Family court asked to protect unaccompanied children

Article 39 was in the High Court (Family Division) last Friday (24 March) seeking the court’s protection for unaccompanied children who have gone missing from a hotel run by the Home Office in Brighton and Hove. Through these proceedings, we are asking the family court to consider making individual children a ward of court, a … Read more

Article 39 seeks legal protection for highly vulnerable children housed in Home Office hotels 

Article 39 children’s rights charity has threatened legal action against the Home Office and the Department for Education if they do not stop housing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Home Office-run hotels. Children are being kept outside the child welfare system, they are denied fundamental protections, and there is no independent scrutiny of each child’s welfare … Read more

Children’s rights legal digest – February 2023

In January 2023, considering the situation of a highly vulnerable 16 year-old girl, the High Court refused to use its inherent jurisdiction to sanction broad-ranging restrictions on the girl’s use of her mobile phone, tablet, laptop and her access to social media. The restrictions were being proposed by the local authority looking after the girl … Read more

Government must accept its parental duties, and fast

In responding today (2 February 2023) to the MacAlister review of children’s social care, whose final report was published in May 2022, the Department for Education has issued two consultation documents – one setting out the government’s strategy for reforming children’s social care, the other seeking feedback on the government’s draft National Framework for Children’s … Read more

Law should require government to properly maintain children’s care system

As we await the publication of the government’s strategy for children’s social care, and in response to the Department for Education’s media release, a short statement from Carolyne Willow, Article 39’s Director: “It’s absolutely right that the care system must emulate, at every turn, what makes children thrive in loving families. Right now, we have … Read more