What Place does Wardship have in Modern Family Proceedings? – Family Law Week

Posted May 20th, 2013 in care orders, children, jurisdiction, local government, news, wardship by sally

“Leanne Buckley-Thomson, barrister at 12 College Place, provides an overview of wardship and considers its usefulness in modern family proceedings.”

Full story

Family Law Week, 18th May 2013

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

Council wrongly classed asylum seeker children as adults – The Guardian

Posted May 17th, 2013 in asylum, children, costs, immigration, local government, London, news by sally

“A London council has had to pay out more than £1m in costs for wrongly assessing asylum seeker children as adults. These wrong decisions have condemned some children to homelessness, prevented them from going to school and led to some being unlawfully held in adult detention centres.”

Full story

The Guardian, 17th May 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Regina (A) v Lowestoft Magistrates’ Court – WLR Daily

Posted May 16th, 2013 in children, law reports, local government, reporting restrictions by sally

Regina (A) v Lowestoft Magistrates’ Court [2013] EWHC 659 (Admin); [2013] WLR (D) 177

“The child specifically referred to in any charge under section 2(1) of the Licensing Act 1902 was a subject of criminal proceedings which were taken ‘in respect of’, and thus “concerned”, that child for the purposes of the court’s power to impose reporting restrictions under section 39 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933.”

WLR Daily, 26th March 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Child sexual abuse orders failing to deliver, says Ceop – BBC News

Posted May 14th, 2013 in children, crime prevention, news, reports, sexual offences by sally

“The system of civil court orders designed to prevent sexual abuse of children in Britain is ‘not fit for purpose’, according to a report obtained by the BBC.”

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BBC News, 14th May 2013

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

“To Decide or not to Decide, that is the Question…” – the impact of R (H) v Kingston upon Hull City Council – Family Law Week

“Dave Phillips and Naomi Madderson, members of the child care team at 37 Park Square Chambers, consider the impact of a case in which a local authority which removed two children subject to an interim care order was judicially reviewed and in which the authors acted.”

Full story

Family Law Week, 6th May 2013

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

Boy wins Birmingham Magistrates’ Court cell ruling – BBC News

Posted May 7th, 2013 in children, detention, learning difficulties, news, young offenders by sally

“Child protection rules were breached when a teenager with learning difficulties was held in a court cell for adults, the High Court has ruled.”

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BBC News, 4th May 2013

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Roxie Jo-Anne Archer death: Man jailed for life for toddler murder – BBC News

Posted May 3rd, 2013 in children, murder, news, sentencing by sally

“A man has been jailed for life for beating a two-year-old girl to death while
her mother was in New York celebrating her 21st birthday.”

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BBC News, 3rd May 2013

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Regina (HC) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and another (Coram Children’s Legal Centre and another intervening) – WLR Daily

Regina (HC) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and another (Coram Children’s Legal Centre and another intervening): [2013] EWHC 982 (Admin);   [2013] WLR (D)  157

“It was contrary to article 8 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and consequently unlawful, for the Secretary of State for the Home Department to direct, as she had done through Code C of the Code of Practice under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (‘PACE Code C’), that 17-year-olds might be treated as adults when in police detention.”

WLR Daily, 25th April 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Annual Report of the Office of the Head of International Family Justice for England and Wales: 2012 – Judiciary of England and Wales

Posted May 3rd, 2013 in children, families, family courts, international law, reports, treaties by sally

“Annual Report of the Office of the Head of International Family Justice for England and Wales: 2012.”

Full report

Judiciary of England and Wales, 1st May 2013

Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk

CPS: ‘Stuart Hall is an opportunistic predator’ – Daily Telegraph

Posted May 3rd, 2013 in children, news, rape, sexual offences by sally

“Nazir Afzal, Chief Crown Prosecutor for the CPS in the North West, thanks
victims of Stuart Hall for their bravery in coming forward as he describes the
veteran broadcaster as an ‘opportunistic predator’.”

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 2nd May 2013

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Darran Brown jailed for baby boy GBH in Leatherhead

Posted May 2nd, 2013 in child cruelty, children, grievous bodily harm, news, sentencing by sally

“A 32-year-old man who seriously assaulted and neglected a four-month-old baby boy has been jailed for eight years.”

