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Legislation
The key pieces of domestic English and Welsh legislation addressing this topic are the Children Act 1989, Children Act 2004 and Children and Families Act 2014. As with all legislation, we recommend that you avoid legislation.gov.uk, and instead refer to a subscription database such a Lexis or Westlaw. This will ensure that you are working with an up-to-date version.
You may have access to a resource called Box of Broadcasts via your college or university. This is provided by the British Universities and Colleges Film and Video Council and gives on demand access to many television and radio programmes going back years, for educational purposes. Some programmes also include transcripts. There are many documentaries about care proceedings available. These include:
Panorama: Please Don’t Take Our Child (BBC1, 2010)
Addicted Parents: Last Chance to Keep My Children (BBC2, 2017)
Protecting Our Foster Kids (BBC2, 2015)
You're Killing My Son: The Mum Who Went on the Run (Channel 4, 2013)
Baby P: The Untold Story (BBC1, 2014)
Briefings - UK Supreme Court: Charlie Gard Judgment (BBC Parliament, 2017)
‘Vulnerable Birth Mothers and Recurrent Care Proceedings’ (2018)
This research project examined the experience of women whose children were taken into care at birth, or very soon after birth, repeatedly so they experienced repeated removals.
‘Protecting Young Children at Risk of Abuse and Neglect’ (2021)
Provides a summary of Nuffield Foundation research into care proceedings and provides points for discussion for the future development of the child protection system.
Website belonging to ‘Annie’, a mother who lost her children to care – and then eventually got them back. The site tells her story and provides advice for parents in a similar position. Annie also now provides training to professionals in the child protection system.
Website by barrister Sarah Phillimore which contains articles and guides to the child protection process.
There are some videos on YouTube designed to assist parents whose children are in the care system. We recommend Anne and Terry’s Story, a two-part series covering a child protection conference. These are produced by the Family Rights Group and although the parents are actors, the other people at the conference are professionals in their genuine roles.
Children looked after in England: Statistics (2021)
Statistics on children under local authority care at national and local authority level. Includes all looked after children, but the different graphs cover legal status, reason, and leaving ‘looked after’ status.
NSPCC, Returning Home from Care: What’s Best for Children (2012)
Report addressing preparing for a child to return home from care, and the support that needs to be provided to children and their families.
Lord Laming, Report of the Victoria Climbié Inquiry (Cmd 5730, 2003)
Victoria Climbié was a young child who died as a result of awful abuse by her great-aunt and the great-aunt’s partner. The independent statutory inquiry into her death identifies many failings between agencies. It is a difficult read, emotionally, but an influential report.
HM Government, Working Together to Safeguard Children (HMSO, 2020)
Guidance for all agencies and organisations that have statutory functions relating to children, such as local authorities, schools, the police, and Public Health England. It covers sharing of information in order to safeguard children and the core legal requirements on these bodies and the people who work in them.
Department for Education, ‘Court Orders and Pre-Proceedings for Local Authorities’ (2014)
Guidelines for local authorities on the key principles of the Children Act 1989 as subsequently amended. Very clear to read.
Practice Direction 12A: Public Law Outline (2021)
This Practice Direction supplements Part 12 of the Family Procedure Rules, and sets out the court process (including pre-action work) for care and supervision proceedings.
This report from the Judiciary Public Law Working Group, commissioned by the President of the Family Division and led by Keehan, J, seeks to provide a comprehensive framework of best practice guidance in relation to all aspects of child protection proceedings.
Williams and another v London Borough of Hackney [2018] UKSC 37
This appeal concerned the limits of a local authority's powers and duties to provide accommodation for children in need under s20 and returning children home when a person with parental responsibility objects to continued accommodation of the children.
Supreme Court Justices’ Speeches
Lady Hale, ’30 Years of the Children Act 1989’ (2019)