No order for therapy

In re G (a child) (interim care order: residential assessment) HL TLR 25 November

Section 38(6) of the Children Act 1989 provides: ‘When a court makes an interim care order … it may give such directions (if any) as it considers appropriate with regard to the medical or psychiatric examinations or other assessment of the child ‘Within a few days of the birth of the child, because of the mothers previous history of parenting, the local authority commenced care proceedings. The care plan was to remove the child from her parents and place it for adoption. However, the local authority was persuaded to agree to a period of residential assessment of the family at the Cassel Hospital specialising in the assessment and treatment of severely disturbed adults and families. The judge directed pursuant to s38(6) of the Children Act 1989 that the family have a six to eight-week period of residential assessment. That period was subsequently extended, but when the hospital recommended a further period of residential stay, the local authority refused the funding. The judge refused to make an order extending the stay of the family. A strong Court of Appeal consisting of the then President, and Thorpe and Latham LLJ allowed the mother’s appeal on the grounds that the essential question should always be: ‘Could what was sought be broadly classified as an assessment to enable the court to obtain the information necessary for its own decision?’