Dictionary of Public Children Law (2024)

• Dictionary of Public Children Law
• Copyright
• Foreword to the first edition
• Introduction to the 2024 edition
• 26 Weeks and the Extension of Proceedings
• Adoption Orders
• Agency Decision Maker
• Allocation, Gatekeeping and Transfer
• Appeals
• Assessing Witness Evidence
• Assessments of Carers Living Abroad
• Assessments of Parents
• Bundles
• Capacity
• Care Order
• Care Plans
• Child Assessment Orders
• Children Giving Evidence
• Children in Need – section 17 Children Act 1989
• Children Meeting Judges
• Children’s Guardians and the Representation and Participation of Children
• Confidentiality
• Contact with Children in Local Authority Care
• Costs
• Delay
• Deprivation of Liberty of Children
• Designated Local Authority
• Discharge of Care Orders and Discharge/Variation of Supervision Orders
• Disclosure into Proceedings
• Disclosure or Publication of Family Court Information
• Domestic Abuse
• Drafting Threshold Documents
• Education Supervision Order
• Emergency Protection Order (EPO)
• Evidence
• Expert Evidence
• Fact-Finding Hearings
• Family Assistance Order
• Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC)
• Human Rights
• Identifying Perpetrators
• Immigration Issues
• Independent Reviewing Officer
• Injuries to Children
• Interim Orders
• Judgments (Analysis and Response)
• Judicial Bias and Recusal
• Jurisdiction
• Kinship Care
• Leave to Oppose Adoption
• Legal Aid
• Litigants in Person
• Local Authority Duty to Investigate Pursuant to Section 47 CA 1989
• The ‘No Order Principle’
• Parental Responsibility and Parentage
• Participation and Vulnerability
• Parties, Interveners, Joinder and Notice
• Permanence Provisions (Limiting the Court’s Enquiring at Final Hearing)
• Placement of Children Outside England and Wales – in Scotland or Northern Ireland
• Placement of Children Outside England and Wales – Outside the United Kingdom
• Placement Orders
• Police Protection
• Port Alerts and Tipstaff Orders (Passport, Location and Collection Orders)
• Pre-Proceedings Process
• Proportionality
• Public Law Outline
• Public Law Portal
• Radicalisation
• Reconsideration of Earlier Findings
• Recordings
• Recovery Orders
• Regulatory Approval of Carers
• Related Criminal Proceedings
• Removal of Children under Interim Orders
• Section 20 – Accommodation
• Section 37 Children Act 1989
• Section 38(6) Directions
• Section 91(14) Orders
• Section 98 Children Act 1989
• Secure Accommodation
• Sexual Abuse
• Social Media
• Special Guardianship Orders
• Split Hearings (Finding of Fact Hearings)
• Statements
• Substance Testing
• Summary Dismissal
• Supervision Order
• Threshold Criteria
• Transfer of Proceedings Outside the Jurisdiction
• Translation
• Transparency, Media Attendance and Reporting
• Wardship and the Inherent Jurisdiction
• Welfare Checklist
• Withdrawal of a Public Law Application
• Witness Evidence and Compellability

I am delighted to have been asked to write the foreword for the first edition of this excellent work. Given the success of the Dictionary of Private Children Law, the Dictionary of Financial Remedies and the Dictionary of TLATA and Inheritance Act Claims, it was only going to be a matter of time before a Dictionary of Public Children Law came into being. It will be, without doubt, another ‘go to’ reference for the busy family lawyer.

The pace of change in public law continues to be high and it is very good to know that a new edition of this work will be produced annually. There have been many challenges over the last few years, not least the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on families, professionals and the courts. In January 2023, following the recommendations of the Public Law Working Group (PLWG), chaired by Mr Justice Keehan, the President of the Family Division re-launched the Public Law Outline with a view to reducing delay and bringing cases within the statutory 26-week time limit, with a focus on ‘making cases smaller’. This has already led to a noticeable reduction in the number of applications to court and the time taken to complete them. It is hoped that this will continue, alongside the invaluable work being done in the Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) in bringing a problem-solving approach to the common and prevalent issue of alcohol and substance misuse.

In October 2023 the Adoption sub-group of the PLWG produced an interim report which is to be finalised during 2024. The number of adoption orders made each year are few by comparison with other public law orders, but the effect on the lives of all those around the child concerned is profound and very long lasting.

On 30 January 2023 the Reporting Pilot was launched in Leeds, Cardiff and Carlisle, allowing accredited journalists and bloggers to report on family cases, subject to a transparency order preventing the publication of identifying details of the family. This proved successful and has now been rolled out to another 16 courts.

Over the course of 2023 there have been a number of judgments from the Court of Appeal dealing with such matters as requests for clarification of judgments (see C & Ors (Care Proceedings: Fact-finding) [2023] EWCA Civ 38 where Baker LJ was critical of excessive requests for clarifications and amplification), the making of care orders with a plan for the child or children to remain at home (JW (Child at Home under Care Order) [2023] EWCA Civ 944), whether a child is an automatic party to an application for leave to revoke a placement order (yes; G and H (Leave to Revoke Placement Order) [2023] EWCA Civ 768), the need for a transcript of the judgment to be obtained upon the court making a placement order (M (A Child: Leave to Oppose Adoption) [2023] EWCA Civ 404), the test to be applied with respect to children instructing a solicitor directly (C (Child: Ability to Instruct Solicitor) [2023] EWCA Civ 889), joinder of a father without parental responsibility to care proceedings (S (A Child) [2023] EWCA Civ 706), the relevant date(s) for determination of jurisdiction under the 1996 Convention (London Borough of Hackney v P & Ors (Jurisdiction: 1996 Hague Child Protection Convention) [2023] EWCA Civ 1213), and the application of Arts 9 and 11 Hague Convention 1996 with respect to children who are habitually resident in another state at the time care proceedings were started (Y and E (1996 Hague Convention: Article 11) [2023] EWCA Civ 817). Reference to all these cases and those from the lower courts are set out in this work.

I have recently taken over from Keehan J as the Chair of the PLWG. His contribution has been huge, and he will be a very hard act to follow. This dictionary will be an invaluable resource for me and many others in carrying out that task.

The Honourable Mrs Justice Judd,
Chair of the Public Law Working Group

January 2024

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