67 Recovery of children in care of local authorities.
(1) This section applies to a child—
(a) who is in the care of a local authority under section 1 of the Children Act 1948; and
(b) with respect to whom there is in force a resolution under section 2 of that Act; and
(c) who—
(i) has run away from accommodation provided for him by the local authority under Part II of the said Act; or
(ii) has been taken away from such accommodation contrary to section 3(8) of the said Act; or
(iii) has not been returned to the local authority as required by a notice served under section 49 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1963 on a person under whose charge and control the child was, in accordance with section 13(2) of the said Act of 1948, allowed to be.
(2) If a justice of the peace is satisfied by information on oath that there are reasonable grounds for believing that a person specified in the information can produce the child to whom this section applies, he may issue a summons directed to the person so specified and requiring him to attend and produce the child before a magistrates’ court acting for the same petty sessions area as the justice.
(3) Without prejudice to the powers under subsection (2) above, if a justice of the peace is satisfied by information on oath that there are reasonable grounds for believing that a child to whom this section applies is in premises specified in the information, he may issue a search warrant authorising a person named in the warrant, being an officer of the local authority in whose care the child is, to search the premises for the child; and if the child is found, he shall be placed in such accommodation as the local authority may provide for him under Part II of the Children Act 1948.
(4) A person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with a summons under subsection (2) shall, without prejudice to any liability apart from this subsection, be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £100.
68 Extension of powers under section 32 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969.
(1) Section 32 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969 (detention of absentees) shall have effect subject to the following provisions of this section.
(2) In subsection (1) of the said section 32, paragraph (b) shall cease to have effect.
(3) After subsection (1) of the said section 32, there is inserted the following subsection:—
(1A) If a child or young person is absent from a place of safety to which he has been taken in pursuance of section 2(5), 16(3) or 28 of this Act without the consent of—
(a) the person who made the arrangements for his detention in the place of safety in pursuance of the said section 2(5) or 16(3), or
(b) the person on whose application an authorisation relating to the child or young person has been issued under the said section 28,
he may be arrested by a constable anywhere in the United Kingdom or the Channel Islands without a warrant, and shall, if so arrested, be conducted to the place of safety at the expense of the person referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) (as the case may be) of this subsection.
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(4) In subsection (2) of the said section 32, after the words “subsection (1)” there are inserted the words “or (1A)”, and for the words “twenty pounds” there is substituted the word “£100”.
(5) After the said subsection (2), the following subsections are inserted—
(2A) Without prejudice to its powers under subsection (2) of this section, a magistrates’ court (within the meaning of that subsection) may, if it is satisfied by information on oath that there are reasonable grounds for believing that a person who is absent as mentioned in subsection (1) or (1A) of this section is in premises specified in the information, issue a search warrant authorising a constable to search the premises for that person.
(2B) A court shall not issue a summons or search warrant under subsection (2) or (2A) of this section in any case where the person who is absent is a person to whom subsection (1A) of this section applies, unless the information referred to in the said subsection (2) or (2A) is given by the person referred to in subsection (1A)(a) or (b) (as the case may be) of this section.
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(6) In subsection (3) of the said section 32, for the words “one hundred pounds” there is substituted the word “£400”.
(7) In subsection (4) of the said section 32, for the words “subsection (1)” there are substituted the words “subsections (1), (1A) and (2A)”, and for the words “that subsection” there are substituted the words “subsection (1).”.
The court shall not certify under section 22(5) or section 23(2) or (3) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969 (committals to remand centres or prison) that a child is of so unruly a character that he cannot safely be committed to the care of a local authority unless the conditions prescribed by order made by the Secretary of State are satisfied in relation to that child.
In this section, “court” includes a justice.
72 Grants in respect of secure accomodation for children in Scotland.
The following section is inserted after section 59 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968—
Grants in respect of secure accommodation for children.
