Justification for taking children from their families.

Sophie Rises made this Freedom of Information request to Newcastle upon Tyne City Council This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was refused by Newcastle upon Tyne City Council.

Dear Newcastle upon Tyne City Council,

A. Since 2003 please give a year by year breakdown of which CRIMINAL ACT a parent had contravened when committing a abuse/neglect against their child in order to justify the permanent removal of the child from the parent:

1. Sexual Offences Act 1956
2. Mental Health Act 1959
3. Sexual Offences Act 2003
4. Children and Young Persons Act 1933
5. Infanticide Act 1938
6. Indecency with Children Act 1960
7. Sexual Offences Act 1967
8. Misuse of Drugs Act 1971
9. Criminal Law Act 1977
10. Protection of Children Act 1978
11. Customs & Excise Management Act 1979
12. Mental Health Act 1983
13. Child Abduction Act 1984
14. Criminal Justice Act 1988
15. Sexual Offences (amendment) Act 2000
16. Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act 1982
17. Asylum and Immigration Act 2004
18. Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act 2004
19. Mental Capacity Act 2005

B. Where the parent has not been convicted of any criminal act in contravention of any of the above Acts please state what reason was given to justify permanent removal of the child:

1. Information from child's medical records
2. Information from Parent's medical records
3. Unsatisfactory Supervised Contact Reports
4. Unsatisfactory Psychological/Psychiatric Report
5. Parent not co-operating with Children's Services
6. Parent placing own needs above children's needs.

C. Of those parents identified in B2 please state if the information related to:

1. Depression
2. Alcoholism
3. Illegal Drug Addiction
4. Prescription Drug Addiction

D. Of those parents identified in B4. Please state if the information related to:

1. Attachment disorder
2. Personality disorder.

E. Of those parents identified in B. how many had the benefit of a Residential Family Assessment Under S38.6 of the Children Act 1989, before a decision to permanently deprive the children of their parents was made?

F. Of those parents identified in B. how many received continuous assistance under s17 of the Children Act 1989 for at least 6 months as a Family in Need and before any S31 Order was made.

Yours faithfully,

Sophie Rises

FOI Requests, Newcastle upon Tyne City Council

RFI - 3043

Thank you for your request for information received on 24th January I am
dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 I
have passed your request to relevant colleagues, and we will respond to
your request within 20 working days of receipt.

Regards,


Gemma

Gemma Snowball
Senior Admin Assistant
Chief Executives Office
Corporate Services
0191 211 6046 / x26046

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FOI Requests, Newcastle upon Tyne City Council

Dear Sophie,

Please accept my apologies for our delay in responding to you. We have received two requests from you on the same subject matter. The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 allow us to aggregate similar requests from the same person for the consideration of whether or not the cost of dealing with the requests would exceed the appropriate limit. The appropriate limit of £450 equates to 18 hours' work on locating, extracting and collating the information that you require. We estimate that it would take far in excess of 18 hours to provide you with all of the information that you have requested in your two requests. We are therefore refusing your requests under section12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act. If you would like to discuss how you might refine your requests so that they no longer exceed the appropriate limit, please contact me.

If you are unhappy with our response to your request you can ask for an internal review of our decision. Please send details of your request for review to the following address:

Information Governance Coordinator
Chief Executive's Directorate
Civic Centre
Barras Bridge
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE99 2BN
Telephone: 0191 277 7666
E-mail: [Newcastle City Council request email]

If you are still unhappy with how we have handled your request following our internal review you can complain to the Information Commissioner. Contact details are as follows:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
E-mail: [email address]

Regards,

Peter Dinsdale
Information Governance Officer (FOI & Data Protection)
0191 277 7038 ext 27038

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