OCC v K (Care Orders)

th to 7 th september 2021, 9 th to 13 th september 2021, and 16 th september 2021

Ms King, Legal Executive, for the Second & Fourth Respondents B & C acting through their Children�s Guardian

This is the final hearing of the Local Authority's applications for Care Orders in relation to A, B and C. �A is aged 15 years old, B is 14 and C is 12. M is their mother. �Their apparent father (who does not have parental responsibility) has not been located despite extensive efforts to locate him. �B, whose views differ from those of the Guardian, became separately represented after the last pre-trial review in August this year.

Fortunately, the trial advocates (who had not hitherto all been involved in the earlier hearings) attended the pre-trial review and, by dint of extending the time available for the final hearing from 4 to 7 days and allowing some time for discussions on day 1, it became possible to preserve the final hearing.

The Local Authority seeks final Care Orders for each child, with care plans for all of them to remain in their current foster care placement, and for contact to take place between the children and M once every two months (6 times per year). �That contact would be supervised, in the community, for 2 hours each time. �The Local Authority is also keen to promote indirect contact between the children and their maternal grandparents but would need their contact details from M to set this up.