Where a Case Can Be.
Not every child protection concern becomes a court case, and the stage a matter has reached decides what can still be influenced. Nothing here removes a child from a parent without a court order, police protection powers, or the parent’s own agreement.
Before Any Application
The letter before proceedings
The local authority sets out its concerns in writing and invites the parents to a meeting under the Public Law Outline. Legal aid is already available at this stage, and it is the point at which advice makes the most difference, because nothing has been issued.
Being Asked to Agree
Section 20 accommodation
A local authority may ask a parent to agree to a child being accommodated. It is voluntary and it is not a neutral step. Take advice before agreeing rather than afterwards.
Care Proceedings
An application under section 31
The local authority applies for a care order or a supervision order. Interim orders can be made early under section 38, and an interim order is a holding decision rather than a finding that the threshold is crossed.
Special Guardianship
Where a relative takes the child on long term
A special guardianship order gives the guardian parental responsibility and the power to exercise it to the exclusion of others, without ending the parents’ responsibility. It is frequently the alternative to a care order where a family member can care for the child.
Emergency Orders
Sections 43 and 44
An emergency protection order lasts a short time and requires reasonable cause to believe a child is likely to suffer significant harm. A child assessment order requires an assessment to be carried out.
The Legal Position
A court cannot make a care order or a supervision order because it thinks one would be better. It has to be satisfied of the threshold criteria in section 31(2) of the Children Act 1989 first, on the balance of probabilities.
What Significant Harm Means
Harm is ill-treatment or the impairment of health or development, and includes what a child suffers from seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another. Where the question is whether it is significant, the child is compared with what could reasonably be expected of a similar child.
Crossing the Threshold Is Not the Outcome
It only permits the court to consider an order. Welfare is then paramount, and under section 1(5) the court is not to make an order at all unless doing so is better for the child than making none.
A Care Order Shares Parental Responsibility
It does not end it. The local authority gains parental responsibility alongside the parents, and can determine the extent to which the parents exercise theirs. A supervision order gives the local authority no parental responsibility at all.
The Twenty-Six Week Timetable
Since the Children and Families Act 2014 the court must timetable care proceedings to conclude within twenty-six weeks of issue. It moves quickly, and the assessments that decide the outcome are commissioned early.
Issue and the First Hearing
The application is issued and listed urgently. The court decides where the child lives in the meantime, which may be an interim care order, and sets the timetable.
What a parent says and agrees at this stage shapes everything after it, which is why advice before the first hearing matters more than advice at any later point.
Assessments and Case Management
The court decides what evidence it needs: parenting assessments, expert reports, and assessments of family members put forward as alternative carers.
Putting a relative forward early is important. An assessment commissioned late is the most common reason a case runs past its timetable.
The Final Hearing
The court decides whether the threshold is crossed and, if it is, what order the child’s welfare requires. That can be a care order, a supervision order, an order placing the child with a family member, or no order.
The twenty-six weeks can be extended, but only where the court considers it necessary to resolve the case justly, and each extension runs no more than eight weeks.
Legal Aid and Fees
For a child, a parent, or anyone else with parental responsibility, legal aid in care and supervision proceedings is neither means tested nor merits tested. Income, savings and the strength of the case make no difference to entitlement. It is available in the same way once a letter before proceedings has been received, before anything is issued.
No feeThere is no consultation fee on a care proceedings matter. You do not need a certificate in hand and you do not need to have been assessed first. If a local authority has written to you about your children, that is enough to be seen.
Anyone outside those categories, a grandparent or other relative without parental responsibility for example, is assessed on means and merit in the ordinary way. Where they do not qualify the consultation is £180 for up to one hour, plus VAT at 20% where UK VAT applies to them.
Things to Know
These answers state the general position in England and Wales. Your advice will address your circumstances.
Can I Afford a Solicitor for This?
If you are a parent, or you have parental responsibility, legal aid for care proceedings is not means tested and not merits tested. What you earn and what you have saved do not come into it. The same applies once you have received a letter before proceedings.
I Have Had a Letter Before Proceedings. Is It Too Early?
It is the opposite of too early. Nothing has been issued, the local authority is setting out what it wants to see change, and legal aid is already available. This is the stage at which advice has the most effect.
Can Social Services Remove My Child Without Going to Court?
Not on their own decision. Removal requires an order from a court, the police exercising protection powers, or a parent agreeing to the child being accommodated under section 20. That agreement is voluntary, which is why it should not be given without advice.
Should I Agree to Section 20 Accommodation?
That is exactly the question to take advice on before answering, not after. It is voluntary and it is not a neutral or cooperative gesture, and what it means for you depends on the circumstances the request has arisen in.
If the Threshold Is Crossed, Have I Lost?
No. The threshold only allows the court to consider an order. Welfare then decides what is made, and the court must not make any order unless it is better for the child than making none. A supervision order, or a child living with a family member, are outcomes as much as a care order is.
Does a Care Order End My Parental Responsibility?
No. You keep it. The local authority gains parental responsibility alongside yours and can decide how far you exercise it. A supervision order does not give the local authority parental responsibility at all.
Can a Relative Look After the Child Instead?
They can be assessed and the court can place a child with them. Put anyone you have in mind forward as early as you can, because a late assessment is the most common reason a case runs past twenty-six weeks.
What Should I Have Ready?
Any letter from the local authority, including a letter before proceedings, and any court papers you have been given. The name of your social worker. Anyone in the family who might be able to care for the child. Bring the documents even if you have not read all of them.