ABSTRACT
This chapter gives details of the court procedures involved in applying for a care or supervision order, and considers practice issues that arise during the course of proceedings. It is concerned with care and supervision orders, the procedures described apply to all proceedings under the Children Act. The changes to care and supervision proceedings introduced by the Act are a response to sustained criticism over a long period about the complexities, anomalies and injustices of previous legislation. Local authorities will need to consider carefully what would be achieved by acquiring compulsory powers over the child. The local authority should discuss the options with the children concerned, their parents, anyone else with parental responsibility for the children. Parents, relatives and friends of children involved in care proceedings may find it helpful to choose a solicitor from this list, which should ensure that they are represented by someone with experience and knowledge of this specialist area of law.
