Barnardo’s says children are being left in abusive homes longer than necessary due to court delays. Vulnerable children are being “damaged” by delays in care proceedings in England and Wales, a charity has said.
Barnardo’s wants to see a 30-week limit after figures showed children waited an average of 57 weeks – sometimes in abusive homes – for county courts to make care or supervision orders. In family courts, proceedings took an average of 45 weeks, it said.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said the government was “committed to reducing unnecessary delays”.
Barnardo’s said court data showed that at the end of 2009 there were 50% more unresolved care proceedings cases than at the end of 2008. According to the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) in England, new applications accounted for less than half of this increase – suggesting the courts were taking longer to close a significant number of cases, it argued.
Barnardo’s chief executive Martin Narey said uncertainty had spread through family courts, with “additional, sequential expert assessments being routinely ordered”. “This, paired with the evident lack of credence given to social workers, is causing unnecessary delay,” he said.
“The courts need urgently to reflect on the damage these delays are having on extremely vulnerable children.” He said a year of a child’s life was “an inordinate amount of time for them to be trapped in desperate limbo, unclear of their future and very possibly at risk”.
“During this time, these children might remain at home with neglectful or abusive birth families or be living in emergency foster care, expected to settle with families they may subsequently have to leave. “At a time when stable relationships and secure attachments are vital for a child, they are instead engulfed in a period of uncertainty and confusion,” he said.
Boy’s two-year wait for care order
In one case highlighted by Barnardo’s, two-year-old Michael was removed from home on an emergency protection order (Epo). He had wait more than two years for his full care order, by which time he was four years and four months old. It was another year and a half before he was placed with an adoptive family. Michael went through 11 placement changes between the first Epo and adoption.
He was involved in parenting skills assessments at two different family centres and was also seen by a psychiatrist. A social worker from an adoption team saw him six times, and he had three different allocated social workers. The boy was placed in the care of his father and his father’s partner on a trial basis but the arrangement broke down. The same thing happened 10 months later.
Barnardo’s also said the figures – which were revealed in written answers to Parliamentary questions from Liberal Democrat MP Annette Brooke – also revealed a “postcode lottery” for children awaiting care. In London, county court proceedings in 2008-09 took an average of 65 weeks, while similar proceedings in Humber and South Yorkshire took 46 weeks.
The figures covered only cases where a care or supervision order was made, not cases where orders were refused, where emergency protection was given, or where children were put in secure accommodation.
‘Radical culture shift’
There are no comparable figures in Scotland, where care decisions are handled by the welfare-based Children’s Hearing system rather than the courts. Family lawyer Christina Blacklaws said social workers dealing with public law cases were often inexperienced, lacking in confidence and simply “overwhelmed” by their workload. She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “In London, we’re running at 33% vacancy rate for social workers… so even if they have the ability to undertake these complex and difficult assessments, they just don’t have the time.”
A lack of court judges and the number of days they sat further delayed proceedings by months, she added.
Barnardo’s said there needed to be a “radical culture shift in court practice” and said the government should give “urgent consideration” to a number of measures, including setting new limits to ensure all cases were dealt with within 30 weeks, or 12 weeks for children under 18 months.
‘Detrimental effect’
Hugh Thornbery, director of children’s services at Action for Children, said the figures were “a cause for serious concern” and called for more to be done to ensure vulnerable and neglected children were not left in limbo.
“For children who are unable to stay with their birth families, entering the care system is an extremely uncertain and unsettling time, and it’s critical that their care provision provides them with the stable and secure home environment that they need.
“Being left languishing in emergency foster placements for unknown extended periods of time can only have a detrimental effect on children, and risks giving them a false sense of security at a time when they need stability the most,” he said.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said a family justice review was under way and 4,000 extra sitting days were added to family courts this year to deal with cases.
“The panel leading the review shares Barnardo’s concerns and has met its representatives to discuss suggestions for reform,” he said.
“We are also exploring proposals to make better use of local performance groups to give local decision makers more ownership of the system, empowering them to tackle the local causes of delay.
“The government is clear that every child’s case should be dealt with as quickly as possible to minimise trauma and keep young people safe from harm.”
