The proposals aim to put children's welfare at the heart of the processand reduce unnecessary delays. They also encourage early intervention tostop cases reaching court.
Constitutional affairs minister Harriet Harman said: "Too oftenavoidable delays occur in the courts because applications have not beenprepared properly, or because there is weak case management during courtproceedings."
Harman will chair a ministerial group to oversee implementation of theproposals, which follow on from a review of child care proceedings inEngland and Wales also published last week.
The review proposes that local authorities should write in plain Englishto the family and give the reasons for applying to court to take thechildren into care.
It also says legal aid should be extended so that families can get legaladvice before proceedings start.
And it stresses that "all safe and appropriate alternatives should beexplored before court proceedings are started". This will be backed by apre-proceedings protocol, which will set out what local authoritiesshould do before bringing a case to court.
Andrew Webb, the Association of Directors of Social Services' spokesmanon child protection, said: "If the Government follows through on theseproposals children's lives will be enhanced and a lot of public moneywill be saved. The Children Act 1989 established that care proceedingsshould generally be completed in 12 weeks; most take more than a yearnow and it is harmful to children."
He added: "You can't avoid the fact that there is a huge variationbetween local authorities in the way they use the court system. So youhave to accept that local authorities aren't using best practice all thetime. Anything that simplifies and standardises the process is a goodthing."
Anthony Douglas, chief executive of the Children and Family CourtAdvisory and Support Service, said the review was "spot on" because itfocused on best practice, rather than changing structures. He welcomedthe focus on what happens before court proceedings start.
But Alistair MacDonald, joint chair of the Association of Lawyers forChildren, said it was vital that children's interests were representedduring the pre-proceedings phase. "Further consideration must be givenurgently to finding a sustainable means of ensuring effective andindependent representation during the pre-proceedings stage, not just ofthe parents but also of the child."
He added: "The recommendations must be backed up by a commitment toresource them appropriately."
The review of child care proceedings was ordered by the Government inJuly 2005 as part of a wider review of legal aid.
- www.dca.gov.uk/laid/childcare.htm.
