Benefits we bring to you 

Our considerable experience in permanence and adoption work has enabled us to provide clear advice on the right outcomes for complex and contentious cases. We have also provided training for local authority clients on matters such as: what has become known as the 'threshold test' (Section 84(5)(c)(ii)) and the terms of orders for direct and indirect contact with birth parents amongst other key issues.

We have also represented English local authorities in public sector child law matters. The most notable case is reported in Cumbria County Council and Others, [2016] CSIH 92, 15 December 2016. In this test case we secured orders for recognition of the English orders placing a child in secure accommodation in Scotland. We have now acted for more than twenty local authorities in England in respect of children from English local authorities being placed in secure accommodation in Scotland, thus allowing the vulnerable children in each case to continue with their placements in Scotland. 

We are currently representing a number of English local authorities who have children placed in residential care in Scotland that require English Orders made in respect of these children to be recognised and made enforceable in Scotland. Many of these cases involve children who are subject to Deprivation of Liberty Orders. We have made a number of these applications successfully ensuring the legality of the child's placement in Scotland.