Full story

BBC News, 1st May 2013

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

LAA must give reasons about funding expert assessments in care proceedings – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted May 2nd, 2013 in children, costs, expert witnesses, judicial review, legal aid, news, reasons by sally

“This successful challenge to a decision by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) arose from an expert assessor in family proceedings – not unnaturally – refusing to begin work unless funding was in place. If the LAA are asked to fund an assessment on behalf of a party with legal aid, then it is common for lawyers to obtain prior authority from the LAA to ensure that the expert will be paid for their work. If not, then the lawyers themselves can be liable for an expert’s costs. In this case, prior authority to pay for the expert assessment had been refused by the LAA thus resulting in further court hearings and delay in the resolution of the case for the children.”

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 2nd May 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Men guilty of raping boy, 14, in Manchester Debenhams – BBC News

Posted April 30th, 2013 in children, closed circuit television, news, rape by sally

“Two men have been found guilty of raping a 14-year-old boy in a city centre department store’s toilets.”

Full story

BBC News, 29th April 2013

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

In re C (A Child) (Adoption: Placement order) – WLR Daily

Posted April 29th, 2013 in adoption, appeals, children, law reports, news, parental rights, placement orders by sally

In re C (A Child) (Adoption: Placement order): [2013] EWCA Civ 431;   [2013] WLR (D)  151

“Guidance as to the steps to be followed where an application to the Court of Appeal was made for permission to appeal against the making of a placement order, or of any order consequent upon the making of a placement order, in adoption proceedings.”

WLR Daily, 25th April 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Genetic testing of children up for adoption – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted April 29th, 2013 in adoption, children, genetic testing, medical ethics, news by sally

“Y and Z (Children), 25 April 2013 [2013] EWHC 953 (Fam). Having children is a lottery. No judge or court in the land would sanction the regulation of childbearing, however feckless the parents, unsuitable the conditions for childrearing, or unpromising the genetic inheritance. Adoption on the other hand is stringently regulated, set about with obstacles for prospective parents, and strictly scrutinised by an army of authorities backed up by specialist family courts and a battery of laws, statutory instruments and guidance papers. Usually the filtering is in one direction only: the suitability of the parents to the child or children up for adoption. But sometimes it goes the other way, and this case raises the fascinating and somewhat futuristic question of whether children’s chance of finding a suitable home might be increased by genetic testing.”

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 26th April 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Junk foods avoid ad ban by targeting children online – The Guardian

Posted April 29th, 2013 in advertising, children, complaints, internet, news, ombudsmen, regulations by sally

“Advertising regulators have been accused of failing to protect children from aggressive online marketing by food companies using internet games and advertising. The Children’s Food Campaign has called on ministers to introduce statutory regulation to close loopholes allowing ads that are banned from children’s television to be shown on manufacturers’ own child-friendly websites.”

Full story

The Guardian, 29th April 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Judge: parents were too besotted to hurt children – Daily Telegraph

Posted April 29th, 2013 in child abuse, children, evidence, families, news, social services by sally

“A judge has refused to allow social workers to take three children with serious
and apparently unexplained injuries into care after seeing that their parents
were ‘simply dotty about them’.”

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 27th April 2013

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Another blow for Theresa May: treating 17-year-olds in custody as adults ‘incompatible’ with human rights law – The Independent

Posted April 25th, 2013 in children, human rights, news, parental rights, young offenders by sally

“A teenager has won a High Court victory over the Home Secretary Theresa May’s policy of treating 17-year-olds taken into custody as adults – depriving them of protections offered to those aged 16 and under.”

Full story

The Independent, 25th April 2013

Source: www.independent.co.uk

How can the courts manage the Facebook phenomenon? – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted April 24th, 2013 in children, damages, human rights, injunctions, internet, news by sally

“In this somewhat chaotic action, the Plaintiff sued ten defendants, in anonymised form by her father and next friend.”

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 24th April 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Rochdale care homes to sue council leader for suggesting children not safe after grooming scandal – Daily Telegraph

Posted April 23rd, 2013 in care homes, children, defamation, local government, news by sally

“Two private care home operators are attempting to sue the leader of the council at the centre of the Rochdale child grooming scandal for libel after he suggested vulnerable children would not be safe in the area.”

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 22nd April 2013

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk