Family

The authorities had made it clear that, following the process of finding any relevant facts, the court in a public law children case had to first make an evaluation to determine whether the statutory threshold criteria in s 31 of the Children Act 1989 were established with respect to the individual child or children as at the relevant date. If the threshold criteria were established, the final stage of the proceedings involved the court evaluating which set of arrangements for the child’s future care were to be endorsed by the court’s order and the evaluation was conducted by affording paramount consideration to the child’s welfare (the welfare evaluation).

Under s 1 of the Act, when a court determined any question with respect to the upbringing of a child, the court had to treat the welfare of the child as the paramount consideration. A judge could not properly decide that a care order should be made in such circumstances, unless the order was