What is it about?
When the family court rules a child’s time in care should end, the child’s care order is discharged. Discharging a care order is a very significant decision for the child and family. However, very little is known about it in England and Wales. This study explored the discharge of care orders in England and Wales. We looked at national anonymized data, children’s records and interviewed professionals. We found significant variation in how and why care orders were discharged.
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Why is it important?
Our study is the first in-depth examination of the discharge of care orders in England and Wales. It provides new data and insights about an important issue for children, families, social work practice and the family court. Our findings show that different legal and procedural processes may be needed to improve the experiences of children and families.
Perspectives
Researchers and professionals are very focused on exploring how and why children come into the care of the state. But by comparison, very little attention is paid to children who are in the care system, and who go through the discharge application process and outcome. However these decisions are just as life-changing and important. Children and families can be left in limbo while waiting for the discharge of a care order, without support or a clear plan. Others may have to experience very distressing court proceedings which ultimately end in the care order not being discharged. I hope our article (and the research which informs it) can start to bring the issue of discharging care orders into the spotlight.
Jessica Roy
University of Bristol
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Disparity between the discharge of care orders in England and Wales, Children and Young People Now, September 2023, Mark Allen Group,
DOI: 10.12968/cypn.2023.9.14.
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