‘In the course of care proceedings, they had been compelled to pay about £200,000 to provide a therapeutic residential placement for a family pursuant to section 38(6) of the Children Act 1989. The case had a happy ending; the family stayed together. But the local authority wanted to make it clear for the future that this had been an improper use of section 38(6) of the Children Act 1989 and argued that the court could not compel a local authority to pay for therapy for parents under a statutory provision directed at assessments of the child.The House of Lords – as they then were – agreed. However, they went further than simply restating the purpose behind section 38(6).’
UK Human Rights Blog, 18th September 2015
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com