Care order

(1) The Family Court or a magistrate court may, on the application of the Department or an authorised person, make a care order or an interim care order placing a child in the care of foster parents or an approved children’s home. (2) An application for a care order may only be made, (a) after all possible alternative methods of assisting the child have been tried without success, and the harm from which the child is suffering or is likely to suffer requires his removal from where he is living; 63 (b) the danger to which the child is exposed is so severe as to require his immediate removal from where he is living; (c) where the child has shown anti-social behaviour tendencies, that is to say, he or she has acted in a manner that caused or was likely to cause harm, distress or alarm to the public, and the danger posed by the child to the public is such as to require his or her removal to an approved children’s home; or (d) where the child is living in circumstances characterised by an absence or insufficiency of parental or guardian control, or is not in school and habitually associates with persons of questionable character.