Submitted on Monday 23rd August 2021
Rejected on Wednesday 25th August 2021
Current status: Rejected
Rejection code: no-action (see below for details)
Thresholds for significant harm to children to be decided by independent panels.
Section 31 of The Children's Act 1989 needs to be urgently revised to include the wording 'threshold of significant harm to be determined by an independent expert panel' rather than the local authority.
Currently, local authorities are making quick, non evidenced decisions seeking urgent removal of children from parents on an interim care order at the start of care proceedings, making it much harder for parents to prove their parenting skills, plus their mental health suffers as a result of the removal of children, which is not taken into consideration when a psychological or psychiatric assessment is done.
You can't sign this petition because it was rejected. But you can still comment on it here at Repetition.me!
The Government e-Petitions Team gave the following reason:
Petitions need to call on the Government or Parliament to take a specific action.
We understand that you are concerned about care orders being granted incorrectly, but we're not sure exactly what you'd like the Government or Parliament to do. Section 31 of the Children Act 1989 provides that a court may only make a care order if it is satisfied that the child concerned is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm. This judgement is made by the court, not the local authority applying for the care order.
If you want an independent panel to be required to assess the suffering or risk of suffering of a child before a care order can be granted by the court, we could accept a petition requesting that.
18.188.87.124 Thu, 30 May 2024 03:56:22 +0100
