UPDATE FEB 2017 : In light of the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Hackney v Williams (see here) we will be looking at our guidance note to see if it needs amendment or updating.
Following on from the guidance about recording that we published in December 2015, we’ve now put together some guidance on the use of voluntary accommodation, under section 20 of the Children Act 1989. As with the previous guidance, we’ve intentionally written guidance which we think will be useful and accessible for both professionals and parents / family members, and which we hope they might work through together or refer one another to.
The use (and misuse) of section 20 accommodation has been the subject of recent significant judicial criticism and media comment. It is clear that problems arise when children ‘drift’ in the care system under section 20 without proper plans being made for their future, or when parents feel they were under pressure to agree to section 20 accommodation without fully understanding the consequences. So we felt that guidance on this topic would be really timely.
We’re a collaborative project and tend to draft collaboratively, but Sarah Phillimore has led the drafting of this piece of guidance. She says :
The issue of ‘parental responsibility’ and who can make decisions for children under section 20 also has the potential to cause serious difficulties as it seems many parents (and some social workers) are not always clear about the impact of section 20 on their ability to exercise parental responsibility for the children.
We’d appreciate any feedback on the guidance, as well as suggestions for future guidance documents that might be helpful. Nothing is perfect, and we genuinely welcome suggestions for improvement on what we’ve put together. We propose to gather any suggested amendments or feedback together over the next couple of weeks and issue any revised version at that point. Please email info@transparencyproject.org.uk or tweet us on @seethrujustice.
Download the guidance here.
Download the press release here.
A section 20 , as people are well aware there have been a few cases not just 1. become the abuse , parents are not being told they can withdraw from it at any time,misleading the parents we ran a poll on how many had a section 20 with care procedures, a staggering 73%. They didn’t not know that it was voluntary,and certainly didn’t know they could withdraw their consent. The local authorities cannot keep a child unlawfully for eg 4 weeks and look for going to Court when the child is 4 weeks straight for twin tracking. Emergency accommodation has to be issued and acted upon within 72 hours.
Parents are not told either from appendix 3-5 of cafcass you can also withdraw your consent and cafcass are NOT telling parents attending courts (if lucky to meet one) . Now we can also see how many children and babies have been adopted away from their birth families and had section 20 behind them.
Surly if a child is taken on the Risk but then sustains injuries,the parents are entrapped to thinking they can’t free the child from abuse. As I’m sure you will know the section 20 is being replaced. Is a section 20 dangerous? Of course it is especially when not explained what it means within the act, surly the solicitors should also know this?
please reply according to Northern ireland law. can a grandparent who has a residency order give up the residency order. The grandchildren lives with their aunt, this is known by the Social worker.
The Transparency Project is an educational charity based in England and Wales and we cannot give individual legal advice. We cannot say how far our guidance note would reflect NI law. The family should consult a lawyer. Sorry we can’t be more help.
Why do LA’s use section 20 for 38 week placements at special boarding school places for 16 year olds
Hi Angela,
The LA has a duty to find the most appropriate placement, which for some children will be residential education. but this should be in agreement with the parents. Not sure if that answers your question.
this is my query too, can anyone answer?
Hi,my twin 16 year old non verbal Autistic sons are on a section 20.This has been the case for over 3 years.Is this illegal?
Many thanks
Roy
Roy I’m sorry the Transparency Project can’t give advice (it’s beyond our charitable aims). But this Family Rights Group Advice Sheet : https://www.frg.org.uk/images/Advice_Sheets/13-children-looked-after-by-childrens-services-under-a-voluntary-arrangement.pdf
and their free phone advice line: https://www.frg.org.uk/need-help-or-advice (open again after the bank holiday) may be great starting places for the information and advice your are looking for. Best wishes. Alice