Child Protection Procedures - East Ayrshire Council

7.12 Procedure for making an application
7.12.1 The application should be presented by a Solicitor appointed by
Legal Services. The Social Worker/Team Leader should liase with
the Solicitor in relation to what information needs to be provided in
support of the application and decide, in consultation, who should
attend the Hearing.
7.12.2 When an order is to be served and there is insufficient time to employ
any of the methods specified in paragraph (2) of Rule 3.15 of the Act
of Sederunt (Child Care and Maintenance Rules) 1997, the person
seeking the child protection order should consider seeking a direction
from the sheriff regarding effecting it orally, or in another manner.
7.13 The application to the sheriff
7.13.1 In presenting an application to the sheriff, the Solicitor appointed by
Legal Services needs to ensure that the application satisfies the main
issues of concern to the sheriff, namely that:
• The criteria are satisfied
• Attempts to proceed without an order have failed or are not
appropriate
• The making of an order would be better for the child than
not to make an order.
7.13.2 The Solicitor appointed by Legal Services must advise whether the
application is to be made under Section 57 (1) or 57 (2). An
application would only be made under Section 57(2) where
parents/carers are preventing access to the child. Hence the lower
test of "grounds to suspect" rather than "grounds to believe" that the
child is at risk of significant harm is the test of the evidence put
before the sheriff. Section 57 (1) refers to "any person" whereas
Section 57(2) is specific to the local authority. The application should
address the question of why the order is necessary to protect the
child. Even where it can be shown that the grounds in Section 57 (1)
(a) are satisfied the social worker will need to show that other ways
of protecting the child have been considered but are not appropriate,
e.g. voluntary arrangements with the family; application for another
order; placement of the child with friends or relatives.
7.13.3 In addition to giving evidence to the sheriff verbally, as much of the
evidence as is possible should be written down as part of the
application. Any written reports or statements received by the social
worker should also be included.
7.13.4 Under Section 57 (1) the sheriff must be satisfied there is evidence to
show that there are reasonable grounds to believe a child has
been, or will be harmed. Therefore, the social worker will need to
demonstrate what observations he/she has made or what information
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