THIS week we heard of another tragic case in Oxfordshire, involving two children who were placed with ‘special guardians’ under Special Guardianship Orders (SGOs), where it later transpired that they had been the victims of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of the special guardians.

The Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board released its Serious Case Review dealing with the case. This comes after the Keegan Downer case in Birmingham, involving seven-year-old Keegan, who was murdered by her aunt, who had acquired an SGO to care for her, for whom, undoubtedly, there will also be a serious case review.

The Oxfordshire case involved two boys placed with a relative under SGOs. It was later discovered the relative’s partner had been abusing the boys. The added complication being that both children were disabled. They lived with the special guardian for about a year before the abuse came to light.

SGOs are orders that the court can make to a relative, family friend or carer, which allows them to share parental responsibility with the parent or parents. However the special guardian has enhanced parental responsibility for the child, and in most decisions, if there is a dispute between the special guardian and the parent(s), the special guardian’s decision holds sway. They get to make those key decisions. They should consult the parent(s) but if matters cannot be agreed, they get their way.

Only the court can grant an SGO, and it can be obtained either within care proceedings, or within private law proceedings (where the local authority is not directly involved and is not a party to the case) between the carer and the parent(s). They were introduced by The Adoption and Children Act 2002, and were designed to bridge the gap between the (then) residence orders and adoption.

There will inevitably be calls to curtail their use, but in fact the Government has already conducted a review into their use. As a result, SGO Assessments, which have to be carried out by the local authority, have been toughened up, and the assessment carried out on any proposed carer is a very robust process and covers the same issues and enquiries that an assessment of a proposed adopter covers. There is also a drive to ensure that the proposed carer has a more defined relationship with the child already, and distant relatives will have a harder job to persuade the court that an SGO should be made in their favour if they don’t already have a proper relationship with the child.

The other change is that Judges are unlikely to order an SGO where the placement has not been tested within proceedings. So in reality, children might be placed with the relatives either during proceedings and assessments continue to see how the placements go, or, care orders made, and the proposed special guardian approved as a foster carer initially, with a view to them later applying for an SGO, once the placement has been tested, to see how it goes.

If care orders or interim care orders are made, then the local authority retains parental responsibility, and it is within proceedings, then the court, local authority, and children’s guardian all remain involved.

* Ruth Hawkins is a Partner & Children Panel Member at Turpin & Miller LLP