Children Order Bulletin
July to September 2011

Summary

During July - September 2011:

Table 1a: Applications entered and disposed

  Number of applications entered Number of disposals
Private Law Family Proceedings Court 1283 1093
Family Care Centre 31 76
High Court 59 45
Total 1373 1214
Public Law Family Proceedings Court 173 85
Family Care Centre 9 15
High Court 7 17
Total 189 117
Private law = residence, contact, specific issues, prohibited steps, parental responsibility, financial contribution, guardianship, family assistance, non-molestation and occupation orders

Table 1b: Applications entered and disposed by processing office

  Public Law Private Law
Number of applications entered Number of disposals Number of applications entered Number of disposals
Family Proceedings Court Antrim 0 1 5 23
Armagh 0 0 0 1
Ballymena 22 8 118 88
Bangor 0 0 5 4
Belfast 39 16 387 322
Coleraine 0 0 23 15
Craigavon 17 8 81 68
Downpatrick 0 0 6 4
Dungannon 25 11 77 72
Larne 0 0 2 5
Limavady 0 0 1 1
Lisburn 12 9 96 94
Londonderry 16 6 155 134
Magherafelt 0 0 0 0
Newry 17 10 122 97
Newtownards 25 15 201 162
Omagh 0 1 4 3
Venue total 173 85 1283 1093
Family Care Centre Belfast 9 6 23 40
Craigavon 0 6 6 27
Dungannon 0 0 0 1
Londonderry 0 3 2 8
Venue total 9 15 31 76
High Court Royal Courts of Justice 7 17 59 45
Venue total 7 17 59 45
Private law = residence, contact, specific issues, prohibited steps, parental responsibility, financial contribution, guardianship, family assistance, non-molestation and occupation orders.

Table 1c: Applications entered and disposed

  Public Law Private Law
Number of applications entered Number of disposals Number of applications entered Number of disposals
Northern Ireland 189 117 1373 1214

Table 2: Reasons for transfer [1]

Transferred from Complexity Consolidation Convenience Gravity Jurisdiction Returned to Lower Court Separate Representation Urgency Point of Law Public Interest Other Total
for Child
Family Proceedings Court Antrim 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Armagh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ballymena 24 0 0 0 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 29
Belfast 31 9 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 46
Coleraine 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Craigavon 8 2 0 0 4 0 0 0 2 0 0 16
Downpatrick 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Dungannon 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
Larne 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Lisburn 11 1 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 16
Londonderry 10 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14
Newry 2 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6
Newtownards 4 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 8
Omagh 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Venue total 94 21 1 2 20 0 2 0 2 0 0 142
Family Care Centre Belfast 2 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 6
Craigavon 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
Dungannon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Londonderry 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3
Venue total 5 2 2 0 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 13
High Court Office of Care and Protection 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 4
Matrimonial Office 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Venue total 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 4
Northern Ireland Total 99 23 3 2 23 3 2 2 2 0 0 159

[1] Total number of reasons for transfer.  There may be more than one reason for each case. There were 153 cases transferred during the period.

Table 3: Total own motion orders

  Own motion orders
Parental Responsibility 7
Contact: Permission 10
Contact: Refusal 0
Residence 10
Prohibited Steps 13
Specific Issues 7
Family Assistance 0
Care 16
Supervision 1
Education Supervision 1
Declaration of Parentage 0
Child Assessment 17
Emergency Protection 1
Extension of EPO 3
Recovery 0
Secure Accommodation 2
Article 53 Contract 0
Appointment of Guardian 81
Contribution and other Financial 0
Non-Molestation Order 0
Occupation Articles 0
Article 56 Investigations 0
Exclusion Requirement 0
Ex Parte Application refused 0
Other orders, applications etc 69
Total 238

Table 4: Total interim orders

  Interim orders
Parental Responsibility 2
Contact: Permission 2316
Contact: Refusal 0
Residence 345
Prohibited Steps 139
Specific Issues 7
Family Assistance 0
Care 2216
Supervision 49
Education Supervision 0
Child Assessment 0
Emergency Protection 0
Extension of EPO 0
Recovery 0
Secure Accommodation 60
Article 53 Contract 0
Appointment of Guardian 0
Contribution and other Financial 0
Non-Molestation Order 13
Occupation Articles 0
Article 56 Investigations 0
Exclusion Requirement 0
Other orders, applications etc 0
Total 5147

Table 5a: Sitting times disposed of by court venue

  Total sitting time Average sitting time Total sittings
Family Proceedings Court Antrim 23:20 02:55 8
Ballymena 37:05 02:04 18
Banbridge@Newry 00:20 00:10 2
Bangor 00:10 00:10 1
Belfast 169:55 03:02 56
Coleraine 31:35 04:31 7
Craigavon 41:45 02:59 14
Dungannon 33:35 04:48 7
Larne 14:50 03:43 4
Lisburn 53:30 04:28 12
Londonderry 85:35 03:25 25
Newry 49:10 02:54 17
Newtownards 93:15 02:13 42
Omagh 38:00 02:55 13
Venue total 672:05 02:58 226
Family Care Centre Belfast 94:34 02:15 42
Craigavon 41:50 03:29 12
Dungannon 05:46 00:29 12
Enniskillen 00:10 00:10 1
Lisburn 01:00 00:30 2
Londonderry 16:40 01:07 15
Omagh 00:05 00:05 1
Strabane 00:05 00:05 1
Venue total 160:10 01:52 86
High Court Royal Courts of Justice 62:24 00:51 74
Venue total 62:24 00:51 74

