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Court orders

When the local authority has information that suggests a child may have suffered or be at risk of significant harm, they will undertake section 47 enquiries.

This may lead to a Child Protection Plan. This involves multiple agencies, the child, and their family working together to implement changes to reduce the likelihood of significant harm. It may focus on short-term and longer-term aims to reduce harm and protect a child’s welfare. It should clarify actions to be taken, specify who is responsible and any timescales, and outline the review and evaluation that will take place.

Child Running

When the concerns for the child are such that the local authority feels the child needs to be removed from their home, they will - unless they gain agreement from the parent(s) to accommodate the child - apply to the courts for consent. More than one order can be made in respect of an individual child or young person.

Foster carers should be informed of any court orders and any restrictions applying to the child or young person or contact with her or his family. It may be appropriate for foster carers to have a copy of the Court Order. This should be discussed when the child moves into the foster home. 

Boys Running

Different types of court order

Emergency protection order (EPO)

The Children Act 1989 sets out the responsibilities of the Local Authority to protect children if it is assessed that a child or young person is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. 

The Local Authority can apply to the court for an Emergency Protection Order if there is an urgent need to protect a child or young person. The order gives the applicant the power to remove or detain the child for up to eight days (extendable for up to 15 days). 

The Order could contain directions about the amount of contact (including no contact) the child should have with his/her parents and family, and about medical examination or treatment of the child. 

Implications for foster carers: 

  • The parents cannot remove the child from the foster home without the permission of the Social Services Department 

  • The carer needs to ensure that any directions given by the court are adhered to.

Child assessment order

A Child Assessment Order can be applied for in non-emergency situations where there are suspicions of harm or lack of parental co-operation, but not grounds for an Emergency Protection Order or Care Order. It is used to get urgent medical examination or psychiatric assessment of the child. 

This order is for a maximum of 7 days, and the period of assessment and starting date is decided by the court. In rare cases, the child could be assessed away from home.

Interim care order

An Interim Care Order will often follow an Emergency Protection Order and gives the court time to collect more information whilst protecting the child. The Local Authority decides where the child will live. 

An Interim Care Order is made for not more than eight weeks. Further Interim Care Orders can be made which last up to four weeks but they should be kept to a minimum to avoid delay in making a decision. 

The child may be asked to have a medical examination or psychiatric assessment. 

Implications for foster parents: 

  • Birth parents may not remove the foster child without the permission of the Social Services Department. 

  • Usually, a child’s birth parents will have contact with their child under interim orders. 

  • There may be specific restrictions or conditions attached to the order e.g. contact. 

Care order

A Care Order is usually made to protect a child from harm, abuse or neglect and states that the Local Authority must look after the child and provide somewhere for him or her to live. 

A Care Order gives the Local Authority parental responsibility jointly with the parent or parents. 

The court can direct who the child should have contact with, where and what sort of contact it should be etc. In rare situations, a court can decide to restrict or stop contact if it is harming the child, or is not in his or her best interests. 

Unless overturned the care order can last until the child reaches the age of 18. 

The court process leading up to the making of a care order is called Care Proceedings. 

Implications for foster carers: 

  • The parents may not remove the foster child without the permission of the Social Services Department. 

  • Children should be encouraged to see their families and friends unless the court states otherwise. 

  • Foster parents should work closely with and consult parents as agreed in the plan for the child. 

  • Carers need to be aware of any specific restrictions or conditions attached to the order.

Care arrangement order

There will no longer be ‘Contact’ (previously known as Access) or ‘Residence’ (often referred to as child custody) orders in proceedings regarding children. Instead these orders are replaced by a Child Arrangement Order. This type of order will regulate arrangements relating to any of the following:

  • with whom a child is to live, spend time or otherwise have contact, and 

  • when a child is to live, spend time or otherwise have contact with any person”.  
     

The rationale behind the new order is “to move away from loaded terms such as residence and contact which have themselves become a source of contention between parents, to bring greater focus on practical issues of the day to day care of the child.” 

The Order sets out the contact (visiting arrangements etc) between a child/young person and his or her parent(s), or others mentioned in the order such as grandparents or former foster carers. 

Parents or other relatives may apply for to stay in touch with their child/young person. In fact; anyone may apply including the child/young person and also carers if the child has been living with them for three years. 

The order often specifies the frequency and the arrangements for the contact e.g. where and when it should take place. Contact can take the form of visits but may be letters or phone calls. 

The Order confers parental responsibility on the carer and puts him/her on a similar legal footing as the birth parents. A child or young person who is the subject of a Child Arrangements Order is not a “looked after Child” and the order ceases when the child is 18. 

Foster carers may apply for a Child Arrangements Order

Prohibited steps order

A Prohibited Steps Order specifies that certain things cannot happen without the court’s permission e.g. a child should not be taken out of the country. 

Specific issue order

A Specific Issue Order means that the court will decide on what should be done and how it should be done in the best interests of the child e.g. where there is a disagreement about how a child should be brought up with regard to schooling, religion, health care, etc. 

Family Court Adviser

In all care proceedings a Family Court Adviser is appointed to represent the interests of the child and provide a report for the court. The Family Court Adviser is a social worker who is not employed by social services. They will want to talk to the child, usually on more than one occasion, and may also arrange for the child to be legally represented at the hearing. 

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