59A (1) The Secretary of State may make to a local authority grants of such amount and subject to such conditions as he may with the consent of the Treasury determine in respect of expenditure incurred by the authority in—
(a) providing ;
(b) joining with another local authority in providing; or
(c) contributing by way of grant under section 10(3) of this Act to the provision by a voluntary organisation of,
secure accommodation . . . .
(2) The conditions subject to which grants are made under subsection (1) of this section may include conditions for securing the repayment in whole or in part of such grants.
(3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, “the parental rights and duties” means as respects a particular child (whether legitimate or not), all the rights and duties which by law the mother and father have in relation to a legitimate child and his property; and references to a parental right or duty shall be construed accordingly and shall include a right of access and any other element included in a right or duty.
(2) Subject to section 1(2) of the Guardianship Act 1973 (which relates to separation agreements between husband and wife), a person cannot surrender or transfer to another any parental right or duty he has as respects a child.
(3) Where two or more persons have a parental right or duty jointly, any one of them may exercise or perform it in any manner without the other or others if the other or, as the case may be, one or more of the others have not signified disapproval of its exercise or performance in that manner.
(4) From the death of a person who has a parental right or duty jointly with one other person, or jointly with two or more other persons, that other person has the right or duty exclusively or, as the case may be, those other persons have it jointly.
(5) Where subsection (4) does not apply on the death of a person who has a parental right or duty, that right or duty lapses, but without prejudice to its acquisition by another person at any time under any enactment.
(6) Subsections (4) and (5) apply in relation to the dissolution of a body corporate as they apply in relation to the death of an individual.
(7) Except as otherwise provided by or under any enactment, while the mother of an illegitimate child is living she has the parental rights and duties exclusively.
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, “legal custody” means, as respects a child, so much of the parental rights and duties as relate to the person of the child (including the place and manner in which his time is spent); but a person shall not by virtue of having legal custody of a child be entitled to effect or arrange for his emigration from the United Kingdom unless he is a parent or guardian of the child.
(1) A person has actual custody of a child if he has actual possession of his person, whether or not that possession is shared with one or more persons.
(2) While a person not having legal custody of a child has actual custody of the child he has the like duties in relation to the child as a custodian would have by virtue of his legal custody.
(3) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, references to the person with whom a child has his home refer to the person who, disregarding absence of the child at a hospital or boarding school and any other temporary absence, has actual custody of the child.
A child is in the care of a voluntary organisation if—
(a) the organisation has actual custody of him, or
(b) having had actual custody of him, the organisation has transferred that custody to an individual who does not have legal custody of him.
(1) The following subsections are substituted for subsections (2) and (3) of section 6 of the Guardianship Act 1973:—
(2) A report made in pursuance of subsection (1) above to a magistrates’ court shall be made to the court at a hearing of the application unless it is in writing in which case—
(a) a copy of the report shall be given to each party to the proceedings or to his counsel or solicitor either before or during a hearing of the application; and
(b) if the court thinks fit, the report, or such part of the report as the court requires, shall be read aloud at a hearing of the application.
(3) A magistrates’ court may and, if requested to do so at the hearing by a party to the proceedings or his counsel or solicitor, shall, require the officer by whom the report was made to give evidence of or with respect to the matters referred to in the report and if the officer gives such evidence, any party to the proceedings may give or call evidence with respect to any such matter or any matter referred to in the officer’s evidence.
(3A) A magistrates’ court may take account of—
(a) any statement contained in a report made at a hearing of the application or of which copies have been given to the parties or their representatives in accordance with subsection (2)(a) above; and
(b) any evidence given by the officer under subsection (3) above,
in so far as the statement or evidence is, in the opinion of the court, relevant to the application, notwithstanding any enactment or rule of law to the contrary.
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(2) The following subsection is added after subsection (5) of the said section 6—
(6) A single justice may request a report under subsection (1) of this section before the hearing of the application, but in such a case the report shall be made to the court which hears the application, and the foregoing provisions of this section shall apply accordingly.
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The following section is inserted after section 3 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953—
Registration of births of abandoned children.
