When nothing else will do An overview of rights and responsibilities in cases involving parents with learning difficulties Nadine Tilbury – Policy Officer WTPN A Fair Say – Cardiff 24 March 2015
Whose Rights and Responsibilities? • The children • The local authority • The parents
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What Rights and Responsibilities? For example • United Nations Conventions on o The Rights of Children o The Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• • • •
Human Rights Act 1998 Equality Act 2010 Children Act 1989 Care Act 2014 / The Social Services & Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 • Children and Families Act 2014 WTPN March 2015
Key Concepts • Participation • Re-unification • Fair process
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Legal and Policy overview • Recent cases involving parents with learning difficulties • Children and Families Act 2014 – expert reports, 26 week timetable • Care Act 2014 / The Social Services & Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014 - new statutory guidance and new national eligibility threshold criteria WTPN March 2015
Recent case law • Re B, re B-S : “Nothing else will do” Re B (A Child) (Care Proceedings: Threshold Criteria) [2013] UKSC33; Re B-S (Children)[2013] EWCA Civ 1146
• Re H : Damages for breach of rights Re H (A Child: Breach of Convention Rights: Damages) [2014]EWFC 38
• Coventry City Council : s.20 Agreements Coventry City Council v C, B, CA, H [2012] 2 FLR 987
• Re D : Legal Aid Re D (A Child) [2014] EWFC 39
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Children and Families Act 2014 Experts • Expert reports – can now only be commissioned if the court deems it “necessary to resolve proceedings justly”. • New national Standards for experts in children proceedings. 26 week timetable Re S (A Child) – 2014. Sir James Mumby (President)
“My message is clear and uncompromising: this deadline can be met, it must be met, it will be met. And remember, 26 weeks is a deadline, not a target; it is a maximum, not an average or a mean. So, many cases will need to be finished in less than 26 weeks.” However… WTPN March 2015
Children and Families Act 2014 (cont) • Court Orders and pre-proceedings - DfE (statutory) guidance for local authorities. April 2014 p.15 – in circumstances where parents may not have the capacity to engage fully with the process, all efforts must be made, such as working in partnership with adult services, to secure appropriate advocacy to ensure that LA actions are fully understood by parents WTPN March 2015
The Social Services & Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 wef April 2016 WALES Applies to people in need – any age – including non-disabled children and their carers. Wider than Care Act – safeguarding and children in need provisions
“Minimum necessary principle” ?
ENGLAND (Care Act 2014) Adults in need and their carers
“Least restrictive interference principle”
“Can and can only” eligibility criteria Statutory Code will need to be approved by the Statutory Guidance – Assembly – draft (advocacy / LAC) is currently out generally considered to for consultation. Assessments / eligibility draft be good consultation ended Feb 2015. WTPN March 2015
The Right to Fair and Appropriate Assessments One size does not fit all • Targeted and suitable expert assessments are required. Re C [2014] • The courts must be careful to ensure that the supposed inability of parents to change might itself be an artefact of professionals’ ineffectiveness in engaging with parents in appropriate terms. Re G and A [2006] • The Local Authority’s duties under Article 8 include the duty to ensure that the processes by which decisions about children are made are fair and that the parents are sufficiently involved in that process. A Father v SBC & Others [2014] WTPN March 2015
Policy Issues Wales (£11m + for training and development…) SS &WB (W) Act 2014 Statutory Guidance Care Council for Wales - National learning and development strategy Good Practice Guidance Department of Health – basic update / full refresh WTPN survey
Consultations Legal Aid / Expert Standards / SCIE Knowledge and Skills / NHS accessible communications / Working Together
Law Society and Bar guidance on working with clients with learning disabilities
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WTPN • National website • Members-only blog • Regional key contacts, SPOCs, Go To’s and services mapping
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In Conclusion • Making it work • Challenging unfair processes on a policy and/or case-specific basis • Individuals and the network
www.wtpn.co.uk WTPN March 2015
WTPN March 2015