Care proceedings
Camden aims to work jointly with parents to support families to stay together wherever possible and to avoid care proceedings.
When working with families where care proceedings are being considered, social workers should follow the Care and supervision proceedings and the Public Law Outline available here:
The PLO and pre-proceedings procedures provides details of the local procedures and steps to be taken when working with families where care proceedings are being considered so that informed decisions can be made about the child's future care and to gather evidence should the case enter proceedings.
Social workers can also get further advice and information on best practice from the PLO handbook.
The Case Progression Clinic has been set up to help social workers prepare for Legal Planning Meetings and pre-proceedings. Details of how the clinic operates and when cases should be presented can be found in the terms of reference.
In order to avoid drift and delay and ensure swift progress of cases in private and public proceedings, the following Panels have been set up.
The Court progression tracking panel for private proceedings provides monitoring for CSFH cases where private proceedings are being pursued. The Terms of Reference for the Panel are available here;
The Court progression tracking panel for public proceedings provides monitoring for CSFH cases where there are public proceedings. The Terms of Reference for the Panel are available here;
The following templates should be used for pre-proceedings steps as set out in the policy.
Parenting assessment plan template
Parenting assessment report template
Pre-proceedings letter template
Social workers should ensure they use the Social Work Evidence Templates (SWET templates) for court statements.
Initial SWET (urgent hearings)
SWET template for cases involving domestic abuse and it's impact on children
Research In Practice has produced new resource tools to help with decision making during pre-proceedings, available at: Pre-proceedings and family justice hub | Research in Practice