Table 5b: Sitting times and business disposed of in Northern Ireland

  Total sitting time Average sitting time Total sittings
Northern Ireland 894:39:00 02:19 386

[1] Total sittings include both minority and majority sittings

Table 6: Orders Made

  Orders Made Total
By Consent Other
Orders Made Adjourn Generally 0 3 3
Article 20 Non-Molestation Order 0 7 7
Article 53 Contact with a Child in Care 0 25 25
Care Order 33 98 131
Contact Order 684 308 992
Declaration of Parentage 25 5 30
Discharging a Care Order 9 0 9
Discharge Contact Order 15 34 49
Discharge Prohibited Steps Order 20 1 21
Discharge Residence Order 7 0 7
Dismiss Order (Children Order) 0 34 34
Education Supervision Order 0 9 9
Emergency Protection Order 3 24 27
Emergency Protection Order - Out of Hours 0 10 10
Extension of an Emergency Protection Order 4 4 8
Family Assistance Order 1 4 5
Financial Provision 1 3 4
Leave to change surname by which child is known 1 0 1
Leave to withdraw 244 88 332
Non Molestation Order 0 7 7
Order of No Order (Final Order) 23 17 40
Order for Leave of Court 0 27 27
Order terminating appointment of GAL 135 66 201
Other Order 50 381 431
Parental Responsibility Order 82 34 116
Proceedings dismissed without prejudice (Final Order) 39 48 87
Prohibited Steps Order 26 37 63
Recovery of a Child 0 7 7
Residence Order 398 229 627
Secure Accommodation Order 15 7 22
Specific Issues Order 37 61 98
Strike out 13 51 64
Supervision Order 6 49 55
Total 1871 1678 3549

Table 7a: Average time in weeks from lodgement to disposal of cases by processing office

  Public law Private law
Average time weeks Number of cases Average time weeks Number of cases
Family Proceedings Court Antrim 19 1 26.7 23
Armagh 0 0 16.6 1
Ballymena 25.8 8 24.4 88
Bangor 0 0 0 4
Belfast 24 16 15.8 322
Coleraine 0 0 7.6 15
Craigavon 21.4 8 18.6 68
Downpatrick 0 0 2.8 4
Dungannon 23.4 11 15.9 72
Larne 0 0 20.6 5
Limavady 0 0 0 1
Lisburn 19.7 9 17.8 94
Londonderry 26.9 6 24.3 134
Newry 33.9 10 22.2 97
Newtownards 11.4 15 20.6 162
Omagh 3.9 1 1.5 3
Total 22.2 85 19.1 1093
Family Care Centre Belfast 36.2 6 41.1 40
Craigavon 65.3 6 49.4 27
Dungannon 0 0 57 1
Londonderry 98.1 3 32 8
Total 60.2 15 43.3 76
High Court Royal Courts of Justice 80.2 17 21.8 45
Total 80.2 17 21.8 45

N.B. Cases disposed will include time spent at the lower court tier.

Table 7b: Average time in weeks from lodgement to disposal of cases in Northern Ireland

  Public law Private law
Average time weeks Number of cases Average time weeks Number of cases
Northern Ireland 35.5 117 20.8 1214

N.B. Cases disposed will include time spent at the lower court tier.

Table 8: Age and gender of children

  0-4 05-Aug 09-Dec 13-16 Total
Male 355 242 162 75 834
Female 365 242 147 101 855
Total 720 484 309 176 1689

Appendix 1 - Average time in weeks from lodgement to disposal by venue for Care Cases

  Average time in weeks Number of cases
Family Proceedings Court Antrim 0 0
Ballymena 43.1 3
Belfast 38.5 6
Craigavon 41 3
Dungannon 41.8 5
Lisburn 44.7 3
Londonderry 0 0
Newtownards 26.8 2
Newry 45.6 7
Total 41.4 29
Family Care Centre Belfast 36.2 6
Craigavon 78.1 4
Dungannon 0 0
Londonderry 57.2 2
Total 53.7 12
High Court Office of Care & Protection 103.5 13
Total 103.5 13

N.B. Cases disposed will include time spent at the lower court tier.  This table includes all care applications irrespective of the order made.

Appendix 1 - Average time in weeks from lodgement to disposal for Care Cases

  Average time weeks Number of cases
Northern Ireland 59.1 54

N.B. Cases disposed will include time spent at the lower court tier. This table includes all care applications irrespective of the order made.

Appendix 2 - Average time in weeks spent at the court tier in which the case was finally disposed

  Public Law Private Law
Family Proceedings Court Antrim 19 26.3
Armagh 0 16.6
Ballymena 17.3 24.3
Bangor 0 0
Belfast 24 15.6
Coleraine 0 7.6
Craigavon 21.4 18.4
Downpatrick 0 2.8
Dungannon 23.4 15.9
Larne 0 20.6
Limavady 0 0
Lisburn 19.7 17.8
Londonderry 26.9 24.2
Newry 33.9 22.2
Newtownards 11.4 20.6
Omagh 3.9 1.5
Total 21.5 19.1
Family Care Centre Belfast 30.9 28
Craigavon 43.9 32.1
Dungannon 0 57
Londonderry 56.3 21.6
Total 41.2 29.2
High Court Royal Courts of Justice 69.9 19.4
Total 69.9 19.4

Appendix 2 - Average time in weeks spent at the court tier in which the case was finally disposed

  Public Law Private Law
Northern Ireland 31 19.7