Special Guardianship Order meaning

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This Practice Note summarises the court’s powers when making a special guardianship order (SGO), including decisions about a child’s surname and any removal from the jurisdiction. It also sets out what becomes of existing orders once an SGO is made and the need to consider whether to make a child arrangements order with contact provisions. Existing orders Making an SGO does not, by itself, end any order made under section 8 of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989) (an s 8 order). Before granting an SGO, the court must specifically consider whether any existing s 8 order should be varied or discharged. The governing test is whether it is in the child’s best interests for an existing order to remain operative. If a CAO with contact provisions stays in force and there is an enforcement order, the court must decide whether that enforcement order should be revoked. Where an activity direction exists, the court must also consider whether it ought to be...

While it is widely accepted that grandparents can have a significant presence in their grandchildren's lives, they do not enjoy an automatic entitlement to seek contact. Frequently, after a parental relationship breaks down, arrangements for time between grandparents and grandchildren are agreed informally outside proceedings, or arise within a child arrangements order (CAO) made in favour of the child's parent. Where, however, relations between a grandparent and the parent with whom the child resides have deteriorated, and the grandparent is stopped from seeing the child, they may look at applying for a CAO under section 8 of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989). In the majority of situations, the application would ask for a CAO that enables the grandchild to spend time with them or otherwise maintain contact. In other, less common circumstances—such as when the parents are unable to provide care—the grandparents might propose themselves as alternative carers and apply for a CAO providing for the child to live with them, or, alternatively, a special guardianship order (SGO). Such...

This Practice Note explains who qualifies for public funding in care proceedings, what that funding covers, including expert witness fees and translation charges, and what items require prior authority before they are covered. It also outlines how to seek prior authority and offers guidance on what requests are likely to be approved. Public funding for parties is administered by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA), an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice. Public funding means the relevant party’s solicitor applies to the LAA for a legal aid certificate and, if issued, may carry out work for the publicly funded client, with the solicitor’s costs and disbursements repaid by the LAA at the end of the case. Who is eligible for public funding in care proceedings? Automatically eligible, without any means or merits test, in a local authority application for a care or supervision order are: biological parents of the subject children in the care proceedings individuals holding parental responsibility for the subject children (for...

The best way to approach this issue The most effective starting point is to identify what the court will need to be persuaded of, namely: that the care order can, and ought to, be brought to an end; and that a special guardianship order may properly be substituted in its place. Whether the care order can and should be discharged turns on how far the difficulty that arose four years ago still persists. If, in truth, the threshold criteria under section 31(2) of the Children Act 1989 are no longer met, the care order can fall away. See Practice Notes: Public children—threshold criteria and Termination, discharge and variation of care and supervision orders...