Legislation update
Children and Adoption Act 2006 Contact orders - the main contact order enforcement provisions of the 2006 Act came into force on 8 December 2008. The 2006 Act inserts a number of new sections into the Children Act 1989 which are designed to improve compliance with contact orders. For further details, see the CCInform guide to the Children Act, which has been updated to take account of the 2006 Act amendments. The relevant parts of the guide can be found here .
CC Inform's legal expert, Ed Mitchell, has more legislation updates for your attention. Take a look at the our first update for 2009.
Adoption
Baby placements - the CCInform guide to the Adoption and Children Act 2002 has been updated to reflect recent case law on adoptive placements for children aged under 6 weeks. For further details, click here.
Court proceedings
Allocation of Proceedings - there is a new Allocation of Proceedings Order which (a) specifies the type of court to which applications concerning children should be made, and (b) governs the transfer of cases between different types of court. In terms of changes from the previous Order, the aim is for more private law applications concerning children to be decided by Magistrates, rather than before the County Court. However, it governs all types of proceeings, including public law proceedings under the Children Act 1989 and adoption cases. The new Order is available at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/uksi_20082836_en_1
Fees - the CCInform version of the legislation which sets out fees for care and other family proceedings has been updated to take account of recent changes. The changes concern fees for applications under the new contact enforcement legislation and the new forced marriage legislation. The fees legislation is available here
Safeguarding
Immigration - the UK Borders Act 2007 (Code of Practice on Children) Order 2008 provides, from 6 January 2009, a statutory basis for the UK Borders Agency Code of Practice on safeguarding the welfare of children with whom they are involved. For further details, see the CCInform guide to the Children Act 2004.
Wales
Primary law-making powers for the Welsh Assembly - in December 2008 a Legislative Competence Order made under the Government of Wales Act 2006 gave the Welsh Assembly the power to make laws for Wales about a range of child-related matters including adoption, fostering, safeguarding and the provision of social care services. For further details, click here.
