The Child Care Law Reporting Project says there is a "striking" lack of consistency between social workers and the courts when it comes to dealing with care orders.
The project’s director Carol Coulter says there have been a number of cases where care orders haven’t been granted in spite of ‘powerful evidence’ - while in other cases, orders have been granted for ‘minor’ parental drug use.
In one case, evidence of six children ‘strapped in buggies for lengthy periods while their mother was drunk’; and a doctor telling the court that the family's 3-year-old was "the most bruised child she had ever seen" - only resulted in a temporary care order.
Carol Coulter of the Child Care Law Reporting Project says that lack of consistency is her biggest concern.
