Lancashire County Council v G (No 3) [2020] EWHC 3280 (Fam)

DOL of child at unregulated placement (1) The judge authorised deprivation of liberty at a sub-optimal placement as there was no other option but discharge into the community where she would almost certainly cause herself possibly fatal harm. (2) The judge noted the following points from the Children's Commissioner's November 2020 report entitled "Who are they? Where are they? 2020 - Children Locked Up": "(i) There continues to be a group of children who are being deprived of their liberty in settings which are not deemed appropriate. These children are in need of a placement that can manage the high level of risk that they present whilst holding them securely but there are no such placements available. (ii) There is no official data on the numbers of children who find themselves in this position but it would appear that at there are a significant number of extremely vulnerable children who professionals have decided are in need of a bed in a secure accommodation unit but who are instead are placed in unregulated placement. (iii) There is evidence that, with high numbers of children waiting to be placed, perverse incentives exist for placements to take the children who pose the least risk rather than the children who have the most need. (iv) There are a group of children who fall between the gaps of all placement settings, children for whom secure accommodation is not available or appropriate but who also do not meet the criteria under the Mental Health Act 1983 for admission to a mental health ward."

CASES DATABASE

Full judgment: BAILII

Subject(s):

Inherent jurisdiction cases🔍 Older inherent jurisdiction cases can still be found in Category:Other capacity cases

Date: 2/12/20🔍

Court: High Court (Family Division)🔍

Judicial history:

Judge(s):

MacDonald🔍

Parties:

Lancashire County Council🔍
G🔍
N🔍

Citation number(s):

[2020] EWHC 3280 (Fam)^B

What links here:

Published: 12/12/20 11:20

Cached: 2024-11-21 15:34:58