Emergency Protection Orders
| Author | Safda Mahmood/Julie Doughty |
| Pages | 61-70 |
Emergency protection orders are available under section 44 of the CA 1989, as amended by section 52 of, and Schedule 6, paragraph 3 to, the Family Law Act 1996. They are designed for situations when a child needs urgent removal to a safe place or to be retained in a safe place, such as a hospital. These orders may also be used to obtain access to a child in danger, when urgent action is necessary and/or to exclude a named person from a dwelling house or defined area in which the child lives, and they may include a power of arrest. An order may be made in respect of any child under 18 years of age living or found within the jurisdiction of the court.
5.1 Effects of order
The order gives parental responsibility for the child to the applicant (section 44(5) of the CA 1989). It authorises the applicant to remove or retain the child (section 44(4)(b)); and it operates as a direction to anyone in a position to do so, to produce the child (section 44(4)(a)). Under section 44(15) it is a criminal offence to obstruct the applicant in the exercise of his powers under the order.
The order has wide powers, and may contain any or all of these directions:
• authorisation for a doctor, nurse or health visitor to accompany the applicant to carry out the order (section 45(12) of the CA 1989);
• for a child to have contact with any named person (section 44(6)(a));
• for medical or psychiatric examination of the child (section 44(6)(b));
• requirement to disclose information concerning whereabouts of the child (section 48(1));
• authorisation to enter premises and search for the child (section 48(3));
• authorisation to search for another child in the same premises (section 48(4));
• issue of a warrant to police officer to assist the applicant (section 48(9));
62 Child Care and Protection: Law and Practice
• authorisation for a nurse, doctor or health visitor to accompany police (section 48(11));
• exclusion requirement under section 44(A)(2) requiring a named person to leave and remain away from the dwelling house or area in which the child lives;
• undertaking in respect of an exclusion requirement (section 44B); and
• power of arrest in relation to an exclusion requirement (section 44A(5) and (8)).
5.2 Duration
Emergency protection orders last initially for up to 8 days, renewable for up to a further 7 days (section 45(1) of the CA 1989).
There are some exceptions to this general rule, including the following:
• if the order would expire on a public holiday – the first order goes to noon on the next day (section 45(2) of the CA 1989);
• if the child was in police protection (duration 72 hours maximum) before the emergency protection order, and the designated police officer is the applicant on behalf of the local authority, the emergency protection order commences from the beginning of police protection (section 45(3)).
5.3 Grounds for application
The grounds to be proved depend upon who the applicant is.
With the first ground, anyone can apply for this order. This is that if the intention is to remove the child to a safe place, the applicant must satisfy the court that there is reasonable cause to believe that the child will suffer significant harm if not removed to accommodation provided by him (section 44(1)(a)(i) of the CA 1989).
If the applicant intends to retain the child in a safe place, then it must be proved that there is reasonable cause to believe that the child is likely to suffer significant harm unless retained in a safe place (section 44(1)(a)(ii) of the CA 1989). The grounds can be established on the existence of present harm or a prognosis indicating a future risk to the child. For the definition of ‘significant harm’, see Chapter 7, paras 7.2–7.3.
A local authority applicant has an additional ground. It can satisfy the court that during enquiries made under section 47 of the CA 1989 about
a child in its area, access to the child requested by a person authorised to seek it is being refused unreasonably, and that the access is required as a matter of urgency (section 44(1)(b)(ii)). The question of reasonable refusal is a matter for the court. If the application is made by an authorised officer of the local authority or an ‘authorised person’ (currently only the NSPCC), there is either the general ground, or an additional ground, that the applicant has reasonable cause to suspect that the child is...
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