Dorothea Gartland considers the impact of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 on placement orders
The decision of the Court of Appeal in Re B (children) [2008] EWCA Civ 835, [2008] All ER (D) 228 (Jul) offers advice and guidance to local authorities in respect of placement order applications. In this case the parents appealed against care orders made in respect of their children and a placement order in respect of the youngest child.
The local authority's adoption panel had met and considered the case of the youngest child but without having read the reports of two experts instructed in the case, a psychologist and child and adolescent psychiatrist. The local authority's director of social services endorsed the panel's decision the day after the panel and the local authority applied straight away for a placement order in respect of the youngest child. The parents sought an adjournment of the final hearing to enable the panel to reconsider the case having had sight of the experts' reports. The judge refused this application and made care orders and
