Grandparents Rights in Children Proceedings: CPD Guide

Find A Course
Grandparents Rights in Children Proceedings: Permission, Special Guardianship and Kinship Placement

Grandparents Rights in Children Proceedings: Permission, Special Guardianship and Kinship Placement

The Children Act 1989 does not mention grandparents once, so almost every application starts with a two stage process. What the section 10(9) checklis

No of Students Enrolled ( 0 )

with Stuart Barlow

Get Access to this course and +800 Courses For

99 / Month Per User

Training for 5+ people? See our package deals below for more info

169

See Brochure

Description

There are about 14 million grandparents in the United Kingdom, one in three people over 50, and roughly two thirds of them do some regular childcare. When a family breaks down, the grandparents and the grandchildren are often the ones who lose each other. The question they arrive with is always the same: where do I stand? Stuart Barlow, who has spent more than 40 years in family law and conducted most of his own advocacy, answers it properly.

The starting point is uncomfortable. The Children Act 1989 makes no reference to grandparents at all, and successive governments have declined to give them a right to apply for a section 8 order in their own name. So most grandparents face a two stage process: permission first, then the substantive application. The session works through the section 10(9) checklist, the seven situations where permission is not needed, and the case law that stops a court dismissing a grandparent's application without proper enquiry.

It then moves into public law, where the picture is very different. Local authorities are duty bound under section 22C to consider a kinship placement, and a grandparent is usually first in line. The session covers viability assessments, why a child arrangements order can be worth more than foster carer status, and special guardianship in detail: how to get one, what it gives and takes away, the allowance and the means test, the 2020 working group recommendations, and the two stage test a parent must clear to discharge one.

Key Takeaways

- Why permission is refused where a grandparent's application duplicates one already made by their own son or daughter, and the one circumstance where that argument can be beaten
- The full section 10(9) checklist, why it is not exhaustive, and why the welfare of the child is relevant at the permission stage but not paramount
- The seven routes to applying without permission, including the one year qualifying period that applies to a relative, which covers every grandparent
- Why a child arrangements order in care proceedings can be worth more than a foster placement: parental responsibility, party status, full access to the papers and non means, non merits legal aid

What you'll learn

1. Advise a grandparent accurately on whether permission is required, and prepare a section 10(9) application that gives the court the detail it actually wants.
2. Select the right order for the situation, across child arrangements, special guardianship, specific issue, prohibited steps and adoption.
3. Complete and file the correct forms, C2 and C100, with the supporting forms C1A and C8 where safety or confidentiality is in issue.
4. Handle a grandparent's position in care proceedings, from kinship placement and viability assessment through to special guardianship and its discharge.

Requirements

Watch the webinar and review any supporting documentation

Who is the target audience?

Family solicitors, barristers, chartered legal executives and paralegals advising grandparents or parents in private and public children work. Local authority lawyers and social workers considering kinship placements and special guardianship. Legal executives and caseworkers who prepare C2 and C100 applications. Newly qualified solicitors and those moving into children law who want the practical route through the permission stage. Anyone looking for family law courses that deal with what actually happens rather than the statute alone.

Course Content

Text

Recorded Webinar

00:53:00

Documentation

86 Pages

KeyWords

grandparents rights, grandparents rights to see grandchildren, grandparents contact, grandparents custody, special guardianship, special guardianship allowance, discharge special guardianship order, child arrangements order, specific issue order, prohibited steps order, section 8 order, section 10(9) Children Act, permission to apply, Form C2, Form C100, kinship carer, section 22C Children Act, care proceedings, children law, child law uk, Family Procedure Rules 2010, family law cpd

Instructor

Stuart Barlow

101 Users
4 Courses
1 Reviews

Stuart is a solicitor and has over 40 years’ experience in Family Law and Court litigation. He conducts most of his own advocacy and has dealt with many cases involving litigants in person. He is a member of the Law Society Children Panel and an Accredited Specialist in Private Children and Cohabitation with Resolution. Until January 2016 he was Chief Assessor of the Law Society Family Law Panel and an Adjudicator for the Legal Aid Agency. Stuart is also a former external examiner of the Nottingham Law School. He is the author of the following books; Rights of Grandparents in Children Proceedings and A Practical Guide to Working with Litigants in Person and McKenzie Friends in Family Cases, both of which are published by Law Brief Publishing.

Reviews

No more reviews to load

Popular Categories

CPD Memberships

Premium Courses

2026 CPD Bundles

Candidate Links

Police Station

Magistrates Court Qualification

SRO Preparation

CQS Core Accreditation

CQS Reaccreditation

Legal Pathways

Conveyancing Pathways

Data Apprenticeships

Resources