Child Protection
Our team deals with all aspects of child protection work in relation to hundreds of different children every year. We’re now pioneering new services for clients too.
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As a professional working in child protection, you’ll be familiar with ‘impossible’ situations – those scenarios in which your hands are tied but the need for action remains pressing.
As child protection lawyers we also know them well.
Led by our joint Heads of Group Helen Osborn and Donna Frost, we’ll use our wealth of experience, legal expertise and deep understanding of the child protection landscape to give you options and help you evaluate the route to the best possible outcome.
Meet the team
Areas of expertise
- Adoption
- Wardship
- Child Sexual Exploitation
- Public interest immunity
- Forced Marriage
- Female Genital Mutilation
- Radicalisation
Specialisms
- Advocacy in all Family Courts: Contested hearings, multi-day final hearings, appeals and out of hours applications.
- Private law matters: Section 7 and Section 37 Children Act 1989, reports and special guardianship
- Adoption law: Advice to agency decision-makers, conducting placement order and adoption proceedings, post-adoption work and adoption disruptions. We also delivering regular training to prospective adopters.
- Wardship: Advising on wardship proceedings in the High Court.
- Discrete areas of law: Child sexual exploitation, public interest immunity, forced marriage and fabricated induced illness.
- International childcare cases: including adoption matters
- Care provisions: for older children and young adults
- Deprivation of liberty: For children involving proceedings in the Court of Protection or under the inherent jurisdiction in care proceedings.
- Advocacy: The majority of our advocacy is dealt with in-house, either by case-holding lawyers or our specialist in-house advocates. We also have strong links with chambers recognised as world leaders in child protection law.
- Radicalisation: Pioneering experience in dealing with cases where radicalisation is an issue
Our approach
Greater competence in the legal aspects of your work enables you to spend more time with your clients.
That’s why we believe in a partnership approach and have developed and delivered a major training programme for social workers and other child protection professionals, helping you to understand the court process, improving your ability to draft documentation and give evidence in court.
We also play a key role in implementing a Family Drug and Alcohol Court pilot in Kent and Medway, working with the National FDAC Unit, Tavistock and Portman, the judiciary, HMCTS, CAFCASS, Specialist Children’s Services and other key agencies.
Our joint Heads of Group chair the local Family Justice Board and Performance Improvement Sub-Committee, which in turn fosters close working relationships with CAFCASS and the local judiciary.
We also provide a telephone helpline for our clients; meaning there is always a friendly and expert lawyer to speak to should you need urgent or immediate legal advice.
We believe that the combination of our expert sector knowledge, public service ethos and heritage, our innate understanding of public-sector service provision and our competitive pricing allows us to seamlessly become an extension to your in-house team.
Donna Frost
Joint Head of Child Protection
Donna is proud to work with a team of lawyers and support staff who together with our client departments work incredibly hard to achieve the best outcomes for children
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Helen Osborn
Joint Head of Child Protection
Helen is passionate about child protection and child care matters and insists on making sure the team deals with people in a caring and compassionate way at all times
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“Sarah provides excellent advice, often off the cuff at the end of the phone when urgent matters arise. She is extremely good at explaining the intricacies of planning law in layman’s terms, which is very much appreciated. Sarah is a reliable and conscientious colleague who I do not hesitate to contact for guidance and clarity in often high-pressured situations. She is well respected amongst her peers and colleagues, and officers very much appreciate her knowledge and calming influence.”
Planning & Highways Client
“I am writing in praise of your support. As someone in the firing line of an ultra-aggressive legal team for the first time in my life, this was a traumatic and, at times, upsetting process. You were at my side, dispensing wise and calming counsel throughout. You have been readily available when crises occurred, have been a wonderful listener and, in the end, we reached an outcome that was highly satisfactory for our school and its pupils. I cannot speak highly enough of the way that you handled this case, and I thank you and your firm for the support you gave me. Being a chair of governors, sworn to confidentiality, can be a lonely business! You kept me sane.”
Chair of School Governors
“You’ve been incredibly helpful with this. Thanks for always replying so promptly and for being a star.”
Private Sector Town Planning & Development Consultancy
“The whole team at Invicta Law are really professional, efficient and courteous in their approach to our Development Agreement works. This I find makes my role much easier particularly when this is a specialist subject that I often need to seek their advice with.”
Planning & Highways Client
“The experience has been really top end. Rather than just offering the options, they have given some real solid advice on the best route. It's a good business 'partnering' approach.”
Kent Fire and Rescue Service
“Their employment advice has always proved to be sound. I’ve worked with lots of different lawyers in London boroughs and. I’d also say that Invicta Law is the most solution-focused.”
Kent Fire and Rescue Service
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