Austerity and more sophisticated understanding of abuse has contributed to rise in care orders: President of the Family Division
The President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, has said local authorities lack resources to do anything other than go to court in child protection cases, contributing to a rise in the number of children in care.
Speaking to Radio 4’s Today Programme on the record number of care orders made in the family court, Sir Andrew acknowledged that the understanding of abuse has become “far more sophisticated”, and that austerity has affected the number of resources available for local authorities to take other measures before attending court.
The total number of looked after children stood at 83,840 at the end of March 2023, around one child in every 140. Statistics published by the Department for Education show the numbers of children in care in England have continued to increase.
Further, cases in the family courts are currently subject to extensive delays. The average case takes close to a year, despite there being a statutory 26-week deadline.
Warning on the effects of delay, Sir Andrew said: “Leaving a family case is a bit like a baker putting dough on the proving shelf – while it’s sitting there, it grows.”
Earlier this month, it was announced that the Transparency Implementation Pilots are to be extended to 16 further courts across the country from the end of January.
The aim of the pilots is to introduce a presumption that accredited media and legal bloggers may report on what they see and hear during family court cases, subject to “strict rules of anonymity”.
This is done through judges in the pilot courts making a ‘Transparency Order’, which sets out the rules of what can and cannot be reported.
On the transparency pilots, McFarlane said: “There’s been a good number of occasions where journalists have attended the court, and the need to maintain the confidentiality of the parties has seemingly been watertight and the reporting has been of a high quality.”
He noted that the time has come to see whether the Family Division can take the model to 50% of the country.
The Ministry of Justice has recently announced a series of steps to help separating families resolve their differences without going to court, including legal advice and mediation.
Sir Andrew told the BBC he was “very pleased” with the Government’s announcement on the range of proposals – particularly mediation, parenting programmes and piloting early legal advice before families come to court.
Lottie Winson
