Who can apply?

  1. A Local Authority in whose favour a Care Order has been granted by the Court
  2. A parent of a child
  3. A person with parental responsibility. (So someone with a Child Arrangement Order or Special Guardianship Order in their favour for the child(ren) concerned)
  4. The child(ren) themselves

If no appeal has been made after 21 days of the decision of the Court to grant a Local Authority Care Order in respect of a child(ren); then your only other option is to make an application to discharge the Care Order.

Such an application cannot usually be made for at least 6 months following the making of a final Care Order by any person in the list above.

What evidence will the Court be looking for when considering an application to discharge a Care Order ?

The Court will be looking for evidence of a substantial change of circumstances. Such changes will need to be demonstrated via either a report from agencies who have been working with you, a therapist or your GP.

It will not be enough to say that parents have now accepted the concerns of the local authority relied upon in the care proceedings.

The Court will need to see that concerns have been actively addressed i.e. improvements to housing, addressing a drug dependency or that help has been sought to address difficulties. It will not be sufficient, or assist the case if the change is only relatively recent; or has been sustained for merely a few weeks.

Few applications will succeed if made before the 6 month anniversary of the Court Order being granted. It is likely that the Court will not consider any evidence of a change of circumstances as significant enough.

Will I get public funding to pursue my application ?

Unlike the public funding rules governing care proceedings; public funding is not automatic when embarking on an application to discharge a Care Order.

Any application to the Legal Aid Agency will be based on:

a) Whether there a case to be answered. Information will need to be submitted to support your claim that there has been a change of circumstance since the making of the Care Order.

b) Upon your financial situation. The Legal Aid agency will carry out a means assessment. They will look at your financial situation and will need information about your household income before deciding if they will grant you public funding. This can take some time to process.

You can find lots more information about Family Law matters on the Family Page of our website.