Court Discharge Assessment

There are several circumstances in which the court may be invited to discharge a care order. Such applications can be made by a Local Authority, parent, child or person with parental responsibility (or any other person with leave of the court).

Applications to discharge Care Orders under s39 Children Act 1989 might be made by:-

Local Authorities which consider that they no longer need to share parental responsibility for a looked after child.
Parents or kinship carers who consider that parental responsibility no longer needs to be shared with the Local Authority and wish to obtain and/or exercise this without ongoing Local Authority oversight.
Parents or (prospective) carers who wish to challenge the Local Authority’s exercise of parental responsibility and its plans for the child.

A Care Order is made when a court is satisfied content that the threshold for making the order is met and that without the Order the child would be at risk of significant harm.

Parental responsibility is vested in the Local Authority which it will share with others who have parental responsibility but which it can exercise in many circumstances without the agreement of those others where this is considered to be in the child’s best interests.

The Care Order will last until the child reaches the age of 18 unless this is discharged at an earlier point. Whilst a Care Order is in effect, the Local Authority has a duty under the Care Planning, Placement & Case Review Regulations 2010 to convene Looked after Child Review meetings which will review all aspects of a child’s welfare including the necessity for ongoing Local Authority intervention and the appropriateness of the legal arrangements for the child’s ongoing care.

At ACCA, we recognise that children’s welfare needs and circumstances are not static – they might develop the capacity to protect themselves/meet their own needs, find themselves in a stable relationship or living independently before they reach 18 and do not want or need statutory intervention to continue.

Similarly, we also recognise that risks are not static. Parents are capable of change given the right circumstances.

Women can escape domestic violence and develop stable relationships; parents can achieve abstinence from drugs and alcohol, and treatment for mental health problems can bring about sustainable changes.

A Court Discharge Assessment primarily focuses on the welfare of the child but also considers to what extent the court’s previous threshold findings are still relevant and whether the child’s welfare needs are such that a Care Order is still in the child’s best interests or whether the child’s needs might be more proportionately met through a lesser level of statutory intervention.

A thorough Court Discharge Assessment can inform Local Authority planning for a child (including whether there should be a change of placement, whether to apply to discharge a Care Order and how any identified support needs the child or carers might be met) or, if proceedings have already been issued, can offer guidance to the court upon relevant welfare issues.

A positive Court Discharge Assessment might facilitate reunification with the birth family, allow the child to be raised by carers who are assessed as capable of providing effective and safe care for the remainder of the child’s minority or facilitate an arrangement whereby the child is no longer subject to stringent state intervention.

Court Discharge Assessment

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