Recurrent care proceedings: five key areas for reflection from the research (update)
All professionals involved in the family justice system have long been aware that some parents will experience more than one set of care proceedings. Some parents return to court on many occasions and experience their children being removed into foster or kinship care or, more commonly, being adopted. This cycle of returning to court and having subsequent children removed is now commonly referred to as ‘recurrent care proceedings’.
In this paper we highlight the evidence on the number of mothers and fathers who experience recurrent proceedings in England and Wales, their circumstances and the impact of having children removed in this way. We also highlight messages from evaluations of specialist services working to support parents who have experienced – or who are at risk of experiencing – recurrent proceedings.
