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Guide for Court Chronologies
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 |