The term ‘Care Proceedings’ refers to a legal proceeding started by the local authority (a local council’s social services department) where there may be concerns regarding your child’s welfare and safety. Where the local authority commences care proceedings, it is important to know your rights as a parent, in order to get the best outcome possible for you and your child/ren. Where a child is placed into the local authority’s care, your parental rights can be affected depending on the nature of the order in place or agreement you have signed. If the child is accommodated under a voluntary arrangement, parents retain full parental rights where parental responsibility is not legally shared with the local authority. You may be asked to agree to delegate parental responsibility to the carer of your child for everyday decisions. Parents can end a voluntary agreement at any time.

Some types of orders the local authority may apply for are:

• Care Order (this can place the child in the local authority’s care and provides the local authority with parental responsibility, which is then shared with the parent, but the Local Authority have the overriding ability to determine the child’s care arrangements)
• Supervision Order (places the child under the supervision of the local authority, who have specific duties to promote the child’s welfare and does not provide the local authority with parental responsibility)
• Emergency Protection Order (intended to remove the child of any immediate risk of harm and is only made for a maximum of 8 days. The local authority has limited parental responsibility, but this is limited to whatever action is required in order to safeguard the child)

The Local Authority can apply to the court to ask for permission to take action to protect a child when they consider it is necessary. They will apply the threshold set out in Section 31 of the Children Act 1989. The threshold criteria refers the facts that a local authority rely on and must establish if they want the court to make a care order or a supervision order as before a court can make a care or supervision order, it must first be shown that the child has suffered or is at serious risk of suffering significant harm or is beyond parental control. Even if this is proven, the court will only make the order if it is in the child's best interests and it is proportionate to the situation. The child will be allocated a social worker, who will work with the family, and we would advise to be open and honest with professionals working with your children and family.

When a child cannot live with a parent/s, the local authority should give priority to kinship carers. This means a relative, friend or connected person who may be in a position to care for a child on a temporary or long-term basis. They are likely to be subject to viability assessment which will consist of a meeting with the social worker, basic home checks and police/social care checks.  

Parental rights during care proceedings:

To be an automatic party to any public law proceedings you must first have parental responsibility, often known as PR. A mother automatically gains PR after birth of the child. Most fathers also have PR if he is either married to the mother of the child or are listed on the child’s birth certificate. Parental responsibility may only be terminated by the court when the child is adopted or if the individual acquired that right through a court order. If you do not have PR and are a father, do not worry, you can also apply for PR and are still entitled to apply to be joined to the court proceedings so you can fully participate in the court proceedings and put forward your views in respect of your child.

• Right to legal aid - legal aid is available to parents, and we can make that application on your behalf. 
• Right to attend court hearings - parents and anyone else with parental responsibility (such as a grandparent who has been caring for a child subject to a child arrangements or special guardianship order) are considered ‘parties to proceedings’ and have the automatic right to attend court hearings.
• Right to be involved in decision making – if as a parent, you disagree with the recommendations made by CAFCASS or the local authority, you can actively challenge that decision as part of the court process.
• Right to contact with your child – parents generally retain the right to have contact with their child. Contact can be direct (face to face) or indirect (phone/video calls or emails etc.) However, children services can refuse a parents contact if it promotes the child’s welfare for up to 7 days (anything more than that and the local authority will need to make an application to the court for an order to give them permission to refuse contact). Contact can range from just parent and sibling contact but also can include family members and friends. Contact, or ‘spend time with’ arrangements as they are now known, are often supervised during care proceedings.
• Right to challenge decisions - depending on the circumstances, if you have PR and/or share this with the local authority then you can request matters such as extended contact in the community, or to be assessed to care for your child. You can challenge the local authority recommendations at your child’s looked after reviews and as part of the court process.  We can assist with this.

Every case is dependent on its own facts. Therefore, it is important if you have any questions relating to your case that you contact us as soon as possible so we can provide you with bespoke advice.

• Care