Northern Ireland Court Service Children Order Quarterly Bulletin
October - December 2009 (Provisional Figures)

Summary

Figure 1: Number of Applications received by court tier

Family Proceedings 93%
Family Care Centre 3%
High Court 4%

Court time spent on Children Order business between October and December 2009:
Total time = 1220 hours 31 minutes
Average sitting time = 2 hours 37 minutes

Figure 2: Reasons for Transfer

Public Interest Public Interest Point of Law Urgency Separate Representation for Child Returned to Lower Court Jurisdiction Gravity Convenience Consolidation Complexity
1 1 7 1 2 2 18 13 4 26 87

Table 1a: Applications entered and disposed

Number of applications entered Number of disposals
Private Law Family Proceedings Court 921 776
Family Care Centre 32 72
High Court 37 41
Total 990 889
Public Law Family Proceedings Court 76 92
Family Care Centre 6 21
High Court 3 24
Total 85 137

Private law = residence, contact, specific issues, prohibited steps, parental responsibility, financial contribution, guardianship, family assistance, non-molestation and occupation orders

Table 1b: Applications entered by processing office and disposed by court venue

Public Law Private Law
Number of applications entered Number of disposals Number of applications entered Number of disposals
Family Proceedings Court Antrim 0 1 0 7
Armagh 0 0 0 0
Ballymena 15 4 87 34
Banbridge@Newry 0 0 0 2
Belfast 17 28 256 209
Coleraine 0 2 6 25
Craigavon 6 8 70 69
Dungannon 5 3 55 20
Enniskillen 0 0 1 0
Larne 0 2 2 12
Limavady 0 0 2 1
Lisburn 3 9 106 73
Londonderry 5 2 114 96
Newry 10 7 81 72
Newtownards 15 15 138 123
Omagh 0 11 3 33
Venue total 76 92 921 776
Family Care Centre Antrim 0 0 0 1
Belfast 3 11 11 34
Craigavon 2 10 19 30
Dungannon 0 0 0 0
Londonderry 1 0 2 6
Omagh 0 0 0 1
Venue total 6 21 32 72
High Court Royal Courts of Justice 3 24 37 41
Venue total 3 24 37 41

Private law = residence, contact, specific issues, prohibited steps, parental responsibility, financial contribution, guardianship, family assistance, non-molestation and occupation orders.
Where court venue is missing, disposal defaults to processing office.

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 85 137 990 889

Table 2: Reasons for transfer [1]

Transferred from Complexity Consolidation Convenience Gravity Jurisdiction Returned to Lower Court Separate Representation for Child Urgency Point of Law Public Interest Other Total
Family Proceedings Court Antrim 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Armagh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ballymena 7 5 0 4 3 0 0 0 3 0 0 22
Belfast 12 8 0 3 7 0 2 0 1 0 0 33
Coleraine 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Craigavon 10 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 13
Dungannon 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
Larne 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2
Lisburn 6 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 10
Londonderry 11 1 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 16
Newry 5 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
Newtownards 7 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 14
Omagh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Venue total 60 21 1 13 17 0 2 1 6 1 0 122
Family Care Centre Belfast 20 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 25
Craigavon 6 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
Dungannon 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Londonderry 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Venue total 27 4 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 34
High Court Office of Care and Protection 0 1 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 5
Venue total 0 1 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 5
Northern Ireland Total 87 26 4 13 18 2 2 1 7 1 0 161

[1] Total number of reasons for transfer. There may be more than one reason for each case. There were 156 cases transferred during the period.

Table 3: Total own motion orders

Own motion orders
Parental Responsibility 4
Contact: Permission 196
Contact: Refusal 0
Residence 98
Prohibited Steps 3
Specific Issues 7
Family Assistance 0
Care 40
Supervision 4
Education Supervision 0
Declaration of Parentage 3
Child Assessment 2
Emergency Protection 0
Extension of EPO 0
Recovery 0
Secure Accommodation 0
Article 53 Contract 0
Appointment of Guardian 10
Contribution and other Financial 0
Non-Molestation Order 0
Occupation Articles 0
Article 56 Investigations 0
Exclusion Requirement 0
Ex Parte Application refused 3
Other orders, applications etc 90
Total 460

Table 4: Total interim orders

Interim orders
Parental Responsibility 0
Contact: Permission 2120
Contact: Refusal 0
Residence 426
Prohibited Steps 79
Specific Issues 2
Family Assistance 0
Care 1536
Supervision 73
Education Supervision 0
Child Assessment 0
Emergency Protection 0
Extension of EPO 0
Recovery 0
Secure Accommodation 46
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 4295

