Exclusion requirement

When making an interim care order or an emergency protection order, the court has the power (under certain circumstances) to include an exclusion requirement to ensure the child’s safety. For example, the court can require someone it believes to be a danger to the child to be removed (i.e. excluded) from the child’s home.

When a court uses this power, social workers and solicitors may refer to the exclusion requirement as an ‘exclusion order’.

An exclusion requirement can do one of three things. It can:

• Require the named person to leave the child’s home (if they have been living there)
• Exclude the named person from entering the child’s home
• Exclude the named person from entering a defined area around the child’s home.

The court can only use this power if:

• It believes that excluding the named person means the child will no longer suffer or be likely to suffer significant harm, AND
• Another person in the child’s home is able and willing to care for the child safely, and that person agrees with the exclusion requirement.

A power of arrest may be attached to the exclusion requirement. This means that if the person named in the exclusion requirement does not comply with the court’s instructions to stay away from the child’s home, they can be arrested.

The power to make an exclusion requirement is set out in Section 38A of the Children Act 1989 (for an interim care order) and in 44A (for an emergency protection order).