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England and Wales

Care proceedings were started with respect to four children. It was accepted that the grounds under section 31(2) Children Act 1989 were established and that none of the children could be returned to the care of their parents. The youngest child had been placed with foster carers at birth and the care plan was for her to be adopted. The three older children had been living with the maternal grandparents and the local authority took the view that this placement should continue. They had, however, assessed the grandparents as possible foster carers and concluded that it would not be possible to approve them under the Fostering Services Regulations. Section 23 of the Children Act 1989 set out the options for placement of children looked after by a local authority. Section 23(3) provided that any person with whom a child was placed under section 23(2)(a), whether a family, relative or any other suitable person, was a local authority foster carer unless they fell within the definition in section 23(4). The Fostering Services Regulations 2002 provided for the placement of children with local authority foster carers. In particular, Regulation 34(1) made it clear that no placement could be made except with an approved foster carer. If a care order were made therefore, the local authority would not be able to place the children with their grandparents, despite the fact that they considered this best for the children. Consequently, they proposed that the children should live with their grandparents under a residence order and that the court should make a supervision order. Because of concerns about whether this would offer sufficient protection to the children, the local authority also proposed a written agreement between itself and the parents, which had been signed and placed on the court file. The children’s guardian had serious concerns about a long-term placement with the grandparents and their willingness to work with social services. Consideration was therefore given – at the suggestion of the judge – to invoking the High Court’s inherent jurisdiction.