A debate is to be held in Parliament today (7 June) on the Home Office’s accommodation of unaccompanied children in hotels, led by Scottish National Party MP Deirdre Brock. With the agreement of the Department for Education, the Home Office began housing unaccompanied children in hotels in July 2021. The Children Act 1989 unequivocally places … Read more
Today, the #KeepCaringTo18 campaign group launches a call to action for 16 and 17 year-olds living in England. The campaign group wants to know what care looks and feels like to 16 and 17 year-olds, to help influence government policy. The views of all 16 and 17 year-olds are sought no matter where in England … Read more
This month, we look at a recent (November 2021) High Court judgment which considered the scope of local authority powers in relation to arranging and consenting to COVID-19 and flu vaccinations for children in care whose parents oppose these vaccines. The judgment contains a useful analysis of Section 33 of the Children Act 1989 (effect … Read more
This year we have dedicated four issues of our children’s rights legal digest to landmark judgments that have strengthened the protection of children’s rights in England. This last one, the ‘Gillick judgment’ was a successful appeal brought by the Department of Health and Social Security (as the Department of Health and Social Care was then … Read more
The Children’s Social Care Review has agreed to sector-wide calls to conduct a Children’s Rights Impact Assessment (CRIA) ahead of issuing its recommendations to government. CRIAs are an essential mechanism to help ensure that government policy, legislation and budgeting are consistent with international children’s rights standards. Within government, they are a tool used by civil … Read more