Care orders for children that result in them being taken away from their parents are not made lightly. When a 14-year-old girl was assessed as having ‘a range of complex therapeutic needs’ that made constant supervision and care essential, the decision was made that she should live in care, which her court-appointed guardian claimed effectively amounted to a deprivation of her liberty.

Analysing the regime she was under, the court found that it was essentially no different from that of a girl of the same age living at home and there was no qualitative difference between the supervision she received in the care home and that which a child of similar age and maturity without her disabilities might receive from a watchful parent at home.