Family proceedings
A City Council v LS and others [2019] EWHC 1384 (Fam), [2019] All ER (D) 12 (Jun)
Notwithstanding that a child (aged 17) was demonstrably at grave risk of serious, and possibly fatal, harm from his alleged involvement in gang activity, the High Court did not have power, under its inherent jurisdiction and on the application of a local authority, to authorise the placement, in secure accommodation, of the child who was not ‘looked after’ by that authority, within the meaning of s 22(1) of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989), and whose parent with parental responsibility objected to that course of action. Accordingly, the Family Division dismissed the authority’s application, holding that, in circumstances where there was no care order in force concerning the child and where the child was not a ‘looked after’ child, for the purposes of ChA 1989 s 25, the effect of the order sought by the authority would be to require the child to be removed from his mother’s care and be accommodated by the authority; a course of action which, in the circumstances, was prohibited
