CONTEXT• Over 14,000 applications (by child) for care or supervision order
each year
• More than 60% of care proceedings involve children under six years of age
• Cases frequently take longer than 12 months to reach a conclusion…and the longer it takes, the longer a child has to wait for a decision as to their future
• These children, and their families, are some of the most vulnerable and socially excluded people in our society
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CASE FOR CHANGE
Care Review (May 2006) found unnecessary delay
caused by complex set of drivers:– poorly prepared court applications;
– ineffective case management;
– scarcity of judicial resources;
– variation in quality of representation;
– expert evidence that takes a long time to commission and/or is requested late and/or does not provide suitable
guidance for the court;
– late allocation of the children’s guardian;
– alternative carers emerging late in proceedings;
– variations in regional practice.
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CARE REVIEW RECOMMENDATIONS
The Review of the Child Care Proceedings System in England and
Wales (May 2006) highlighted five key areas for attention:
– Helping families - ensuring families and children understand proceedings
– Better informed resolution - ensuring applications are made after all safe and appropriate alternatives have been explored
– Preparation for proceedings - improving the quality and consistency of applications
– During proceedings - improved case management– Inter-agency working - ensuring closer professional relationships
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KEY REFORMS
• Volume 1 (Court Orders) Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations– revised statutory guidance for local authorities, issued by the
Department for Children, Schools and Families and Welsh Assembly Government
– issued under the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970
• Public Law Outline– replacing the current Protocol for Judicial Case Management– setting out how cases will be managed through the courts
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STATUTORY GUIDANCEKey changes:
– ensuring core assessments are completed
– access to pre-proceedings legal advice
– front-loaded preparation: emphasis on pre-proceedings work by local authorities
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Public Law Outline (PLO)Key changes:
– Four stages, rather than six
– Advocates’ meetings
– Timetables focussed around the needs of the child
– Cafcass/Cafcass Cymru analysis and recommendations
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Relevant training materials
• Section 2, training packs:
– pre-proceedings flowchart
– slides
– chapter 3, Volume 1 (Court Orders) Children Act 1989 guidance and regulations
– template ‘letter before proceedings’
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Structure of the guidance
• Chapter 3 - care and supervision - supports the PLO
• But we must not forget the other chapters, which reflect case law and policy developments:– Chapter 1 - introduction– Chapter 2 - private law– Chapter 4 - emergency provisions– Chapter 5 - secure accommodation
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Engaging with families• Good evidence-based assessments
• No ‘surprises’ about the issues
– parents fully involved and informed about the possibility of proceedings
• Plans in plain written terms
– explained to families and children
• Effective communication with children and families– tailored to their needs
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Engaging with families• Clarity of expectations and consequences
• Identifying all significant adults in the child’s family and their role– completing appropriate kinship assessments
• Quality initial and core assessments
– good quality, ensuring core social work takes place
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Preparing for proceedings• Legal planning/gateway meetings - determining whether
it is appropriate to issue a ‘letter before proceedings’
• Letters before proceedings - tailored for each individual case
• Entitlement to pre-proceedings legal advice - parents/those with parental responsibility
• Meeting with parents, advocates and local authority
• Completion of the pre-proceedings checklist
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Pre-proceedings checklistFrom local authority files:
– previous courts orders and judgments/reasons– initial and core assessments– section 7/37 reports– relatives and friends materials – single, joint or inter-agency materials
(e.g. immigration/health)– pre-existing care plans– letter before proceedings
To be prepared:– social work chronology– initial social work statement– care plan– allocation record and timetable for the child
– schedule of proposed findings
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Implementation planning• Work with other local authorities and agencies to look
at the implications
• Consideration of how local authority processes fit with the pre-proceedings work, e.g. resource panels and planning interventions for children
• Clarity internally about the resources available for working with the family and child at each stage
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Relevant training materials• Section 3, training packs:
– flowchart showing the court process– Practice Direction from the President of the Family Division, to be
used by all parties as a case management tool– Public Law Outline, pages 9-11 of the Practice Direction– supplementary application form: PLO1 (Annex A)– local authority case summary form (Annex B)– draft case management order (Annex C)
• Section 4, training packs:– Cafcass/Cafcass Cymru guidance for completion of the analysis
and recommendations
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Pre-proceedings checklist• Checklist documentation should be filed, together with the
supplementary application form - PLO1
• Balance - if the safety and welfare of the child means an application needs to be made immediately, local authorities should not wait until all of the documentation has been prepared
• The court will review the application and checklist - standard directions will be given on issue, requesting any missing checklist materials and covering matters such as the appointment of the Children’s Guardian
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Allocation record• To be filed with the pre-proceedings checklist
• No standard form - it should be produced by the local authority
• It must include a proposal about which level of court the case should be heard at
• The court will review this and make a decision about allocation - space should be provided for the court’s decision in the allocation record
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Timetable for the child• Set by the court - and reviewed at all the PLO stages
• Will take account of all significant steps in the child’s life that are likely to take place during proceedings - including legal, social care, health and education steps
• Examples:– starting a new school– assessments– change in the child’s placement
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Streamlined process• Six stages reduced to four:
– Issue and First Appointment - to allocate and give initial case management directions
– Advocates’ meeting and Case Management Conference (CMC) - to identify issues and give full case management directions
– Advocates’ meeting and Issues Resolution Hearing (IRH) to resolve, narrow and identify and remaining issues
– Final Hearing - to determine remaining issues
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Issue focus
• Each stage of the PLO:– focused on identifying, narrowing and resolving the key
issues in the case– e.g. drink, drugs, violence
• The focus should be on those issues that need to be resolved and determined by the court
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Advocates’ meetings• Only advocates and litigants in person should attend
these meetings
• To consider issues in the case at least two days before the CMC or IRH
• Completion of the draft case management order - to be filed by the local authority at least one day before the hearing - identifying the key issues in the case
• Emphasis on co-operation
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Experts• There will be a separate Practice Direction on how
and when experts will be appointed in court proceedings
• The appointment of an expert is a matter to be determined by the court
• An expert’s report should not take the place of core social work - e.g. initial and core assessments, and assessment of family members as carers
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Cafcass/Cafcass Cymru analysis and recommendations• Incremental analysis and reporting in order to
help the court focus on the key issues in the case
• Initial analysis and recommendations at day six will be built upon for the CMC and IRH
• The final report is replaced by a final analysis and recommendations, which is a sum of the earlier analysis
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Action planning - considerations• Training - how and when will it be cascaded to peers
and colleagues
• Inter-agency working - who do you need to work with to make this a reality
• Impact assessment - e.g. what working practices/structures may need to change
• Implementation planning
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