Guide for Court Chronologies

A chronology provides a court with a dairy of key events. It is an invaluable document in court proceedings and a referral to the Convenor and is often the first read document.

Guide for Court Chronologies

Background

A chronology provides a court with a dairy of key events. It is an invaluable document in court proceedings and a referral to the Convenor and is often the first read document.

It is helpful to attach a chronology to the first statement (together with a genogram if available). If it is necessary to update the chronology, an addendum can be submitted prior to the final hearing or the previous chronology updated.

A chronology prepared for court will differ in layout from the social work chronology. It serves a different purpose and should provide a skeleton of the events which led up to the proceedings and be directed to the issue the court is being asked to determine.

Key Points

A court chronology should be:

(i) Succinct,

(ii) Clearly identify key facts which can be agreed by all parties and

(iii) Unbiased and factual

(iv) Contain no opinion or judgment

(v) Cross reference other evidence or the documents on the social work file

The social work chronology from the file can form the basis of a court chronology but should be edited down to key events. The file chronology will usually contain significant amounts of information that although relevant to social workers practice may not be relevant for the proceedings. Unnecessary detail in court documents can obscure key points.

What to include

Events to be included in the chronology will depend on the circumstances of the case but may include:

family history including marriages, births, deaths and changes in the make-up of the household
the child's changes of address and school
dates of case conferences and child protection registration
key planning meetings
relevant medical examinations
incidents giving rise to concern
child protection investigations
history of children being accommodated voluntarily
history of court applications, hearings and orders

Example

An example extract of a court chronology is set out below:

CHRONOLOGY OF SIGNIFICANT EVENTS

Date

Significant event

Source/Document on file

19/04/07

Whilst staying overnight with her aunt Mrs Kandie, Yasmin made allegations of sexual assault against her stepfather Mr Yendy. Mrs Kandie called the police.

Police Report and Duty Social Workers case recording

20/04/07

Yasmin was jointly interviewed by Detective Sergeant Williams and Social Worker Ms Edwards. During this interview, which was videotaped, Yasmin repeated the allegations.

Achieving Best Evidence interview transcript

20/04/07

Yasmin was jointly examined by paediatrician Dr Sowerby and police surgeon Dr Griffiths at St Mary's Hospital, Churchtown.

Hospital Records and Duty Social Workers case work

Guide for Court Chronologies