The new judicial rules mandate that short-notice hearings scheduled within five days must present clear evidence of immediate safety risks to the infant. If an application lacks this justification, courts will assign a standard listing taking place between 12 and 18 days, giving parents adequate time to respond. Alongside these thresholds, local authorities must now deliver early assessments, expand family networks, and offer a Family Group Decision Making Meeting before applying for a care order.
Key points
Same-day family court hearings for newborns will be treated as exceptionally rare and res…: Same-day family court hearings for newborns will be treated as exceptionally rare and reserved exclusively for imminent safety risks.
Standard hearings will now be set between 12 and 18 days unless applicants provide strict…: Standard hearings will now be set between 12 and 18 days unless applicants provide strict evidence justifying a shorter timeline.
The Newborn Baby Protocol mandates that local authorities offer parents a Family Group De…: The Newborn Baby Protocol mandates that local authorities offer parents a Family Group Decision Making Meeting before seeking a care order.
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- Published
The number of mothers going to court for child care proceedings within hours or days of giving birth will be reduced after new guidance was issued to judges.
The changes follow concerns about the increasing number of urgent applications brought to family courts for newborn babies where there is a safeguarding concern.
A recent BBC investigation highlighted the issue after hearing of the traumatic experience for mothers having to attend court while recovering from labour.
Under the new guidance issued by the Judiciary, same-day hearings should only be granted if a child's immediate safety is at risk to ensure intervention is "focused on cases that genuinely require it".
In October, the BBC reported the number of children involved in care proceedings before they reached their first birthdays was at a persistently high level across England, based on research from the universities of Lancaster and Oxford.
More than half of urgent care hearings in England in 2024-25 were for newborns, where mothers had to attend court within days of giving birth, or even potentially on the same day.
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