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Fiona Bowen

Head of Child Care (Birmingham), Senior Associate

Child Care

Fiona Bowen is a Senior Associate Solicitor and forms part of our national Child Care team, heading up our Birmingham office. She is a member of the Law Society Children’s Panel.

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Fiona's Specialisms

Child Care

More about Fiona

I specialise in children law litigation. I represent parents, children and local authorities in court proceedings in all courts up to the Court of Appeal. I am a member of the Law Society Children’s Panel which permits me to represent children in all court proceedings, either representing them through a Children’s Guardian or directly as their solicitor, without a guardian in some cases. I represent clients in court proceedings where local authorities are involved and I also represent children in proceedings between the parents of the child where there is a dispute over where the child should live and/or how much contact they should have with the parent with whom they do not live.

I qualified as a solicitor in 2001 and then qualified onto the Children’s Panel in 2005. Since qualification in 2001 I have only practised children law. I have always taken an interest in law concerning children and feel privileged to be able to practise in this area.

Within my practise, I always do my best to deliver a great service to ensure my clients receive the best possible outcome. I will always pride myself on being approachable and being able to explain legal concepts in a way which is accessible to all.

When I have represented children, it has been spanning a wide spectrum of cases which can be very complex. I have represented children in cases where there is a suspected non accidental injury to the child where complex medical evidence is before the court. I particularly enjoy representing older children who are able to instruct a solicitor directly and have found this to be fulfilling; older children require a high level of emotional support at the same time as being enabled to understand legal jargon and to feel a sense of participation in the court process.

In my spare time I enjoy singing in a choir, playing the piano, keeping fit and walking/hiking.

Recent Experience

We represented a lady who had been arrested following an attempt at poisoning her son with prescription tablets, who at the time of the offence was 7 years old. The police arrested her and she was investigated with respect to attempted murder. The child was medically affected by the attempt, and kept in hospital for a short period but luckily made a full recovery. We were instructed in relation to the court proceedings issued by the local authority, and the child was immediately placed into foster care, pending further assessment work being undertaken by the local authority. The client was not detained in police custody, but instead was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and admitted into a mental health hospital. My immediate concern upon instruction was her capacity to instruct me as her solicitor and as such, I felt it was appropriate to liaise with her treating psychiatrist at the mental health hospital. He duly confirmed that she did not have capacity to instruct and we had to represent her through the Official Solicitor forthwith. We instructed a QC in this matter and it eventually proceeded to a 15 day fact finding hearing. The matter was highly complex and very interesting.
We represented a child in a private law matter, taking instructions from the guardian. The case lasted in total over 2 years, and was very demanding in terms of managing the father who was a Litigant in Person and also case managing the sheer volume of material. Eventually the fact finding hearing took place over 4 days and the judge gave a very damming judgment which essentially found against father on each and every allegations made by her against him. The majority of the Findings sought by him against mother were not proved. Father sought to appeal the Findings made but his application for permission to appeal was dismissed.
In this matter, we represented a child in public law proceedings. It was the local authority application for a supervision order upon a young baby. The local authority alleged that the order was necessary in its application as a result of a suspected non accidental injury being sustained by the child about 6 months ago. The injury was of markings/bruising to the upper left arm and left inner ear, and there were other bruising injuries which were not relied upon by the local authority. It was picked up by the hospital paediatrician and referred to the local authority as a child protection concern. The local authority did not seek to remove the child from the parents’ care, and sought an independent opinion from a general paediatrician who also confirmed suspected non accidental injury. We instructed a neonatologist and at the end of proceedings the child remained at home due to the lack of evidence to substantiate the assertion that the injuries had been caused non-accidentally.

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Fiona and all the team at Cartwright King are dedicated to helping you. If you need help, contact Fiona by email using this form or using the details below:

0121 237 4701

Birmingham

West Midlands

Floor 14, McLaren Building,46 The Priory Queensway, Birmingham, B4 7LR

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Fiona Bowen

Head of Child Care (Birmingham), Senior Associate

Fiona's Specialisms

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Recent Experience

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Adam King

Charlene Seaton

Charlenne Ugochukwu

Chet Desai

Cyrus Rashvand

Dawn O’Bryant

Emilie Garthwaite-Tunnard

Hafsa Miah

Hannah Read

Holly Setchfield

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