‘Family Law Newsletter – January 2025; Articles, news, legislation updates and case updates from Care Proceedings, Private Law and Financial Remedy matters.’
Spire Barristers, 14th January 2025
Source: www.spirebarristers.co.uk
‘West Sussex County Council v AB & Anor [2025] EWCA Civ 132, concerned a very challenging situation. It concerned a 17 year old woman with complex needs.’
Mental Capacity Law and Policy, 20th February 2025
‘Reece McAllister analyses a significant Court of Appeal ruling on risk assessment and judicial reasoning in care proceedings.’
Local Government Lawyer, 19th February 2025
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘A judge has refused an application by a local authority for a declaration from the High Court that it is lawful and in the best interests of a 15-year-old boy with “profound enduring disabilities”, who is the subject of a care order, to be deprived of his liberty.’
Local Government Lawyer, 4th February 2025
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘A High Court judge has made a care order in relation to a four-year-old girl (F), finding that her best interests will be met by an adoptive placement outside her family, while criticising the “unconscionable delay” in the case, which took almost 30 months to reach a conclusion’
Local Government Lawyer, 31st January 2025
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The local authority threshold statement at this stage detailed the injuries and submitted that the fractures were caused by excessive force or shaking; the bruises and abrasions caused by grabbing or squeezing. The parents had not been honest about the cause of the injuries and if one of them had caused them, the other had failed protect to Claire from being injured. Additionally, the local authority relied on an injury that had occurred earlier in the summer but had at that time not been deemed a child protection matter. The statement set out a list of concerns relating to David’s drug use and to Amy’s failure to protect Claire from the consequences. There were also references to David’s inappropriate handling of Claire although eventually this particular point was not included in the judge’s findings.’
Transparency Project, 29th January 2025
Source: transparencyproject.org.uk
‘One evening in autumn 2023, a young couple took their five month old baby to an emergency hospital where she was diagnosed with numerous physical injuries (some very serious) which the parents couldn’t explain. Local authority children’s services were called in and care proceedings began. The baby went into foster care under an interim care order when she left hospital. Fortunately, she soon fully recovered from the injuries. More than a year later, a full care order was made.’
Transparency Project, 29th January 2025
Source: transparencyproject.org.uk
‘The Court of Appeal has allowed an appeal brought by two journalists against a judge’s decision to order the anonymisation of the names of the circuit judges that had decided historic care proceedings relating to Sara Sharif, who was murdered by her father and step-mother in 2023.’
Local Government Lawyer, 17th January 2025
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘On 22 April 2014, the “Single” Family Court sprang into being. For those who did not practise in the predecessors, it is probably almost impossible to fathom that family justice was so clearly delineated into three separate courts, each with its own powers, approaches and, dare we say, own quirks. Indeed, prior to 2010, there were entirely separate procedural codes between the High Court/county court on the one hand and the Family Proceedings Court on the other. For those of us who have difficulty remembering one set of rules, having to remember two seemed a little unfair.’
St Ives Chambers, November 2024
Source: d23mtoo6rceerw.cloudfront.net
‘Gary Fawcett considers two recent care cases he has dealt with recently where “recusal” has cropped up.’
Local Government Lawyer, 17th December 2024
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Matthew Timm analyses a Family Court ruling that a local authority had failed to discharge the burden of proof in asserting that injuries to a child when he was eight months old were inflicted by one or other of his parents.’
Local Government Lawyer, 20th November 2024
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Sarah Hutchinson summarises recent Family Division rulings on an application by a father for a boy subject to a care order to be circumcised, and an application by an NHS for permission for NG feeding and restraint in respect of a 12-year old girl with anorexia nervosa.’
Local Government Lawyer, 20th November 2024
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The Court of Appeal has rejected a father’s appeal against care and placement orders made in respect of his daughter, finding that while his subsequent diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) may have had a “bearing” on some of the risks identified in the case, the majority and the most serious identified risks were not linked to ASD.’
Local Government Lawyer, 18th November 2024
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Children are at risk of being wrongly removed from their parents’ care by the family courts because drug tests are being misinterpreted, experts have warned.’
The Guardian, 9th November 2024
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘The average time for public law care or supervision cases to reach first disposal was 41 weeks in April to June 2024, down 3 weeks from the same quarter in 2023, according to the latest data published by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).’
Local Government Lawyer, 27th September 2024
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The recent Court of Appeal decision in D and A (Fact Finding: Research Literature) [2024] EWCA Civ 663 considered issues about the use of medical research literature as evidence in care proceedings under Part IV of the Children Act 1989. This case is an important decision, reminding practitioners of the importance of oral evidence and the evidence provided by expert witnesses in a time when the Government is running a pilot programme which might limit both of those things.’
St Ives Chambers, 8th August 2024
Source: www.stiveschambers.co.uk
‘Emma Greenhalgh and Joanne Oakes highlight a recent case which raised important guidance in respect of what is appropriate when requesting clarification and when this may go too far as to “bamboozle” the judge.’
Local Government Lawyer, 9th August 2024
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) could save local authorities almost £10,000 per case in legal costs compared to standard care proceedings, according to a financial analysis carried out by the Centre for Justice Innovation.’
Local Government Lawyer, 5th August 2024
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘In the recent matter of Y (Failure to Clarify Immigration Status), Re [2024] EWFC 159, the High Court gives useful guidance in respect of public law children cases where there is a question in relation to the immigration status of either the subject child or parents.’
Broadway Chambers, 29th July 2024
Source: www.broadwayhouse.co.uk
© Inner Temple Library 2025