Source: http://boltonchildcare.proceduresonline.com/chapters/p_cross_border.html
Timestamp: 2018-08-18 22:14:45
Document Index: 163717482

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 1', 'art 2', 'art 3', 'art 4', 'art 5', 'art 5', 'art 6']

1.6.5 Cross-Border Child Protection Cases
Non-statutory advice from the Department for Education - The 1996 Hague Convention - Departmental Advice
GOV.UK International child abduction unit: request for co-operation form
This chapter was updated in March 2017 to add links to the International Child Abduction and Contact Unit (ICACU) and the GOV.UK request for co-operation form.
(Note also the alternative link to ICACU in Section 3, The Central Authority.)
Requesting Information on the Need for Prospective Measures
Handling Requests from Other Contracting States
Non-statutory advice from the Department for Education - The 1996 Hague Convention - Departmental Advice is designed to help local authorities when dealing with cross-border child protection cases.
Each country is required to establish a Central Authority to help ensure effective communication between child welfare authorities in contracting states. For England the day-to-day administration of the Central Authority's role will be carried out by the International Child Abduction and Contact Unit (ICACU) (see GOV.UK, Find help to get your child back from abroad or arrange contact) which is co-located in the office of Official Solicitor and Public Trustee.
Children and Families Across Borders (CFAB) - see website. CFAB runs a national advice line on inter-country casework (funded by the DfE);
Africans Unite Against Child Abuse (Afruca) - see website.
5. Requesting Information on the Need for Prospective Measures
If a local authority has welfare concerns about a child who is temporarily living in or visiting their area, it can ask the child’s main country of residence for a report on his/her situation - see Chart 1 for the recommended process for this.
A contracting state can specify that these requests for information must be routed through their Central Authority. You can check whether the country you need to approach has specified this by checking the ‘Reservations/Declarations’ column for that country in the Hague Convention Status Table, available at the Hague Conference website.
If the child is only temporarily present in England, the child’s home country will have jurisdiction, and the appropriate authority there is responsible for decisions about the child’s welfare and protection beyond the immediate measures taken (unless a transfer of jurisdiction is sought - see 7 below).
Once steps have been taken to protect the child, the local authority should contact the relevant authority in the child’s home country to inform them of the action taken, ask for information about the child’s circumstances, and agree what further action is needed. Chart 2 sets out the recommended process for such cases.
A child’s foster carer may want to move abroad and the local authority considers it in the child’s best interests to stay with that carer; and where;
A child may need placement in a specialist residential unit in another country.
Where consultation is required, the local authority must provide a report on the child and the reasons for the proposed placement. The Child’s Permanence Report, Foster Carer’s assessment report or any matching report would contain adequate information for this purpose - there should be no need to create a new report form. The Convention allows for requests to be made either via the Central Authority of the proposed state of placement or to a competent authority. It is recommended however that local authorities route these requests through the English Central Authority who will then liaise with the Central Authority in the other state. Chart 3 sets out the recommended process for making this type of request.
The local authority must also satisfy the requirements of Regulation 12 of the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010 in placing a child in care outside England and Wales, ensuring that adequate arrangements are in place for supervising and reviewing the placement. (See Placements Outside England and Wales Procedure).
Adoptive placements (these are governed by the 1993 Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption); placements which are private family arrangements - but please see, however Recognising and Assessing Private Fostering Arrangements Procedure;
If a local authority has taken steps to safeguard a child’s welfare (or plans to do so) and believes that he/she has been taken out of the local authority area to another contracting state, the Convention enables the local authority to ask another contracting state for help in determining the child’s location. Chart 4 describes the process for this type of request.
A local authority may charge a ‘reasonable’ fee for providing this service. This means a charge that is as close as possible to the actual costs of providing that service, including indirect costs (for example a proportion of the on costs). A local authority may provide a service under this Article by subcontracting the work to another agency.
12. Handling Requests from Other Contracting States
Handling Requests from Other Contracting States Just as local authorities in this country can ask for certain types of help or information from other contracting states, other contracting states can ask for a similar range of help from our authorities.
A local authority may be asked for information about a child by a competent authority in another contracting state that is considering protection measures for that child, regardless of where the child usually lives. In ratifying the Convention, the United Kingdom has stipulated that these types of request to an English local authority be routed through the English Central Authority.
therefore, should you receive any requests directly, the correct course of action would be to advise the referring authority that the request must be made via the English Central Authority.
Chart 5 sets out the procedure by way of a flowchart.
The implementing Regulations for the Convention allow local authorities to supply relevant information lawfully, providing that doing so would not put the child or their property at risk, or threaten the life or liberty of a member of the child’s family. Further advice on information sharing can be found in the Cross-border child protection cases: the 1996 Hague Convention Guidance.
Chart 5 sets out the recommended process for handling this type of request.
If the local authority agrees to the placement, the legal framework under which the child will be placed should be established. The two authorities should agree the responsibility for monitoring and review of the placement. Such monitoring and review arrangements must be compatible with the equivalent arrangements for placing English children in comparable placements. (See Looked After Reviews Procedure).
If an authority in a contracting state is concerned that a child needs protection and believes the child has been removed from their area and taken to England, they may request assistance from the English Central Authority in tracing that child. Chart 6 sets out the recommended process for handling these requests.
Local authorities have a duty to assist with these requests. The starting point should be the Joint Protocol For Children and Young People Missing From Home and Care.
If initial checks of any relevant databases do not trace the child, local authorities can decide what level of further checking is proportionate to the risk factors described by the requesting authority.