‘The Court of Appeal has dismissed a case brought against Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council over whether a child should be adopted when his older half-brothers, who lived with the same couple, were to be the subject of a special guardianship order.’
Local Government Lawyer, 14th November 2017
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘A judge has allowed Gloucestershire County Council to be identified in a child guardianship case.’
Local Government Lawyer, 9th November 2017
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Emily James and Kate Tompkins, barristers of 36 Family, consider a new judgment in which Sir Peter Jackson affirmed, and offered guidance on, current testing arrangements.’
Family Law Week, 12th October 2017
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
‘A controversial agreement between the Association of Directors of Children’s Services and Cafcass over children’s care proceedings has been scrapped.’
Local Government Lawyer, 22nd August 2017
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The fall in decisions for adoption and placement orders seems to have halted but this masks a high degree of variation in decision-making at a local and regional level, data collected by the Adoption Leadership Board has suggested.’
Local Government Lawyer, 24th April 2017
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The Association of Lawyers for Children (ALC) has said it is “deeply concerned” by a recent agreement entered into by Cafcass and the Association of Directors of Children’s Services.’
Local Government Lawyer, 3rd March 2017
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The last five years have brought important reforms to care proceedings. The Judiciary made proposals for modernising family justice with a focus on strong judicial leadership, judicial continuity and better case management.2 The Family Justice Review3 recommended that the duration of care proceedings should be limited to 26 weeks, that fewer experts should be instructed in proceedings and there should be more limited scrutiny of the care plan, with the court considering only the plan for permanency (care by the parents(s), placement in the extended family, long-term fostering, or adoption) and not matters such as services for the child and contact arrangements. The Review’s recommendations were enacted in the Children and Families Act 2014, supplemented by new procedural rules (the PLO 2014) and implemented on April 22, 2014. This date also marked the opening of the Family Court, replacing the triple jurisdiction of the Family Proceedings Court, the County Court and the High Court. ‘
Family Law Week, 17th February 2017
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
‘Alex Verdan QC of 4 Paper Buildings reviews recent important judgments in private law children cases.’
Family Law Week, 12th October 2016
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
‘One of the UK’s leading experts in adoption and fostering, John Simmonds, has warned more children like 18-month-old Keegan Downer could die at the hands of their carers if existing guidelines are not strengthened.’
BBC News, 2nd September 2016
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Social services are facing questions after a “barbaric” woman beat an 18-month-old girl in her care to death, inflicting 200 injuries on her and trying to blame her eldest son for the child’s death.’
Daily Telegraph, 3rd May 2016
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘The Association of Lawyers for Children and the National Association of Guardians ad Litem and Reporting Officers respond to recent guidance given in the Central Family Court on the need for guardians to justify their attendance at care hearings save in specified circumstances.’
Family Law Week, 31st January 2016
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
‘When a judge waxes lyrical about a child, garlanded with starred GCSEs, their intelligence, their medical school ambitions, you wonder what is coming. It’s the judicial equivalent of those blurred reproductions in the press of murder victims’ graduate portraits.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 27th August 2015
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘Zimran Samuel, barrister of 42 Bedford Row, comments on Mr Justice Peter Jackson’s recent judgment concerning an infant with vitamin D deficiency induced rickets who had suffered multiple fractures.’
Family Law week, 30th July 2015
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
‘David Bedingfield, barrister of 4 Paper Buildings, considers two recent Court of Appeal judgments which had cause to consider the significance of a child’s family ties.’
Family Law Week, 6th May 2015
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
‘A white British foster carer who has looked after a two-year-old boy of black African heritage since he was less than six months old has been named his “special guardian” by the family court.’
The Guardian, 5th April 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘A new law will allow relatives of missing people to take charge of their family member’s property and financial affairs, such as suspending direct debit payments for mobile phone and utility bills, and making mortgage payments, the Ministry of Justice announced today.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 23rd March 2015
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘A Family Division judge has awarded damages under the Human Rights Act against a local authority in what he described as an “unfortunate and woeful case” involving a baby taken into foster care. Mr Justice Keehan cited a “catalogue of errors, omissions, delays and serial breaches of court orders” by Northamptonshire County Council. Unusually, the judge decided to give the judgment in this sensitive case in public in order to set out “the lamentable conduct of this litigation by the local authority.”’
UK Human Rights Blog, 1st February 2015
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
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