Protecting Human Rights in Care Proceedings.

LS Palmer made this Freedom of Information request to North Yorkshire Council This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was partially successful.

Dear North Yorkshire County Council,

1. Since 1 April 2009 how many applications for a Care Order have been made by the Local Authority?

2. At the date of replying, how many children are in the care of the Local Authority under:

a. A S31 Order
b. A S20 Order

3. How many of the applications for a Care Order made since 1 April 2009 have resulted in:

a. A Supervision Order
b. A Care Order - Permanent Foster Care/Care Home
c. An Adoption Order.
d. A Special Guardianship Order - placed with family
e. No Order

4. In relation to 3b, 3c and 3d how many of the parents had:

a. Been convicted of a criminal offence against their children
b. Had the benefit of a residential family assessment

5. In relation to 3c how many applications for freeing orders were made?

6. In relation to question 1. how many of the parents had made an official complaint against children's services prior to the commencement of care proceedings?

Yours faithfully,

LS Palmer

DataManagement Officer, North Yorkshire Council

Dear L S Palmer

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom Of Information Act 2000, of which we acknowledge receipt.

Your request has been passed to the appropriate officer to provide a response as soon as possible, and in any event within 20 working days, as required by the Act.

Kind regards

Paul Atkinson, for

Data Management Officer
North Yorkshire County Council
01609 533219 [cyfeiriad ebost]

Access your county council services online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at www.northyorks.gov.uk.

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North Yorkshire County Council.

Jerry Barnes, North Yorkshire Council

2 Attachments

Dear Ms Palmer,
 
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request.  Please find below the
response for North Yorkshire County Council.
 
1.The number of applications for a Care Order from 1 April 2009  to 31
January 2011 was 111.
 
2.a. On 31 January 2011 the number of children in the care of the Local
authority under a S31 order was 208.
  
b.On  31 January 2011 the number of children in the care of the local
authority under Section 20 orders was 155.
 
3.a. It has not been possible to identify Supervision Orders made under
Section 31 or Section 35 as these do not have looked after children
status. 
  
b. A record is not kept of children specifically placed in Childrens Homes
or Foster Care . To obtain this information would require searching
through over fifty case files. The large amount of work involved searching
through the above files would bring the cost of answering the request over
the amount to which we are legally required to respond, i.e. the cost of
locating and retrieving the information exceeds the 'appropriate limit' as
stated in the Freedom Of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit)
Regulations 2004.  I enclose a copy of our charging regime and our appeals
process.
 
c. Between 1 April 2009 and 31 January 2011 applications for a care order
have resulted in 3 Adoption orders.
 
d. Between 1 April 2009 and 31 January 2011 applications for a care order
have resulted in 4 Special Guardianship orders.
 
e.  North Yorkshire County Council do not centrally collect the number of
applications for a Care Order where no order has been made.  In order to
answer this question the Authority would be required to look through 111
case files. I will, therefore, not be providing this information as the
estimated cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the
'appropriate limit' as stated in the Freedom Of Information (Fees and
Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.  I enclose a copy of our charging
regime and our appeals process.
 
4. In order to answer this question the Authority would be required to
look through 111 individual case files. I will, therefore, not be
providing this information as the estimated cost of locating and
retrieving the information exceeds the 'appropriate limit' as stated in
the Freedom Of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004. 
I enclose a copy of our charging regime and our appeals process.
 
5. Freeing orders were phased out from 2006.  From 1 April 2009 to 31
January 2010 two Placement Orders, which replaced them, have taken place.
 
6. In order to answer this  question the Authority would be required to
look through 111 individual case files. I will, therefore, not be
providing this information as the estimated cost of locating and
retrieving the information exceeds the 'appropriate limit' as stated in
the Freedom Of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004. 
I enclose a copy of our charging regime and our appeals process.
 
I am sorry that I have been unable to answer all of your questions but
hope that the information I have been able to provide is of use to you.
 
Kind Regards
Jerry Barnes
 
 
Jerry Barnes
Service and Quality  Development Officer
Children & Young People's Service
North Yorkshire County Council

Tel: 01609 536907
 
Mobile    07814679950
e-mail: [email address]
Access your county council services online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
at [1]www.northyorks.gov.uk.

WARNING

Any opinions or statements expressed in this e-mail are those of the
individual and not necessarily those of North Yorkshire County Council.

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and solely
for the use of the intended recipient. If you receive this in error,
please do not disclose any information to anyone, notify the sender at the
above address and then destroy all copies.

North Yorkshire County Council’s computer systems and communications may
be monitored to ensure effective operation of the system and for other
lawful purposes. All GCSX traffic may be subject to recording and/or
monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation.

Although we have endeavoured to ensure that this e-mail and any
attachments are free from any virus we would advise you to take any
necessary steps to ensure that they are actually virus free.

If you receive an automatic response stating that the recipient is away
from the office and you wish to request information under either the
Freedom of Information Act, the Data Protection Act or the Environmental
Information Regulations please forward your request by e-mail to the Data
Management Team ([2][email address]) who will
process your request.

North Yorkshire County Council.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.northyorks.gov.uk/
2. mailto:[email address]

[name removed] (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

I would appeal this FOI as the figures for freeing orders and adoption orders seem very low. I firmaly believe you have been misled by this authority, and that they should reassess the figures they have provided. North Yorkshire is the largest county in the UK and I do not believe they have only scored 3 forced adoptions across the whole county in such a timeframe, my grand-daughter was afterall one of those unfortunate children to have been forcibly adopted against our families wishes by NYCC!!