Orders in private law children cases in UK family courts

In this post I will list the main orders that the court can make about children in private law cases (cases between family members as opposed to cases involving social services), with a brief explanation & links to some other websites and articles, and then gradually add posts dealing with each of the orders and link them from this post. I will deal with the less common private law orders and orders in public law cases in a separate post. Some cases start off as one type and end up as another. For example, the court may be dealing with a contact dispute and find out something very worrying about one of the parents and decide to bring in social services, who may make an application for a care order. Or care proceedings might be started by the local authority but end up with the court deciding that the child should live with parents or grandparents and making a residence order. The court has power to make most of the orders listed below at any time they are dealing with a child.

• Residence order: an order which says where the child should live – this may be with more than one person ie a shared / joint residence order. Someone who has a residence order will also have parental responsibility for as long as the residence order lasts. Once a residence order is made the child’s surname cannot be changed nor can the child be taken out of the UK without the written agreement of all those with parental responsibility or the permission of the court (except that the holder of the residence order may take the child abroad for up to a month without permission).

• Contact order: an order which says who the child should have contact with, either by spending time with them or by receiving or exchanging letters, emails & telephone calls. The contact order can require the person with whom the child lives to make the child available for contact and can deal with practical arrangements for who should collect and return the child.

• Specific issue order: an order dealing with a specific aspect of a child’s upbringing such as where the child should go to school, what religion they should follow, by what surname they should be known, whether the child should have medical treatment, an order saying that the child should be returned to the care of one of the parents.

• Prohibited steps order: an order preventing a particular action being taken with respect to a child without the court’s permission. Common examples include an order saying that the child may not be taken away from the person with whom the child lives or that the child may not be taken abroad. The only steps that can be prevented are those which could be taken by a parent in meeting their parental responsibility, for example, preventing a change of school.

• Parental Responsibility order: an order giving responsibility to a father. PR also comes automatically when a residence order is made and is given to the local authority when a care order is made. There is a series of posts on the blog about parental responsibility – see the label on the sidebar.

Most section 8 orders last until a child is 16, although the court can make a longer order in exceptional circumstances. A residence order to a non-parent can now be made until the age of 18 (and the court’s permission will be required to make an application to vary). Parental responsibility lasts until the child is 18 unless ended earlier by the court. A natural mother’s PR cannot be terminated except on the making of an adoption order. The court has power to attach conditions to any section 8 orders and directions as to how the order is to be carried into effect. As an example, the court could order that a father or mother who is having contact is not to take the child to a certain place or bring the child into contact with a particular 3rd party.

The Statute Law Database sets out the up-to-date version of section 8 of the Children Act 1989 . Other websites may contain the text of the Children Act but you need to be aware that they may not be the most up-to-date versions and that there have not been any significant changes. For example, there is a new section inserted into the Act to enable PR to be granted to step-parent or civil partner. It is also important to look at other sections of the Act such as section 9 & 10 which contain other details about section 8 Orders (such as the fact that they last until age 16). Even the Statute Law Database is not infallible – at the time of re-writing this post the amendment giving power to make residence orders to non-parents last until 18 has not been added to the Act.