Chapter 1 of the Children and Social Work Act 2017 (CASWA 2017) introduces an obligation on local authorities to consider additional general needs, known as principles,...
This Practice Note details the circumstances in which a child may be a party to public law children proceedings, the procedure for the appointment of a children's...
This Practice Note deals with evidence in public children proceedings including admissibility, credibility, competence and compellability. It also details the provisions...
This Practice Note deals with expert evidence in public law children proceedings, including in care and adoption proceedings. It details the relevant statutory provisions...
All family lawyers should be knowledgeable about the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which is incorporated into HRA...
This Practice Note sets out the requirements in relation to interim orders in public children proceedings including the criteria and nature of interim orders and the...
This document provides general guidance regarding public law applications relating to children. Your family lawyer will be able to provide specific advice based on your...
Children in care comprise a sub-category of 'looked after’ children. The other sub-category comprises children who are provided with accommodation under the majority of...
General criteria An emergency protection order (EPO) is a court order to be made in an emergency where it can be shown that unless emergency action is taken, the child...
The wider context The concept of harm that is significant is relevant both to care proceedings and more widely to local authority support for children and families. This...
On 22 April 2014, the Public Law Outline (PLO) 2014 for care, supervision and other proceedings under Part IV of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989) came into effect as...
This Practice Note details the threshold criteria as set out in section 31(2) of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989) and the public children law applications to which it...
Under section 37 of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989), the court has the power to order an investigation by a local authority into the welfare of a child if it appears...
Care orders—general A care order ends when the child reaches 18 or if brought to an end in another way. A child arrangements order naming a person as one with whom the...
The Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989) creates a two-stage process, which can be carried out in the same or in more than one hearing, before the court can exercise its...