Responding to pre-proceedings
We read the letter before proceedings and the chronology with you, prepare your written response, and attend the family group decision-making or pre-proceedings meeting with you.
Family LawCare Proceedings and Social Services Solicitors
Care Proceedings and Social Services Solicitors
RakLAW Solicitors advises parents, grandparents and other relatives on social services involvement, pre-proceedings and care proceedings: emergency protection orders, care and supervision orders, special guardianship and discharge applications.
In care proceedings legal aid is not means tested for a parent, but only a firm holding a legal aid contract can provide it. RakLAW is privately funded.
Our family solicitors are at 42 Shad Thames in Southwark, a short walk from Tower Bridge, and offer a free 15-minute consultation.
Care Proceedings and Child Protection Advice
Care proceedings are the public law proceedings a local authority brings in the family court when it believes a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm. Under section 31(2) of the Children Act 1989 the court may make a care or supervision order only if satisfied of that.
Most cases begin before court, with enquiries under section 47, a child protection conference and a letter before proceedings. Once an application is issued the court must aim to dispose of it within 26 weeks. Each card below leads to a detailed page, and the private law orders that sit alongside these cases are in our family law practice.
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Understanding Care and Supervision Orders
A care order places a child in the care of a designated local authority. A supervision order leaves parental responsibility with the parents and puts the authority under a duty to advise, assist and befriend the child. Neither may be made unless the section 31(2) threshold is met, and harm there means ill-treatment or the impairment of health or development, including impairment from seeing or hearing another person being ill-treated.
- Interim orders: made while the case continues, where there are reasonable grounds for believing the section 31(2) circumstances exist.
- Supervision order: ends a year after it was made, and no extension takes it beyond three years from that date.
- Special guardianship order: appoints a special guardian aged 18 or over who is not a parent of the child, and discharges any care order in force.
A child can also be accommodated by agreement under section 20, with no court order at all. The authority may not provide it where a person with parental responsibility who is willing and able to accommodate the child objects, and a person with parental responsibility may remove the child at any time, unless the child is 16 or over and has agreed. Take advice before you agree to anything.
Evidence and Common Issues
The annex documents filed with the application are a social work chronology, a social work statement with a genogram, the current assessments the authority relies on, the care plan and an index of checklist documents.
The threshold is often the real issue, with the parents' response to the chronology and the care plan. The court may direct an assessment of the child only where it is of the opinion that the assessment is necessary to resolve the proceedings justly.
A child in care must be allowed reasonable contact with their parents and certain other people, and the court can make an order about contact with a named person. The authority may refuse contact without an order only as a matter of urgency, where that is necessary for the child's welfare, and for no more than seven days.
Where the harm alleged is disputed the court may decide the facts at a separate hearing first: see our fact-finding hearings page. Any criminal investigation runs separately and is outside our family work.
When Legal Advice Is Especially Important
Advice from a child protection solicitor matters most where:
- You have had a letter before proceedings, or an invitation to a family group decision-making or pre-proceedings meeting.
- The authority wants you to agree to section 20 accommodation, a written agreement, or leaving the family home.
- An emergency protection order has been made, or your child is in police protection, which cannot last more than 72 hours.
- You are a relative who could care for the child and want to be assessed or to seek special guardianship.
- Domestic abuse is in the background: see our domestic abuse and injunctions pages.
- The plan is adoption, or your immigration status is bound up with the case: see our family immigration solicitors.
The Family Rights Group runs a free advice line for parents, relatives and friends on 0808 801 0366, Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 3pm. In immediate danger call 999, or the National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247. RakLAW does not hold a legal aid contract, so a publicly funded firm may suit you better.
How Care Proceedings Work
Public law cases follow the Public Law Outline in Practice Direction 12A, which sets the order of the stages and the latest point at which each should happen.
- 01 Before any application
Where the authority has reasonable cause to suspect significant harm it must make the enquiries it considers necessary, which can lead to a child protection conference and plan.
- 02 Day 1 and day 2: issue and allocation
The authority files the application and annex documents and copies them to Cafcass. Within a day of issue the court checks the pre-proceedings checklist, appoints a children's guardian, orders the parents' response and lists the case management hearing.
- 03 Any urgent hearing
Where immediate protection is sought the court may list an urgent contested interim care order hearing first. An emergency protection order lasts no more than eight days and there is no appeal against one being made. A parent who was not given notice of the hearing, or was not present at it, may apply at once to discharge it.
- 04 The case management hearing
Held not before day 12 and not later than day 18, after an advocates' meeting no later than two business days beforehand. The court identifies the key issues, decides whether the threshold is genuinely in dispute, draws up the two timetables and rules on any assessment.
