Who Will Be Involved in the Proceedings?
- You and the child's other parent
- The local authority through the social services department
- Your child through his/her guardian
- Any joined party
You and the child's other parent
- The mother of a child who is the subject of proceedings is an automatic party as she has parental responsibility. She is entitled to a solicitor free of charge
- The father of a child who is the subject of proceedings is an automatic party if he has PR. If not, he may apply to the court
- Usually the parents will each have their own solicitor. The solicitors can test the LA evidence on threshold through cross examination, request assessments, request contact and generally further the parent's case.
- You may need to give evidence but your solicitor will talk to you about this and guide you through the process
- The local authority brings the application before the court. There will be a legal representative for the local authority who will talk to the Judge or Magistrates
- The social worker and the team manager will also be present in court. The social worker may give evidence
Your child through his/her guardian
- A Guardian will be appointed for your child. The Guardian will look at the issues from the point of view of your child and will make decisions based on what is in his/her best interest. The Guardian is independent of both you and the local authority. The Guardian is the voice of your child within the proceedings.
- Your child will also be appointed a solicitor who will work with the Guardian.
- In some cases your child may provide instructions directly to his/her solicitor, that is, NOT through the Guardian. This will only happen if your child is sufficiently mature to manage this and the wishes and feeling of the child are different to the view held by the Guardian. This decision will be made by the solicitor
Any joined party
- Any person who considers that they have a case to present to the court that is not already being put forward by another party may ask to be ‘joined’. They will not automatically get free legal advice and their application may be rejected by the court
- Cases where other people may want to become involved in proceedings include grandparents, or other relatives, who are caring for a child or who wish to be assessed to care for a child when the local authority either wish to remove that child or refuse to assess
- The court can 'join' people it feels may have an important role in establishing what has happened to a child. Where, for example, a child has suffered an injury or been sexually abused and there is a suggestion that someone other than a parent may have been responsible, for example, a childminder, new partner of either parent or other relative, then the court may make that person a party.
- A joined party will have access to some or all of the papers and may be entitled to free legal advice
