Ministers freely admit that the current care proceedings system has toomany delays and that children and families can find the complexproceedings difficult to understand. In response, the Government hasannounced plans for much-needed reform (Children Now, 24-30 May).
Andrew Webb, the Association of Directors of Social Services' spokesmanon child protection, agrees action is needed: "The Children Act 1989established that care proceedings should generally be completed in 12weeks; most take more than a year at present and it is harmful tochildren."
The proposals are designed to address the problems and stopping casescoming to court is one way in which it plans to do this. The Governmentwants to ensure applications are only made after all safe alternativeshave been explored. So it is putting together a new pre-proceedingsprotocol, which will update statutory guidance and bring together bestpractice.
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