Child Care Proceedings
Thea Henley has an enviable reputation in all aspects of family
law with both privately funded clients and those Clients that
are publicly funded.
In practice for over 18 years
she is a member of the Law Society Children Panel she was given
the UNICEF ChildRight Lawyer of the year 2000 award in recognition
of her particular expertise and commitment to helping achieve the
rights of families and young people under the European Convention
of Human Rights.
Care Proceedings are often a fraught and complicated area of law,
requiring specialist knowledge of not only the law but also complex
medical and social issues.
Thea Henley has experience conducting a wide range of cases involving
neglect, allegations of non-accidental injury, sexual abuse and
emotional abuse. We have conducted these cases at all levels
of the Court, from the Family Proceedings Court and in both the
County Court and the High Court, regularly acting for the child
or their parents, grandparents or CAFCASS guardian.
Problems involving children can be particularly distressing. Thea
Henley represents children, parents and grandparents who find themselves
involved with social services departments. She will provide representation
if a child is taken into care by the local authority, or if a parent
wishes to have contact with a child who is already in care of the
local authority. In particular she has considerable experience
in acting on behalf of older children in care proceedings who disagree
with the court appointed CAFCASS guardian.
Thea Henley was the original Director of Legal Services for National
Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) a national charity championing the
rights of a child to be heard by the court in cases of dispute
over residence and contact. Miss Henley was instrumental in the
notable Court of Appeal Case Re A (Contact: Separate Representation)
[2001] 1 FLR 715 which established that arguably, every child could
be independently represented where decisions fundamental to their
private and family life are being made.
If you are involved with Social Services concerning the care of
your children then please contact Henley Law for experienced, sensitive
and practical advice and assistance at all levels of care proceedings.We
can advise and represent you in proceedings before the Family Proceedings
Court, the County Court, the High Court and the Court of Appeal
Court from anywhere in England and Wales.
|
Why are children taken into care?
| What are care proceedings?
| What does being
taken into care mean?
| How long will it
take to decide what is going to happen?
| What will happen
in the end?
| Should I have a solicitor?
| Do I need to attend
court?
| What is the best
thing I can do to get my children back if they have been taken
into care?
Why
are children taken into care?
Children are only taken into care when people are really worried
that they are suffering or are likely to suffer significant harm
from the way they are being looked after by their parents.
Sometimes this is because their parents just aren’t doing
a good enough job of looking after them. They may be neglecting
them. For example, they may not be taking their children to see
a doctor when they need to go, or they may not be giving their
children enough to eat or drink.
Sometimes it may be because the parents have done something to
harm their children or allowed someone else to do this. This includes
causing physical harm or sexual abuse. Both physical harm and sexual
abuse also cause emotional harm.
What are care proceedings?
‘Care proceedings’ is the phrase used to describe the legal process
by which social services ask the court whether or not a young person
should go into care.
To begin with, social services will ask the court to make temporary
orders (called ‘interim care orders’) while matters
are investigated further and plans are made. In the end, if social
services still think a care order is necessary, they will ask for
a full care order to be made.
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What does being taken into care mean?
It means a court has said that the social services department of
the local authority, acting through its social workers, must make
sure the children involved are safe and properly looked after.
The court does this by giving social services a share of ‘parental
responsibility’ for the children. This means social workers
are allowed to make important decisions about the children. Social
services should take those decisions in discussion with anyone
else who has ‘parental responsibility’ for the children
(mothers always have parental responsibility and fathers sometimes
do). Social services should also discuss these things with the
children themselves. But in the end, if there is an interim care
order or a full care order, social services have the final say,
subject to anything that may be ordered by the court. The most
important thing that social services can decide is who the children
are to live with.
How long will it take to decide what is going to happen?
It normally takes about nine to twelve months for a court to decide
what is going to happen in the end, and sometimes it can take even
longer than this. During that time a lot will be happening. All
sorts of people will be trying to understand the reasons why people
are so worried that the children were taken into care. Then they
will carry out assessments to decide what the level of risk of
harm to the children would be if they were to return home. They
will also try to work with the parents to reduce any risk there
may be.
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What will happen in the end?
Only the court can decide what will happen in the end. Lots of
different things are possible. Everyone will try to let the children
go back home but only if they will be safe and well there.
Many children do go home in the end. For others, a new home has
to be found. That may be with other members of their family or
with friends, or it may be with a new family.
Should I have a solicitor?
Yes. It is certainly in your interests to get a solicitor to represent
you. Solicitors are free for parents in care proceedings.
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Do I need to attend court?
Parents should attend all court hearings unless the court, or their
own solicitor, has said that they do not need to.
What is the best thing I can do to get my children back if they have
been taken into care?
The best approach is to listen carefully to the advice you get
from the various professionals who talk with you. This may include
your own solicitor, the social workers, the Children’s Guardian
and any specialists such as pediatricians, psychiatrists and psychologists.
This approach may well mean facing up to things which have gone
wrong. It may also mean understanding why these things happened
and learning ways to prevent them happening again. But understanding
the need to change and making that change is usually the best,
and sometimes the only, way to get your children returned to you.
It is difficult. But if you really do try to do this you will almost
certainly find that all the professionals will work hard to help
you. They all start out wanting to try to return your children
if at all possible. But it depends on you.
These questions and answers have been copied from the
CAFCASS website and we recommend that you follow the link below
to the website so that you can read these questions in full together
with further information that there is not the space to include
here,
The link to the CAFCASS, the Children and Family Court Advisory
and Support Service Web Site is:
www.cafcass.gov.uk
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