pros and cons of whether to go s20 or care proceedings AND confirms that both are valid options and that neither are the default option to be followed. Source: @suesspiciousminds This is a case in … Continue reading Child refugees – section 20? Care proceedings? Either? – @suesspiciousminds
The Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS) and the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) published a joint protocol in February 2017 advising court guardians and social workers to work more collaboratively to speed up cases, and where possible divert them from court. The agreement was criticised by the guardians' association … Continue reading A lesson in collaborative working & conflict: ADCS & Cafcass Joint Protocol axed as unlawful
Here is a nice read Empathy, anxiety and resilience: Lady Hale in the Supreme Court yesterday by Allan Norman at Celtic Knot. First published 06.13.13 on Lady Brenda Hale's feminist judgements. A longstanding champion of diversity in the judiciary, Lady Hale has previously said the court should be ashamed if it does not improve its record on … Continue reading Feminist judgements – how the story is told … #BeBoldforChange
A local authority has been criticised after an “unbalanced” social work assessment led to the illegal removal of a child from their mother’s care and conflicting accounts amongst the professional network about of what happened in professional discussions. This case raises a number of important points - not least in relation to IRO scrutiny and … Continue reading IRO scrutiny in a case which saw a child unlawfully removed from their mother’s care
A flavour of a really important judgement by Sir James Mumby that needs to be read in full please. Read at source: [2017] EWHC 2036 (Fam) Extract: What this case demonstrates, as if further demonstration is still required of what is a well-known scandal, is the disgraceful and utterly shaming lack of proper provision … Continue reading “One of the measures of a civilised society is how well it looks after the most vulnerable members of its society.”
