Application for special guardianship — jurisdiction to appoint special guardians — application to appoint additional guardians — whether additional guardianship order can be varied appointing special guardians — Children Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989, ss 83, 110, 113A, 113 B, 114, 125, 126, 127 & 128. The applications sought an order appointing them as additional guardians, and for that order to be varied to name them as special guardians. The court was faced with two distinct questions being: 1. whether there is power in s 110 (4) to make a special guardianship order; and 2. whether the term guardianship in s 83 can be read to include "special guardianship". The court found that there was no such power in s 110, and that the power resided in s 113A. The court further found that "guardianship" and "special guardianship" were distinctly separate legal tools, and that "special guardianship" does not naturally fit within s 83. The court noted that the concepts of guardianship and special guardianship have different empowering provisions with different checks and balances, and that to define them as the same concept would go against the interpretative tools provided within the Act. The court found that there was no jurisdictional basis to make the special guardianship order that was sought by the applicants. Judgment Date: 8 September 2017. * * * Note: Names have been changed to comply with legal requirements * * *