Table 5a: Sitting times disposed of by court venue

Total sitting time Average sitting time Total sittings
Family Proceedings Court Antrim 12:15 4:05 3
Ballymena 56:40 3:33 16
Banbridge@Newry 0:05 0:05 1
Bangor 2:10 1:05 2
Belfast 178:30 3:22 53
Coleraine 24:40 3:31 7
Craigavon 39:05 3:15 12
Dungannon 22:20 3:11 7
Larne 11:30 1:17 9
Lisburn 38:25 3:30 11
Londonderry 80:10 3:39 22
Newry 62:05 3:53 16
Newtownards 88:10 2:27 36
Omagh 48:44 4:26 11
Venue total 664:49 3:14 206
Family Care Centre Belfast 209:12 2:33 82
Craigavon 44:31 2:47 16
Dungannon 0:12 0:04 3
Enniskillen 0:25 0:08 3
Londonderry 21:15 0:46 28
Omagh 0:51 0:17 3
Venue total 276:26 2:03 135
High Court Matrimonial 0:00 0:00 0
Office of Care & Protection 279:16 2:15 124
Venue total 279:16 2:15 124

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

Total sitting time Average sitting time Total sittings
Northern Ireland 1220:31 2:37 465

[1] Total sittings include both minority and majority sittings

Table 6: Orders Made

Orders Made Total
By Consent Other
Orders Made ADJOURN GENERALLY 0 11 11
ARTICLE 20 NON-MOLESTATION ORDER 0 4 4
ARTICLE 53 CONTACT WITH A CHILD IN CARE 2 24 26
CARE ORDER 33 37 70
CONTACT ORDER 467 221 688
DECLARATION OF PARENTAGE 10 8 18
DISCHARGING A CARE ORDER 17 2 19
DISMISS ORDER 1 46 47
EDUCATION SUPERVISION ORDER 0 10 10
EMERGENCY PROTECTION ORDER 4 13 17
EMERGENCY PROTECTION ORDER - OUT OF HOURS 0 4 4
EX-PARTE APPLICATION REFUSED 4 31 35
EXTENSION OF AN EMERGENCY PROTECTION ORDER 1 0 1
FAMILY ASSISTANCE ORDER 3 2 5
FINANCIAL PROVISION 0 1 1
LEAVE TO CHANGE SURNAME BY WHICH CHILD IS KNOWN 0 4 4
LEAVE TO WITHDRAW 0 69 69
NON MOLESTATION ORDER 0 5 5
ORDER OF NO ORDER (FINAL ORDER) 21 28 49
ORDER FOR LEAVE OF COURT 0 23 23
ORDER OR DIRECTIONS FINAL 0 1 1
ORDER TERMINATING APPOINTMENT OF GAL 93 33 126
OTHER ORDER 155 117 272
PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY ORDER 68 16 84
PROCEEDINGS DISMISSED ON THE MERITS (FINAL ORDER) 4 15 19
PROCEEDINGS DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE (FINAL ORDER) 8 10 18
PROHIBITED STEPS ORDER 14 30 44
REFUSAL OF ARTICLE 3 CERTIFICATION 0 1 1
RESIDENCE ORDER 299 141 440
SECURE ACCOMMODATION ORDER 2 12 14
SPECIFIC ISSUES ORDER 26 25 51
STRIKE OUT 5 34 39
SUPERVISION ORDER 21 12 33
Total 1258 990 2248

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 0 0 11.3 1
Ballymena 28.1 8 24.7 74
Belfast 24.9 28 23.1 209
Coleraine 12.7 1 15.5 3
Craigavon 32.0 8 28.3 69
Dungannon 29.1 14 21.7 53
Lisburn 37.2 9 17.4 73
Limavady 0 0 0 1
Londonderry 8.2 2 25.6 96
Newry 43.0 7 22.5 74
Newtownards 29.2 15 24.5 123
Total 29.2 92 23.5 776
Family Care Centre Belfast 31.8 11 41.7 34
Craigavon 63.9 10 25.0 31
Dungannon 0 0 26.0 1
Londonderry 0 0 105.5 6
Total 47.1 21 39.6 72
High Court Matrimonial Office 0 0 150 1
Office of Care & Protection 117.9 24 55.1 40
Total 117.9 24 57.4 41

Nb 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 47.5 137 26.4 889

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

Table 8: Age and gender of children

0-4 5-8 9-12 13-16 Total
Male 235 170 171 80 656
Female 235 204 136 85 660
Unknown 3 0 1 0 4
Total 473 374 308 165 1320

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 Ballymena 48.7 1
Belfast 42.3 10
Craigavon 54.0 4
Dungannon 61.7 1
Lisburn 44.3 4
Newtownards 39.2 8
Newry 59.3 5
Total 46.6 33
Family Care Centre Belfast 66.1 4
Craigavon 66.0 9
Total 66.1 13
High Court Office of Care & Protection 85.3 14
Total 85.3 14

Nb 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 59.8 60

Nb 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 0 11.3
Ballymena 28.1 24.4
Belfast 24.9 23.1
Coleraine 12.7 15.5
Craigavon 32.0 28.2
Dungannon 29.1 21.7
Limavady 0 0
Lisburn 37.2 17.4
Londonderry 8.2 25.5
Newry 43.0 22.5
Newtownards 29.2 24.3
Total 29.2 23.4
Family Care Centre Belfast 20.1 25.4
Craigavon 44.9 15.3
Dungannon 0 18.7
Londonderry 0 88.1
Total 31.9 26.2
High Court Matrimonial 0 114.6
Office of Care & Protection 102.2 40.8
Total 102.2 42.6

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

Public Law Private Law
Northern Ireland 42.4 24.5