The Story line

The Coronation Street story is complicated but over the last few weeks we’ve seen Hope and Ruby removed from home, placed with Kevin Webster, then into foster care, and this week return home to Tyrone but not Fiz. All because of the lies told by Jade who turns out to be Hope’s evil half-sister.

Jade has been plotting this for months, but matters came to a head this month when Hope broke her arm and gave the doctors a different explanation to that given by Fiz.  Social Services became involved and a very stereotyped clipboard-carrying Social Worker turned up at their home.

So what happened?

Everything happened very quickly, unrealistically so.  The hospital alerted Social Services as they would do if they had concerns.  However, if there was a suspicion of non-accidental injury a Child Protection Medical would have taken place and Fiz and Tyrone would have been invited along.  It was right that the Social Worker interviewed Hope in school.

What happened next was wrong. The Social Worker told Fiz and Tyrone that Hope had made allegations against Fiz, and that the girls couldn’t come home while matters were investigated.  The parents should have been asked to agree to the children being voluntarily accommodated and signed Section 20 paperwork. They were not. There was no mention that Social Services would take the case to Court if Fiz and Tyrone would not agree. There was no mention that the parents should speak to a solicitor.

Social Services would be concerned in these circumstances, but a Social Worker does not have the power to take children away without parents’ agreement or the police exercising emergency powers or the Local Authority applying to the Court for an Order.

Legal Advice

Fiz and Tyrone talked about being unable to afford an expensive solicitor. If care proceedings were issued or the Local Authority gave written notice of an intention to go to Court, then all their legal costs would be met by legal aid whatever their financial position.  Later Fiz did meet with Imran.  Unfortunately, Imran is a general solicitor who has probably never conducted a care case much less is he an accredited Children panel solicitor. However, his advice to fully cooperate with Social Services was good advice;

Was the test met for removal of the girls from Fiz and Tyrone’s care?

  • Were there reasonable grounds at that stage (before Fiz’s criminal charge) to believe that Hope and Ruby had suffered or were at risk of suffering significant harm due to the parenting provided by Fiz and Tyrone falling below an acceptable standard? (Section 38 Children Act 1989)

I would say that as the girls were not already known to Social Services and without a suggestion of non-accidental injury at a Child Protection Medical the answer is probably not.  Some injuries such as bruising behind an ear are in themselves suspicious, but this is not true of an arm fracture.  The two explanations given to the doctor by Hope – falling off a bench and trapping it in a door, are possible innocent explanations.  Rather than issue proceedings I think Social Services might more likely call a Child Protection Conference or invite parents to a pre-proceeding meeting under the Public Law Outline (PLO).

Living Arrangements for Hope and Ruby

The next thing that happened was the girls moved in next door but one with Kevin.  Unbelievably the Social Worker carried out no safeguarding checks on this single male neighbour. When the girls were found back at home they were taken into foster care. Again, there was no mention of Section 20 consent or the possibility of Court proceedings. There was no formal meeting at Social Services. Even more unbelievable was the staged meeting with Jade at Social Services when her true identity as John Stape’s daughter was revealed to Fiz.

It was realistic for Fiz to be asked to move out so that Tyrone could care for the girls pending further investigation, particularly in light of Fiz’s criminal charge for illegal possession of a firearm.

There has been no mention of Fiz having supervised contact with the girls and she hasn’t seen them since they moved out of Kevin’s. The whole arrangement is voluntary so I would expect contact to be at least 2-3 times per week.

 

I’m sure there is much more to come from Coronation Street.  It will be interesting to see how the story develops and how true to life it is. I will be watching but if you should ever find yourself in a similar situation, please seek legal advice.

Jo Taylor
Family Solicitor and member of the Law Society Children Panel

J.Taylor@timms-law.com
01283 561531