12 March 2009
T (a child) (care order) [2009] EWCA Civ 121, [2009] All ER (D) 47 (Mar)
The making of a care order even though children remained living at home might be justified where the local authority needs the power not only to remove the children instantly but also to plan for their long-term placement outside the family without any prior judicial sanction, or where it is necessary for the local authority to share parental responsibility with the parents.
It would be wrong to impose an order simply to encourage a local authority to perform its statutory duty towards children in need. Moreover, cogent and strong reasons are required to force upon a local authority a more draconian order than that for which it has asked.
