24 November 2023
‘More than 80,000 children are presently caught up in Children Act 1989, Pt 2 proceedings, according to court statistics,’ writes David Burrows, NLJ columnist and family law solicitor-advocate
In this week’s NLJ, he raises concerns about various aspects of the workings of the 1989 Act, including listing delays and delays generally.
He asks what is meant by a ‘reasonable time’, and highlights the statutory presumption that delay is likely to prejudice a child’s welfare. While a target of 26 weeks has been set for local authority and care proceedings, however, the same time imperative does not apply to private law family cases.
Burrows writes: ‘All parties concerned with CA 1989 must surely get away from the destructive designation of two separate sets of legal principle according to “private” or “public” law, and both terms in this context should be outlawed. No distinction was intended by CA 1989.’
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