As a social worker, your written court statements and oral evidence can have a significant impact on outcomes for children and families.

This session will focus on how to prepare a case that is legally robust and on developing confidence in court skills. It will cover the practical and legal expectations placed on social workers before and during hearings, including working with legal teams and responding to challenge.

Learning outcomes:

• How to prepare a case for court, including gathering, analysing and presenting evidence.
• Developing effective court skills, including writing statements, giving evidence and responding to cross-examination with confidence and professionalism.
• A barrister’s perspective on what courts expect from social workers in both written and oral evidence.

   
In care proceedings, the Public Law Outline (PLO) specifies “pre-proceedings” as a formal process triggered when a local authority sends a letter to parent(s) to let them know what the concerns are and what needs to change to prevent the local authority initiating care proceedings.

The PLO is the legal framework around which all public law care proceedings in England and Wales are heard.

This session will provide an overview of what social workers need to know during every stage of pre-proceedings work, as well as what happens if proceedings go to court.

Learning outcomes

• Priorities and responsibilities at each stage of the PLO, from formally informing families of concerns, the different meetings that need to take place, and what happens if proceedings are taken to court.
• Using assessments effectively and fairly to investigate concerns, formulate plans and encourage change, and how these can support court evidence if necessary.
• A legal perspective on what the courts expect and want to see from social workers.

   
An understanding of the concept of parental responsibility, and who has it, is essential for anyone working with children and their families. Social workers need to understand what it involves to ensure their actions are lawful and do not amount to an unjustified interference with parental rights. Parental responsibility also defines the extent of a local authority’s powers in relation to a child in its care under a care order.

This session will examine what parental responsibility for a child is and who holds it in different circumstances.

Learning outcomes:

• How parental responsibility works for children in care, accommodated under section 20, in special guardianship and placed for adoption.
• What the law says about decision-making on issues such as medical treatment.
• The court orders used when there are disagreements over the exercise of parental responsibility and those used to limit parental responsibility.

Good food and networking

The determination of an asylum seeker’s age, and particularly whether or not they are considered a child or adult, has significant consequences for their support in the UK (such as accommodation, education and local authority support), as well as for their asylum application and future in the UK.

Asylum generally, and age disputes specifically, are a particularly contentious area of law, policy-making and social work practice.

This session will provide an overview of social workers’ legal duties in connection to asylum age assessments.

Learning outcomes: 

• The circumstances in which you might need to carry out an age assessment and the social worker’s role in asylum age disputes.
• How age assessments fit in with the wider asylum system and support for unaccompanied children.
• The latest case law and official guidance.

The use of the High Court's inherent jurisdiction to authorise the deprivation of liberty of children and young people has been growing in recent years. This session explains the law and processes in these cases.

Learning outcomes: 

• Understand the basic legal concepts involved in deprivations of liberty when under-18s need to be kept safe in this way and parental consent or secure accommodation orders are not possible.
• How the courts have responded to applications to authorise children and young people’s confinement in ‘bespoke’, unregulated or unregistered accommodation when there are no other suitable placements available.
• What guidance from the judiciary means for your practice.