Children's right to sue for social workers' negligence

In D & Others v East Berkshire Community Health & Others and JD (FC) v East Berkshire Community Health NHS Trust & Others the English ju diciary held that children wrongly diagnosed as having been abused or mistakenly taken into care can now sue the social workers responsible . Lord Phillips ruled that the House of Lords ruling in 1995 which barred claims against social workers in child abus e cases could not survive the Human Rights Act 1998. In this article I will examine the development of the law in this area and the implications of this recent landmark decision for children who have suffered as a result of local authority negligence and t heir parents.