3A (1) Where the place and date of birth of a child who was abandoned are unknown to, and cannot be ascertained by, the person who has charge of the child, that person may apply to the Registrar General for the child’s birth to be registered under this section.
(2) On an application under this section the Registrar General shall enter in a register maintained at the General Register Office—
(a) as the child’s place of birth, if the child was found by the applicant or by any person from whom (directly or indirectly) the applicant took charge of the child, the registration district and sub-district where the child was found, or, in any other case, where the child was abandoned;
(b) as the child’s date of birth, the date which, having regard to such evidence as is produced to him, appears to him to be the most likely date of birth of the child, and
(c) such other particulars as may be prescribed.
(3) The Registrar General shall not register a child’s birth under this section if—
(a) he is satisfied that the child was not born in England or Wales ; or
(b) the child has been adopted in pursuance of a court order made in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands; or
(c) subject to subsection (5) below, the child’s birth is known to have been previously registered under this Act.
(4) If no entry can be traced in any register of births relating to a person who has attained the age of 18 and has not been adopted as aforesaid, that person may apply to the Registrar General for his birth to be registered under this section.
(5) On the application of—
(a) a person having the charge of a child whose birth had been registered under this Act by virtue of the proviso to section I of this Act (as originally enacted), or
(b) any such child who has attained the age of 18 years,
the Registrar General shall re-register the birth of the child under this section, and shall direct the officer having custody of the register of births in which the entry relating to the child was previously made to enter in the margin of the register a reference to the re-registration of the birth.
(1) At the end of paragraph (b) of section 10 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1953 (which makes provision for the registration of fathers of illegitimate children) there is added
or
(c) at the request of the mother (which shall be made in writing) on production of—
(i) a certified copy of an order made under section 4 of the Affiliation Proceedings Act 1957 naming that person as the putative father of the child, and
(ii) if the child has attained the age of 16 years, the written consent of the child to the registration of that person as his father.
(2) After the said section 10 there is inserted the following section—
Re-registration of births of illegitimate children.
10A (1) Where the birth of an illegitimate child has been registered under this Act but no person has been registered as the child’s father, the registrar shall re-register the birth so as to show a person as the father—
(a) at the joint request of the mother and of that person ; or
(b) at the request of the mother on production of—
(i) a declaration in the prescribed form made by the mother stating that that person is the father of the child ; and
(ii) a statutory declaration made by that person acknowledging himself to be the father of the child ; or
(c) at the request of the mother (which shall be made in writing) on production of—
(i) a certified copy of an order made under section 4 of the Affiliation Proceedings Act 1957 naming that person as the putative father of that child, and
(ii) if the child has attained the age of 16 years, the written consent of the child to the registration of that person as his father ;
but no birth shall be re-registered under this section except in the prescribed manner and with the authority of the Registrar General.
(2) On the re-registration of a birth under this section—
(a) the registrar and the mother shall sign the register ;
(b) in the case of a request under paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section, the other person making the request shall also sign the register; and
(c) if the re-registration takes place more than three months after the birth, the superintendent registrar shall also sign the register.
(3) In section 9 of the said Act of 1953 (which enables information required to be given to the registrar to be given to other persons) after subsection (3) there are added the following subsections—
(4) A request made under section 10 of this Act may be included in a declaration under subsection (1) of this section, and, if the request is made under paragraph (b) or (c) of that section, the documents required by that paragraph to be produced shall be produced to the officer in whose presence the declaration is made and sent by him with the declaration to the registrar.
(5) A request made under section 10A of this Act instead of being made to the registrar may be made by making and signing in the presence of and delivering to a prescribed officer a statement in the prescribed form and producing to the officer any documents required to be produced by that section, and—
(a) the officer shall send the request together with those documents, if any, to the registrar who shall with the authority of the Registrar General re-register the birth as if the request had been made to him; and
(b) the person or persons who sign the statement shall be deemed to have signed the register as required by subsection (2) of that section.
