Child Care Solicitors in Hounslow

Child care solicitors are experts within child care proceedings, however complex and sensitive. They are specific types of lawyers who can help you understand the legal jargon, processes and procedures, representing you should your case progress to a court of law. Working alongside you, they will explore every option to help you keep your children residing with you.

Whether you are facing a Child Care Proceeding or Advanced Family Law Case, your solicitor will be paramount to the process. Regardless of how emotionally distressing this time is, legal protocols must be followed. Your child care solicitor will ensure each deadline is met, every process is fulfilled and all the evidence is collated. Additionally, they will keep you and your child’s welfare at the forefront of the case, guaranteeing you are heard throughout the proceedings.

From Emergency Protection Orders to Pre-Proceedings Meetings, including Special Guardianship Orders and presenting Contest Removal Hearings, your Hounslow-based child care solicitor works to achieve the best solution for your child’s welfare.

Child care proceedings, including the pre-proceedings process, are stipulated within the government’s legal Public Law Outline. This legislation ensures that, regardless of the Local Authority, each social services department follows the same protocol.

During the pre-proceedings process, the social workers have the opportunity to inform the child’s parents/guardians about their concerns. This process is in place to help families stay together; however, wider family and friends will be explored during this stage to see if there is the possibility for additional support.

In the first instance, social services will send a pre-proceedings letter to the child’s parents/guardians to commence the process. The letter gives the parents time to find legal representation and seek any advice about the upcoming process. A pre-proceedings meeting follows where a plan of action is agreed upon for the next 12-week period. During this time, the social services hope to see considerable improvements to the child’s care and welfare, ending the processes and removing the need to escalate things further in court.

After the pre-proceeding process and meeting, the case will only progress to court if the social services are not convinced there has been enough of an improvement. A child care proceeding will aim to be resolved within 24 weeks after the first application was made, and consists of three to four hearings:

• Case Management Hearing – this is the first hearing that aims to outline how and when the entire case will be resolved.
• Contested Removal Hearing – if the social services believe it is in the child’s best interests to remove them from their home environment, the parents/carers have the chance to contest this decision in this hearing. During this stage, the court will determine where the child will reside during the remainder of the case.
• Issues Resolution Hearing – the reasons why the social services began the child care proceedings will be heard and resolved during this hearing. All parties will have the opportunity to state their beliefs with the help of their Hounslow child care solicitor. Here your case is presented and all processes are adhered to, giving you the best chance of keeping your child with you.
• Final Hearing – if the previous hearing does not reach an outcome, a Final Hearing goes ahead. Your solicitor will present all the evidence and arguments again for a Judge to make their final decision.

A social services department has a duty of care for the protection of all children within the local area. If they ever have reason to doubt or question a child’s safety or level of care, then it is their responsibility to report this to the necessary authorities.

The role of child protection services is not to break up families. In fact, they aim to avoid cases where a child is not at any immediate risk of escalating to court. Instead, they raise their concerns in line with the Public Law Outline Procedure and work with the parents in pre-proceedings meetings to improve a child’s level of care.

A grandparent does not have any parental responsibility or rights for their grandchildren. If they wish to put themselves forward as a potential guardian, an application of ‘leave’ is necessary to the court. The court will have to make a decision in line with the Children Act 1989 welfare checklist. In circumstances where a child is already residing with their grandparent, the court is highly likely to deem the application successful.