Emergency Protection: the Impact of Court Control on Safeguarding Children - Family Law journal

JUDITH MASSON Professor of Socio-legal Studies University of Bristol

The powers available to take emergency action to remove or detain children have long been both essential tools for child protection and viewed with suspicion because they can be used to by-pass (albeit temporarily) the safeguards which protect parents and children against state intervention. Prior to the Children Act 1989 place of safety orders were used routinely in some areas to initiate care proceedings (Select Committee Report Children in Care (1982-1983)). The widescale granting of orders to allow the detention or removal of children who were thought to have been sexually abused was one of the most alarming features of the Cleveland scandal (Butler-Sloss 1988 Cm 412) because it appeared that the requirement for a magistrate's decision had not provided any sort of check. In this context it was unsurprising that the powers for emergency intervention were one of the most contentious parts of the 1989 Act.

The Children Act 1989 completely recast emergency powers replacing the Place of Safety Order with the Emergency Protection Order (EPO) which was limited to 8 days with a power to extend it...

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