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(1) Where any application has been made under this Act or the relevant adoption provisions to a county court, the High Court may, at the instance of any party to the application, order the application to be removed to the High Court and there proceeded with on such terms as to costs as it thinks proper.
(2) Subject to subsection (3), where on an application to a magistrates’ court under this Act or the relevant adoption provisions the court makes or refuses to make an order, an appeal shall lie to the High Court.
(3) Where an application is made to a magistrates’ court under this Act or the relevant adoption provisions, and the court considers that the matter is one which would more conveniently be dealt with by the High Court, the magistrates’ court shall refuse to make an order, and in that case no appeal shall lie to the High Court.
(4) Any order made on an appeal under subsection (2) from a decision of a magistrates’ court on an application under Part II (other than an order directing that an application shall be re-heard by a magistrates’ court) shall for the purposes of the enforcement of the order and for the purposes of sections 35, 35A and 36 be treated as if it were an order of the magistrates’ court from which the appeal was brought and not of the High Court.
(5) In this section “the relevant adoption provisions” means sections 34, 34A and 35(2) of the Adoption Act 1958.
(1) Where a power to make regulations or orders is exercisable by the Secretary of State by virtue of this Act, regulations or orders made in the exercise of that power shall be made by statutory instrument and may—
(a) make different provision in relation to different cases or classes of case, and
(b) exclude certain cases or classes of case.
(2) A statutory instrument containing regulations made by the Secretary of State under section 103 shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
(3) Any power conferred on the Secretary of State by this Act to make orders includes a power to vary or revoke an order so made.
108 Amendments, repeals, commencement and transitory provisions.
(1) Subject to the following provisions of this section
(a) the enactments specified in Schedule 3 shall have effect subject to the amendments specified in that Schedule (being minor amendments or amendments consequential on the preceding provisions of this Act), and
(b) the enactments specified in Schedule 4 are repealed to the extent shown in column 3 of that Schedule.
(2) This Act, except the provisions specified in subsections (3) and (4), shall come into force on such date as the Secretary of State may by order appoint and different dates may be appointed for, or for different purposes of, different provisions.
(3) Sections 71, 72 and 82, this section, section 109 and paragraph 57 of Schedule 3 shall come into force on the passing of this Act.
(4) The following provisions of this Act shall come into force on 1st January 1976—
(a) sections 3, 8(9) and (10), 13, 59, 83 to 91, 94, 98, 99, 100 and 103 to 107;
(b) Schedules 1 and 2;
(c) in Schedule 3, paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 13(6), 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21(1) (2) and (4), 22 to 25, 27(b), 29, 33, 34(b), 35, 36(b), 38, 39(c) (d) and (e), 40, 43, 48, 49, 51(a), 52(f)(ii) and (g)(ii), 54, 55, 58 to 63, 65 to 70, 75(3), 77, 78, 81 and 83;
(d) Parts I, II and III of Schedule 4.
(5) Until the date appointed under subsection (2) or sections 4 to 7, in this Act and in the 1958 Act “adoption agency” means a local authority or a registered adoption society within the meaning of the 1958 Act.
(6) Until the date so appointed for section 12, section 5(1) of the 1958 Act shall, in relation to an application made after 31st December 1975 for an adoption order, have effect with the addition at the end of paragraph (b) of the following words
or
(c) has seriously ill-treated the child and that (whether because of the ill-treatment or for other reasons) the rehabilitation of the child within the household of that person is unlikely.
(7) Until the date so appointed for section 18, section 21A of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969 shall have effect as if for references to section 25 there were substituted references to section 53 of the 1958 Act.
(8) An order under subsection (2) may make such transitional provision as appears to the Secretary of State to be necessary or expedient in connection with the provisions thereby brought into force, including such adaptations of those provisions or any provision of this Act then in force or any provision of the 1958 Act as appear to him to be necessary or expedient in consequence of the partial operation of this Act.