Justification for taking children from their families.
Dear Common Council of the City of London,
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?
Yours faithfully,
Sophie Rises
Dear Ms Rises,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 (FOIA) - INFORMATION REQUEST
The City of London (CoL) acknowledges receipt of your request for
information of 24 January 2011.
Public authorities are required to respond to requests within the
statutory timescale of 20 working days beginning from the first working
day after they receive a request. The Act does not always require public
authorities to disclose the information which they hold.
The FOIA applies to the CoL as a local authority, police authority and
port health authority. The CoL is the local and police authority for the
"Square Mile", ie the historic City of London, and not for London as a
whole. Please see the following link to a map on the CoL's website, which
shows the area covered:
[1]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/maps/boundary_map.htm.
The CoL's port health authority functions extend beyond the City boundary.
For further information please see:
[2]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/porthealth.
Yours sincerely,
Information Officer
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 1209
[3]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk
Dear Ms Rises,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST
Following receipt of your request for information on 24^th January 2011,
and our acknowledgement of the same date, the City of London (CoL)
responds as follows.
In respect of Question A, the City of London cannot respond as Children's
Social Care focuses on risk rather than whether there has been a criminal
conviction.
With regard to questions B, C, D and E, the City of London (the Square
Mile) is in an unusual position in that it has a resident population of
only around 8,000 which includes approx 1,000 children within the age
bracket of 0-15 years. Therefore, we consider that, in accordance with
the FOIA section 40(2) exemption ('personal information'), we should
refuse the information you have requested in this instance. Because,
uniquely, we are a Local Authority with a very small population, we have
to exercise caution about what information we hold which, if disclosed,
could be linked with identifiable individuals. Although you have requested
purely statistical information, we consider in this instance that we
should refuse disclosure. We note that the section 40(2) exemption is an
absolute exemption, i.e. it is not subject to the public interest test.
We hope that this assists.
If you wish to make a complaint about the way the CoL has handled your
enquiry, please make your complaint in writing to email address:
[email address].
For a link to the CoL's FOI complaints procedure, please visit the
following page: [1]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Feedback, at the end of which
is located the FOI complaints procedure. If, having used the CoL's FOI
Complaints Procedure, you are still dissatisfied, you may request the
Information Commissioner to investigate. Please contact: Information
Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Telephone: (01625) 545700. Website: [2]http://www.ico.gov.uk/.
Please note that the Act applies to the City of London only as a local
authority, police authority and port health authority. Subject to any
other statutory provisions requiring the City of London to disclose
information, release of information outside the scope of the Act is
subject to the discretion of the City of London.
The CoL holds the copyright in this communication. Its supply does not
give a right to re-use in a way that would infringe that copyright, for
example, by making copies, publishing and issuing copies to the public or
to any other person. Brief extracts of any of the material may be
reproduced under the fair dealing provisions of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988 (sections 29 and 30) for the purposes of research for
non-commercial purposes, private study, criticism, review and news
reporting, subject to an acknowledgement of the copyright owner.
Yours sincerely
Department of Community & Children's Services
City of London
Tel: 020 7332 1638
[3]www.Cityoflondon.gov.uk
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