The Government's review of child care practice aims to overhaul the current system for taking children into care.

What happened to the Government's review of child care proceedings?

The Department for Constitutional Affairs has just published a set ofpapers covering practice in England and Wales in order to suggestimprovements to the system, and to ensure that resources are wellused.

So the review aims to cut public spending? The review arose from aninvestigation of civil legal aid. In its paper published in 2005, AFairer Deal for Legal Aid, the department indicated advice andrepresentation on family matters can be costly: while spending oncontact and residence cases had fallen, expenses in public careproceedings had risen by 77 per cent in real terms since 1999/2000.

But these children are at risk of abuse or neglect. The paper announcedthe child care proceedings review in order to check if resources arebeing used efficiently. This took into account the five Every ChildMatters outcomes for children, including the need to protect them fromharm, minimise delay, and ensure the system's decisions are consistentwith human rights principles.

So children's needs come first? The review was asked to look atinnovative practice, such as that which might divert children and theirfamilies away from court proceedings. It refers to a pre-courtproceedings stage when legal aid might be available - a better use oflimited resources that may steer local authorities and families awayfrom going through the whole adversarial process. At the same time, thepaper laments the mixed messages social workers can give out to familiesthat make an application to court almost inevitable. For instance, theunderstandable focus on permanency during such discussions can lead manyparents to believe their child will be permanently removed with nocontact, when that may not be the case. Greater use of family groupconferencing is recommended and kinship care is recognised as anunderused option.

What happens when they have to go to court? Suggestions include: givingparents a list of local solicitors who specialise in family cases;providing the children who are subject to proceedings with informationto explain the process through which they are passing; improvingtraining for the judiciary; and better case management. There is a realproblem with the quality of the Section 31 (care and supervision orders)applications made under the Children Act 1989, and the review recommendsthat the Government issues a practice direction outlining the minimumthe court expects. Inadequate local authority assessments seem to be aparticular issue, with the review stipulating that legal aid should notbe used to pay for remedial assessment activity.

What are they doing to tackle system-wide delay? There's an interestingreference to the complex case profile that seems to be standardtoday.

To explore this, the department has published a review of research withits policy document in which it recognises family structures andlifestyles have changed dramatically, so identifying and responding tosignificant harm is more challenging. The argument is that thepractitioner's pursuit of certainty in cases of this type can sometimeslead to delay and, inadvertently, continue harm to the child.

- Lisa Payne, policy unit, National Children's Bureau

FACT BOX

- In 2004, 11,000 Section 31 Children Act 1989 applications resulted inan order

- About 70 per cent of these children are permanently removed from theirparents

- A case takes on average between 42 and 51 weeks from application todisposal

- 27 per cent of children subject to statutory intervention are agedbelow one, and 55 per cent are aged under five (Department forConstitutional Affairs statistics)

- The child care proceedings review is available from the Department forConstitutional Affairs at www.dca.gov.uk/laid/childcare.htm.