“The care plan was undoubtedly defective as Mr Pavlou rightly conceded on behalf of the local authority…The deficiency was not limited to the care plan. The most up to date local authority statement, dated4 March 2016 , was to the effect that a care order should be made and E removed from the mother’s care, but there was nothing in it about adoption. The local authority’s position statement for the March hearing said nothing about adoption either.” and: “…no doubt hampered considerably by this obviously confused and unsatisfactory presentation of the case, and in the absence of any placement order application before him, in my view, the Recorder went off track in his analysis of the options that there were for E and in his weighing of the various factors that were relevant to his decision.” and finally: “…I do not want to leave the case without acknowledging that the Recorder was not assisted by the way in which it was presented to him. The local authority’s documentation was not helpful. The social worker had recently changed. There was no placement application which, although understandable because of the shortness of time between the local authority’s decision and the hearing, increased the danger that the hearing would fail to focus on the real issues. The Guardian’s analysis of the consequences for E being adopted was inadequate as the Recorder accepted, commenting that there was an absence of evidence, both from the local authority and the Guardian about the harm that the child would suffer by being removed from the mother. All of these matters will have contributed to this careful Recorder not focusing upon and dealing with central issues.”
“Whilst I am aware that it is, regrettably, less common than it used to be for the advocate who ultimately undertakes the final hearing to have an early conference with their client and thereafter continuing intimate involvement in each stage of the case management process, and acknowledging as I do the impact of an increasing scarcity of resources, such input is vital in circumstances where the early identification of issues requiring resolution at the IRH or determination at trial, and of the evidence relevant to the resolution or determination of those issues is central to our system of case management and to the just and efficient resolution of cases.”
“What ...is for me a real concern is something symptomatic of a deeply rooted culture in the family courts which, however long established, will no longer be tolerated. I refer to the slapdash, lackadaisical and on occasions almost contumelious attitude which still far too frequently characterises the response to orders made by family courts. There is simply no excuse for this. Orders, including interlocutory orders, must be obeyed and complied with to the letter and on time. Too often they are not. They are not preferences, requests or mere indications; they are orders. This principle applies as much to orders by way of interlocutory case management directions as to any other species of order. The court is entitled to expect – and from now on family courts will demand – strict compliance with all such orders. Both parties and non-parties to whom orders are addressed must take heed. Non-compliance with an order by anyone is bad enough. It is a particularly serious matter if the defaulter is a public body. Non-compliance with orders should be expected to have and will usually have a consequence: see Re W (A Child), Re H (Children)[2013] EWCA Civ 1177 .”