Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

England and Wales: DoL orders cannot be used to force a looked-after 17-year-old into a placement; section 20 Children Act 1989 requires informed consent; wardship jurisdiction upheld

Published on: 27 August 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Local Government expert

Legal News

Article summary

Kent County Council v The Mother, The Father, G (by his Children’s Guardian) and A Hospital Trust [2025] EWHC 1974 (Fam)

What are the practical implications of this case?

The practical implications are:

A clear reminder that the child’s age is critical. Here, the child was 17, so the local authority could not seek a care order or interim care order under section 31(3) of the Children Act 1989. Although an emergency protection order was theoretically available, its brief duration and limited relevance to these facts meant it was not the answer; the authority’s sole viable course was to ask the court for permission to invoke the inherent jurisdiction.
Affirms that a local authority cannot rely on a deprivation of liberty order to force a looked-after child to accept its preferred accommodation or placement. While the court recognised that section 20(6) of the Children Act 1989 does not entitle a looked-after child to dictate where they are placed, their wishes and feelings about any placement must be properly considered, and Ms Justice Henke also addressed the link between consenting to local authority accommodation and the nature of that accommodation...

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