- 05 The issues resolution hearing
Listed as the court directs, after an advocates' meeting no later than seven business days beforehand. The remaining issues and the evidence still needed are identified, and the case can be narrowed or final orders made.
- 06 The final hearing, and afterwards
The court decides whether the section 31(2) threshold is met and, if it is, which order meets the child's welfare needs. A person with parental responsibility, the child or the authority may later apply to discharge or vary it.
How Our Care Proceedings Solicitors Can Help
Urgent applications and removal
We act at short notice on emergency protection orders, contested interim care order hearings and applications to discharge an emergency protection order.
Building your case in the timetable
We file the parents' response, put the threshold in issue where it is genuinely disputed, ask for the assessments that are necessary, and keep to the court's directions.
Relatives who can offer a home
We advise grandparents and other relatives on being assessed, on asking to be joined as a party, and on the notice and report a special guardianship order needs.
Contact, discharge and what follows
We deal with applications about contact with a child in care, and apply later to discharge a care order or to have a supervision order substituted for it.
Why Choose RakLAW Solicitors?
Regulated and accountable
RAKLAW Solicitors Ltd is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, SRA number 8007405, and our family law fees are published openly.
Calm, plain English advice
We explain the statutory threshold, the care plan and the court's timetable in everyday language, so you know what is being decided and when.
Straight about how we are paid
Legal aid in care proceedings is not means tested for the child, a parent or another person with parental responsibility, but only firms with a legal aid contract provide it. RakLAW does not.
Family work under one roof
Where a care case sits alongside child arrangements, disputed allegations or adoption, the same family team advises on all of it. Where immigration status is affected, our immigration and family solicitors advise together.
A short walk from Tower Bridge
Our office at 42 Shad Thames, London SE1 2YD is close to Tower Hill, London Bridge and Bermondsey stations, and the first 15-minute consultation is free.
Care Proceedings and Social Services FAQs
What are care proceedings?
Proceedings a local authority brings in the family court under Part 4 of the Children Act 1989. The court may make a care or supervision order only if satisfied the child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm attributable to the care given, or is beyond parental control.
Can social services take my child without going to court?
Only very briefly. No child may be kept in police protection for more than 72 hours. Otherwise removal needs an order of the court, or your agreement to accommodation under section 20, which you can end at any time if you have parental responsibility, unless your child is 16 or over and has agreed to it.
What is a letter before proceedings?
The letter warning parents and others with parental responsibility that the authority is likely to apply for a care or supervision order. Since 15 July 2026 it must also contain the offer of a family group decision-making meeting.
What is a family group decision-making meeting?
A meeting of people from the child's family network, so they can discuss the child's welfare needs and make a proposal. The authority must offer one before applying, unless it considers that would not be in the child's best interests.
How long do care proceedings take?
The court must draw up a timetable to dispose of the application without delay and in any event within 26 weeks of issue. It may extend that only where necessary to resolve the proceedings justly.
Is legal aid for care proceedings means tested?
No. Legal aid for proceedings under sections 31, 44 and 45 of the Children Act 1989 is not subject to a financial resources determination for the child, a parent or another person with parental responsibility. RakLAW acts privately.
How long does a care order last?
A care order other than an interim one continues until the child reaches 18 unless brought to an end earlier, by discharge, by a supervision order substituted for it, or by an adoption or special guardianship order.
Can a care order be discharged?
Yes. A person with parental responsibility, the child, or the designated local authority may apply, and the court may substitute a supervision order instead. The child's welfare is the court's paramount consideration on such an application.
How long can an emergency protection order last?
No longer than the period specified in it, which cannot exceed eight days, and the court may extend it once by up to seven days. The child, a parent or another person with parental responsibility may apply to discharge it, unless they were given notice of the hearing and were present at it, or the order has already been extended.
Can a grandparent or other relative care for the child?
Often that is looked at first. A relative can ask to be assessed and can apply to be joined as a party. Seeking a special guardianship order needs three months' written notice to the local authority, and the court's permission to apply unless the child has lived with the relative for at least a year.
What happens at a child protection conference?
This multi-agency meeting, held after section 47 enquiries, appoints a lead social worker, identifies the core group and agrees an outline child protection plan. Guidance says the family may bring an advocate, friend or supporter.
What will RakLAW charge for a care case?
We charge family work on a time-spent basis at our published hourly rates, with a fixed or staged fee possible for straightforward matters; see our fees for family law page.
Speak to a Care Proceedings Solicitor
Whether a social worker has just made contact, a letter before proceedings has arrived or an application has been issued, a free 15-minute consultation with a RakLAW family solicitor will help you understand where you stand.
Request a call back and tell us briefly what you need advice on.