Study finds variations in granting of child care orders

A qualitative study of district court childcare proceedings has found huge variations in the rate at which care orders are granted.

The analysis, by Conor O’Mahony, a senior lecturer in the school of law at University College Cork, found that in some cases barristers and solicitors said they did not have adequate resources so they could represent parents in the way they wished.

It also found that in some areas it is “almost unknown” for a care order not to be granted, whereas in the case of one judge almost 50% of ICOs (interim care orders) and FCOs (full care orders) were refused.