[16
FEB 99] UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK PRESS RELEASE
Children Left In The Dark In Care ProceedingsA new report published today raises serious concerns about the extent to which
children in care proceedings are kept in the dark about the legal processes happening
around them. The research by the University of Warwick's School of Law and The National
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is published today in a book
entitled Out of Hearing: Representing Children in Care Proceedings.
One of the areas examined by the two researchers, Professor
Judith Masson, and Dr Maureen Winn Oakley, was the role of children's representatives.
Children subject to care proceedings generally have a representative appointed for them by
the court known as a guardian ad litem (usually a qualified social worker) and a
solicitor. The children do not choose their guardians, and rarely choose their solicitors,
but the children rely upon these people to challenge the local authority in the court
proceedings. The researchers had a number of concerns about this situation including:-
· Guardians and solicitors were acutely aware of the
limitations of court powers and the pressures on the child's social worker. Although some
were able to achieve improvements in children's situations by liaising with social
services not all did so. One 12 year old ran away to relatives because he opposed the
arrangements planned for him.
Negotiation and conciliation were important tools in
promoting children’s wishes and interests.
· By final hearing, there was no conflict between the
adult parties (parents etc) and the local authority in any of the cases in the study, as
is the case in the majority of care proceedings. The guardians had limited opportunities
to raise any outstanding concerns about the child's future care in final hearings. In
addition, raising issues at this point was seen as counter-productive, as it might only
serve to delay the final order and increase conflict with social services. As a
consequence at the end of the proceedings it was often not clear where and with whom the
child would live, where the child would go to school and when these arrangements would be
made. One boy of 14 years was so desperate to be found the foster placement planned for
him that he approached a family who had fostered his sister and begged them to take him
in.
· Where concerns remained unresolved after the final
order, guardians and solicitors were powerless because their appointments had terminated.
Goodbye visits to children might provide one last opportunity to inform them of their
rights, but guardians and solicitors were only too aware that children could rarely take
matters further on their own, and they were concerned not to be seen to undermine social
services.
· Children interviewed in the research were not satisfied
with the limited access they were given to the guardian ad litem's report. Children should
have the right to see and retain the document as other parties do.
Lord Justice Butler-Sloss once said
"the child is a person not an object of concern".
The researchers conclude that children are still not given
the rights and respect they are due by the courts. Although children may be too young to
understand all of the consequences of the court's decision it can never be in the child's
interests that the outcome is concealed from them. All the children in the study were
aware that decisions were to be made about them by the court. Their anxiety to know the
decision was not reflected in clear arrangements to tell them without delay, what had been
decided. At the end of any hearing which is not attended by the young person the court
should direct that one of the professionals involved, the guardian ad litem, solicitor or
the social worker, should immediately inform the young person of the decision and provide
appropriate support. Solicitors who have represented young people should always write to
their clients to confirm the outcome of the proceedings and explain the effect of any
decision.
NOTES:
Out of Hearing: Representing Children in Care Proceedings, is published by Wiley ISBN 0471
98642 9 contact Rebecca Robinson for Review copies 01243 770674.
MORE INFORMATION:
Professor Judith Masson, School of Law,
University of Warwick Tel: 01203 523172
Dr Maureen Winn Oakley, NSPCC Research Fellow School of Law, University of Warwick Tel:
01203 524938
Peter Dunn, University Press Officer
01203 523708
email: puapjd@admin.warwick.ac.uk
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