The court had directed that the parents of the child be offered therapeutic treatment which, it was hoped, would enable their child to be entrusted to their care. The local authority appealed.
Held: The appeal succeeded. Thorpe LJ said that counsel was correct to characterise the proposal ‘as essentially a programme of therapy for the parents with a view to improving their prospects of providing good parenting rather than a programme of assessment.’ He went on: ‘Essentially Dr Baker was offering a treatment programme that would address the parents’ disabilities rather than a programme to assess anything in relation to the child . . ‘ Hobhouse LJ: ‘ . . there is a distinction to be drawn between matters which involve the child alone or the child/parent relationship on the one hand, and the parents alone on the other side. The former comes within the scope of the sub-section, the latter does not.’
Judges:
Thorpe LJ, Hobhouse LJ
Citations:
[1999] Fam Law 206, [1998] EWCA Civ 1263, [1999] 1 FLR 701, [1999] 3 FCR 20
Links:
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Re D (Jurisdiction: Programme of Assessment or Therapy) CA 12-May-1999
The parents were dependent on drugs. The guardian ad litem proposed that the authority should fund treatment of the parents and child in a residential unit with assessment. The authority proposed a detoxification programme. The authority appealed an . .
Cited – Kent County Council v G and others HL 24-Nov-2005
A residential assessment order had been made under the 1989 Act in care proceedings. When the centre recommended a second extension of the assessment, the council refused, saying that the true purpose was not the assessment of the child but the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Children
Updated: 23 November 2022; Ref: scu.144742
