ADCS committee chair makes “Don’t normalise delay” plea amid concern over children caught up in childcare proceedings lasting 100+ days
Several hundred children are caught up in public law care proceedings that have lasted for more than 100 weeks, damaging their future prospects.
That figure has come in a blog post this month (19 May) from Helen Lincoln, the new chair of the Families, Communities and Young People Policy Panel of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS).
She said ADCS and the children’s court service Cafcass had tried to quantify the impact of court delays on children and had found “several hundred children” nationally were enmeshed in inordinately long proceedings.
Lincoln, who is also Executive Director for Children, Families and Education at Essex County Council, said while relatively few children were involved they had been caught in delays in the system arising from the pandemic.
“The impact of delayed proceedings for children, especially those that run over a year, is harmful,” she said.
“Children themselves tell us that the uncertainty that comes with lengthy proceedings causes them additional anxiety, damages their schooling, their friendships, relationships with their siblings, and can impact negatively on their plans for the future.”
Lincoln said that, by working together, many places were getting back to timely proceedings. She highlighed how North East England and parts of the South West were making good progress with delays down to around 34 weeks. In one court area in the West Midlands it is almost 30 weeks. "So, it can be done!"
She added: "What is also really important for us to hold onto is that the PLO is really having an impact; the number of applications for care and supervision orders remains lower than pre-pandemic levels, even though the number of cases in the system is higher due to longer durations. The approach to making every hearing count, improving assessment work and providing support to families in the pre-application stage of the PLO are all positive developments.
"All of this, alongside President of the Family Division Sir Andrew Macfarlane’s letters to judges about fact finding and additional experts, reflects a system that is committed to ensuring that no child is left behind. There is still a long way to go, but thanks to the efforts of local authorities, and our partners, we are certainly heading in the right direction."
Mark Smulian
See also: Time for change (March 2023) - The President of the Family Division has demanded that the vast majority of childcare proceedings are concluded within the statutory 26-week deadline. Lottie Winson analyses the results of Local Government Lawyer’s exclusive research to see whether Sir Andrew is likely to get his wish.
