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Social workers “acted unlawfully” by failing to apply for care order (2 July 2014)

Date: 02/07/2014
Duncan Lewis, Child Care Solicitors, Social workers “acted unlawfully” by failing to apply for care order

A mother whose nine-year-old son was illegally withheld from her by social workers is seeking compensation from Anglesey County Council in North Wales.

The mother – who cannot be named for legal reasons – won an injunction to have her son returned to her immediately.

Social workers took the child into temporary care while the mother was undergoing psychiatric treatment, the Daily Mail reports.

The child had been taken to hospital with pneumonia in March 2013 and his mother underwent a period of psychiatric treatment. He was then placed with foster carers until April 2013, but social workers had failed to apply for a care order beforehand.

The mother gave her consent for the child to remain in care for five months – but when she returned home after treatment she withdrew her consent. However, social workers refused to allow her son to return home to live with her.

The court has now found that the social workers acted unlawfully.

At the High Court in Mold, Judge Gareth Jones asked for his judgment to be made public so that “lessons can be learned”.

The findings of the Family Division are usually only released retrospectively in a written judgment – and those at the centre of a family case remain anonymous to protect the identity of vulnerable children or individuals whose future is being decided.

At a judge’s discretion, the Local Authority involved in a care proceedings or Court of Protection case can be named, however.

Lawyers for the mother said that her right to a family life under the European Convention on Human Rights had been breached.

Anglesey County Council accepted that its social workers had not followed legal procedures, but claimed that they had acted in the best interests of the child.

Judge Jones said that social services were not “above the law” – and added that the council should have applied to the court for an emergency protection order or an interim care order, once the mother had withdrawn her consent for her son to be in care.

Because of the council’s failure to do so, the mother was legally entitled to remove her son from council care at any time, he said.

“By failing to do so, they were essentially maintaining an unlawful position,” Judge Jones told the court – and said he was “extremely critical” of the council’s actions.

“The social services department of Ynys Mon Council, in that respect – it seems to me – were acting beyond the proper control of that local authority’s legal department,” he said.

Judge Jones recommended that the local authority carry out an urgent review of its internal procedures – and added that “key personnel” in positions of authority in social services and the children’s services department “needed to be fully informed by the legal department of the legal framework in which they operated”.

A spokesman for the Isle of Anglesey County Council said after the hearing that because of the ongoing legal action, the council was unable to comment on the case.

Duncan Lewis Childcare Solicitors

Duncan Lewis is a leading firm of childcare solicitors and can advise on matters relating to the Family Division of the Court, including children taken into Local Authority care, child contact and residence following divorce or judicial separation and Court of Protection.

Duncan Lewis childcare solicitors are also a leading firm of Legal Aid solicitors and can advise on children law and family law under UK law or Islamic law.

For expert help with children law or family law, contact Duncan Lewis childcare solicitors on 020 7923 4020.


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