Family time and contact with children in care — rights, reviews and staying a parent
REVIEWED BY: Sean McNamara on 2026-09-01
If your child is looked after by a local authority
When a child is in care (whether under a voluntary "section 20" arrangement or an interim/full care order), the local authority shares or holds parental responsibility — but your relationship with your child does not end. Contact with your child is called family time in modern practice, and the law expects it to continue unless there is a strong reason not to.
The contact order the court makes
When a care order is made, the court normally makes a contact order under section 34 Children Act 1989 setting out the contact the local authority must allow. Key points:
- The local authority can only refuse or suspend court-ordered contact for up to 7 days at a time, and only if the child's welfare requires it; longer refusal needs the court's permission.
- If no contact order exists, the authority decides contact — and you can apply to the court for an order.
- Contact includes direct visits, but also phone calls, video calls and letters.
Review meetings and permanence planning
- Looked After Reviews happen regularly (first within about 20 working days, then at growing intervals). You are invited and entitled to be heard; your views are recorded.
- If the plan becomes adoption, you will be consulted and can respond; ask for the plan in writing and take advice quickly — deadlines for challenging are short.
- Ask about family group conferences and kinship assessments at any stage — a relative placement changes everything and can be raised late but is strongest early.
Getting children back
- Ask for a rehabilitation plan with concrete steps: what must change, what support (residential assessments, drug testing, parenting programmes) is offered.
- A discharge of the care order application is possible once circumstances change significantly — the court will want a realistic care plan for the child living with you.
- Keep contact going: a parent who turns up to every family time session, stays calm and follows advice builds the evidence a discharge application needs.
Practical checklist
1. Get the contact order wording and diarise every session. 2. Arrive on time, sober, prepared; missed sessions are logged against you. 3. Put every dispute with the social worker in writing (email, not just phone). 4. Request your child's review dates at the start and attend all of them. 5. Never sign a section 20 voluntary arrangement without legal advice — legal aid for parents in care proceedings is non-means-tested.
Official links
- https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-act-1989-guidance-and-regulations
- https://www.cafcass.gov.uk/
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1989/41/section/34
This page is general information, not legal advice. YourFamilyCase.co.uk is an independent information directory and is not affiliated with HMCTS or gov.uk.
Content verified against the official HMCTS court directory, gov.uk forms and fees pages, and the professional body registers (SRA, FMC, Bar Council). Last reviewed September 2026.