Children & Social Services Solicitors

We recognise that legal proceedings or pre-proceedings in relation to your own children or those of close family members cause  tremendous stress and upset.

We have a Care and Adoption department consisting of experienced and passionate lawyers, who are accredited by the Law Society specialist in this area who will give practical advice in order to maximise your chances of a successful outcome.

We have vast experience in representing biological parents, step-parents, other family members such as grandparents and children, as well as local authorities.

We also have expertise in lesser known areas such as female genital mutilation (FGM) & Forced Marriage Protection Orders.

What we can help with

The list below outlines some of the areas that we regularly assist our clients with. Click to find out more about what each generally entails:

• Care Proceedings
• Emergency Protection Orders and Police Powers of Protection
• Adoption
• Special Guardianship Orders
• Pre-proceedings (often referred to as Public Law Outline or PLO)
• Child Protection Conferences

Why choose us?

Our Care and Adoption Department is recognised as one of the leading South Coast Care & Adoption Teams, which has in the past been awarded recognition under the LexisNexis Family Law Awards.

All of our legal experts are part of the Law Society’s Children Panel and can deal with the entirety of your case, from providing initial advice to representing you at court hearings.

How is our work funded?

Biological parents

If you are a biological parent to a child subject to proceedings or pre proceedings brought by a local authority, you will be entitled to public funding under either the legal aid or the legal help scheme.

If you are a biological parent eligibility for this public funding is on a non-means and non-merits basis. This means that you are automatically entitled to this funding and we will not require proof of your income or the strength of your case.

Non-parents (grandparents and other relatives)

We regularly represent grandparents, step-parents, aunts, uncles and other non-parents during care proceedings.

Unfortunately, the Legal Aid Agency does not provide automatic funding for non-parents, meaning you will have to jump through the hoops and over the hurdles of a means and merits-based assessment. This means that your financial circumstances and the strength of your case will be examined by the Legal Aid Agency.

This can be a complicated process for those without training in Legal Aid applications. Fortunately, we have a number of staff who make these applications on a day to day basis. Please therefore contact us as soon as possible for advice about securing public funding and/or your case in general.