Public law care proceedings

This page provides information on the powers of the local authority to take action to protect a child who is suffering harm or at risk of suffering harm. 

What are care proceedings?

Care proceedings are court proceedings initiated by the local authority's children's services department in which an application for a Care Order or Supervision Order in relation to a child is made. If children's services believe a child is at risk of significant harm, they can apply to the court for permission to take action to protect the child.

Please see our pages on 'Care Orders' and 'Supervision Orders' to find for further information regarding these court orders. 

In which circumstances will care proceedings be initiated? 

If children’s services believe a child is suffering significant harm or at risk of suffering significant harm, they can apply to court for permission to take action to protect the child. This particular threshold is contained in Section 31 Children Act 1989. The child's social worker will take this step if they believe that the child can no longer remain safely at home. 

Pre-Proceedings Meeting

Unless the circumstances are such that an application to court must be made immediately, care proceedings will be initiated only after extensive efforts to keep the child with their birth family have been exhausted. A pre-proceedings meeting is an important component of the 'Public Law Outline' duties of children's services. This meeting is a final attempt to keep the case out of court. Parents will first receive a pre-proceedings letter outlining the concerns that children's services have and what has been done so far in order to address those concerns. The letter will invite the parents to the pre-proceedings meeting, which must take place within seven days of receiving the letter.

Parents, children's services, and legal representatives from both sides will attend the meeting (see section below on legal aid). To alleviate the concerns of children's services, it will be made clear to parents what is expected of them in relation to their child. If these changes are not implemented effectively and children's services continue to have serious concerns about a child's safety, care proceedings will be initiated.

Availability of legal aid

Legal aid is available in these cases for parents as well as anyone else who has parental responsibility for the child in question. You will be eligible for non-means, non-merits tested legal aid if you receive a "letter before proceedings" or a "letter of issue."

• Letter before proceedings: This letter is sent to parents when children's services decides that more time is needed. The letter's purpose is to warn parents that if their child's care does not improve, children's services will initiate care proceedings.
• Letter of issue: When children's services determine that the current circumstances are not in the child's best interests and that the child should be removed and placed in care, this letter is sent to the parents. The letter explains that children's services intend to start care proceedings.

In such cases, we recommend that you seek legal advice and representation. The local authority should provide you with a list of local solicitors, but you can also use the following resources to find local solicitors:

• Law Society: lawsociety.org.uk/
• Legal Aid Finder: find-legal-advice.justice.gov.uk/

Who can attend the court hearings?

The child's parents and anyone else with parental responsibility for the child will be considered "parties to proceedings." If you are a party to the proceedings, you have the right to attend each court hearing and have access to all reports and evidence relevant to the proceedings.

Those who are not automatically a 'party to proceedings' can make an application for permission to be joined as a 'party in proceedings' on a C2 form.

Care Proceedings timeline

Practice Direction 12A describes the court process in cases of public law care proceedings. Section 14(2) Children and Families Act 2014 amends Section 32(1)(a) Children Act 1989 to insert that a case must be concluded: without delay; and in any event, within 26 weeks, beginning with the day on which the application was issued.

Interim Care Order

If children's services believes that the child should be removed from the care of the parents before the final hearing, the social worker will ask the court for a temporary court order known as a "Interim Care Order." Those who are a 'party to proceedings' will be able to attend this court hearing and make representations. The court will decide at this hearing:

• Whether to grant an Interim Care Order
• With whom the child should live with until the final hearing
• Who will have contact with the child until the final hearing

If the court agrees, children's services can take the child into care on a temporary basis for up to 8 weeks at first. 

Case Management Hearing

The Case Management is a court hearing where directions will be set as to how the case will progress. The court gives detailed case management directions, including:

• Identifying the key issues
• Identifying the evidence necessary to enable the court to resolve the key issues
• Deciding whether there is a real issue about threshold to be resolved

This is generally a short hearing which will resolve procedural matters which enable to case to be ready for a hearing where a final decision will be made. 

Issues Resolution Hearing

The purpose of this hearing is to see if the care proceedings can be concluded early. If this is not possible, the purpose is to identify and narrow the issues for determination at a final hearing. It will generally be concluded early if everyone in the case is in agreement, for example, about with whom the child should live and arrangements regarding contact. 

• Court identifies the key issue(s) (if any) to be determined and the extent to which those issues can be resolved or narrowed at the IRH
• Court considers whether the IRH can be used as a final hearing
• Court resolves or narrows the issues by hearing evidence
• Court identifies the evidence to be heard on the issues which remain to be resolved at the final hearing
• Court gives final case management directions including

Final Hearing

If the child's parents and social workers are unable to reach an agreement, the case will proceed to a final hearing. The court will decide whether a Care Order or a Supervision Order is needed to protect the child's welfare. If the court decides that a court order is required in the circumstances, final decisions will be made about who the child will live with and contact arrangements for the parents and extended family.

There are several possible final orders the court can make:

• Care Order: Local authority gain parental responsibility for the child and the child becomes looked-after until the age of 18 (unless discharged before). Please see our page on Care Orders. 
• Supervision Order: Local authority are granted the power to monitor the child's needs whilst the child lives at home or elsewhere. Please see our page on Supervision Orders.
• Special Guardianship Order: An order that places a child or young person to live with someone other than their parent(s) on a long-term basis. Please see our page on Special Guardianship Orders. 
• Placement Order: The court provide permission to the local authority to place a child for adoption even if the child's parents do not provide consent.