Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards & the Placement of Children - A Guide for Family Lawyers

Introduction

There is currently an acute lack of appropriate resources for children requiring care in a restrictive environment. In the past three years, the number of applications to deprive children of their liberty in unregulated placements has increased by 462%.

This webinar aims to provide an overview of the significant amount of recent case law around the use of DOLS and issues arising out of placement.

It will also cover the present rules and procedure to Deprivation of Liberty Safeguarding Orders and how the court approaches the issue of placement.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• The two-stage test for the making of a declaration authorising the deprivation of a child's liberty
• The role of the child’s consent to the same
• The Children Act 1989 and the placement obligations of the local authority
• The Mental Health Act 1983 and the placement obligations of the relevant NHS Clinical Commissioning Group or NHS England
• The different CAMHS tiers and the process for obtaining a Tier 4 in-patient placement
• Unregulated placements and the use of the court’s inherent jurisdiction
• Placement outside of England and Wales
• The relevance of an absence of placement to the welfare analysis
• The new Deprivation of Liberty Court at the RCJ

This webinar was recorded on 13th March 2023