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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales Family Court Decisions (other Judges) >> Gloucestershire County Council v M & C (Rev 1) [2015] EWFC B147 (14 September 2015) URL: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWFC/OJ/2015/B147.html Cite as: [2015] EWFC B147 |
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B e f o r e :
Wildblood
QC
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Gloucestershire County Council |
Applicant |
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- and - |
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M |
First Respondent |
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-and- |
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C by his guardian, Mrs Ewart-James. |
Second Respondent |
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Ms Lucy Reed for the mother.
Mr Philip Baggley for the child.
Hearing dates: 14th September 2015.
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Crown Copyright ©
HHJ Wildblood
QC:
i) The unnecessarily protracted use of accommodation of a child under section 20 of The Children Act 1989. This child was accommodated with short term foster carers for 12 months before these inevitable proceedings were issued and has now been with them for about 16 months.
ii) The delayed identification of the need for therapeutic intervention for this mother. 19 months after the Local Authority intervened in a family where the mother had obvious difficulties it was identified that the mother needed therapy. It was then said that, by then, the benefit of therapy was 'outwith the timescales of the child'. If psychological evidence was to be obtained with the invariable recommendation of therapy (and I have never known a psychologist not recommend therapy in a report) I cannot understand why it was not obtained much earlier.
iii) Failure to identify realistic options leading to the adjournment of this final hearing and a consequent inability to meet the timetabling demands of section 32 of The Children Act 1989, as amended.
i) The Local Authority originally filed a care plan that proposed that C should be adopted. However, following the IRH, it has now filed an amended care plan in which it contends that there should be an assessment of no more than three months as to whether Mr D could care for C. The amended plan suggests that, if C cannot live with Mr D then the care plan would revert to adoption. I say immediately that, in three months time this child will be nearly seven years old and I foresee considerable difficulties in any argument that adoption is in his paramount interests given his circumstances (not least as a child who lived with the mother until he was aged 5), his existing family connections (e.g. having frequent contact with the mother and with A) and background.
ii) The mother seeks the return of C to her care. She proposes that there should be further assessment of her ability to care for C but recognises that her first aim should be to maintain the care of the baby that is shortly to be born to her. If she is able to demonstrate that she can care for that baby her position in relation to C will be much stronger, plainly.
iii) The guardian currently argues that a care order should be made on the basis that C should remain with his current carers (Mr and Mrs B) and have contact at least once a month (preferably once a fortnight) with his mother, A and the expected baby. The Local Authority's response was that it would give no commitment to C remaining with his current foster carers if a care order were to be made, even if the court made such an order having expressed the view that he should remain there. Thus, even though the guardian recommends that C should remain with the foster carers, the child expresses a wish to stay there and the foster carers offer to care for him, the Local Authority have not regarded that to date as a realistic option to consider.
i) The guardian says in her position statement for this hearing: 'The court may still consider there should be an assessment of Mr D as soon as possible as an alternative long term placement under a care order. The guardian's view is that this placement should only be considered in the event that the current carers are unable to care for C...The guardian has spoken with Mr D since the IRH and he has said that one of his reasons for not wanting C to remain in care was because he himself had been in care and grew up not seeing his brothers and sisters. The guardian understands that Mr D would wish to be rehoused if C were to live with him.'
ii) Some time after 4th March 2015 Mr D had told the Local Authority that he did not consider that he would be able to care for C as well as A [C193]. In the viability assessment of September 2015 (after the guardian had contacted the Local Authority) the Local Authority stated that Mr D had not thought through his ability to care for C and had made a sudden decision to offer to care for him. Of course, if the guardian's information from the foster carers is right, he was saying that he wished to care for C for some time. It seems very unfortunate indeed that, knowing that A was having regular contact with C, Mr D was not approached again before the Local Authority made its placement application.
i) Having been involved with this mother since August 2013 and having accommodated this child in May 2014 it is inexplicable that it took a year for the Local Authority to issue these proceedings. That has absolutely nothing to do with limited resources. It is simply bad practice.
ii) The Local Authority knew the mother's level of functioning but still took until 9th March 2015 to identify that this mother needed therapy. Knowing the mother's level of functioning why did it take 19 months (from August 2013) to do that? How can it be regarded as satisfactory for the Local Authority now to say that the mother needs therapy which is outwith the timescales of the child? For instance, if a psychologist's report had been obtained within three months of C being accommodated (i.e. in August 2014) there could have been 13 months of therapy by now at far less expense than the cost of these proceedings leading to the possibility that the consequences of this mother's unfortunate background could have been mitigated with the child receiving an upbringing with her.
iii) I regard the placement application as having been inadequately considered (how could the Local Authority have considered the options for this child when the possibility of C remaining with his current carers or living with A had not been clarified?).
i) That C should be rehabilitated to his mother. Of course, nature, law and common sense require that it be recognised that the best place for a child to live is with his natural parent unless proven and proportionate necessity otherwise demands. As matters stand the professional evidence is all stacked up against this mother but her case will require very careful consideration at a final hearing.
ii) That C should continue to be a child fostered by Mr and Mrs B. If the Local Authority will not support this the only way in which C could live with the foster carers would be through private law orders. If special guardianship orders were to be proposed there would need to be a report under s14A(8) of The Children Act 1989. Therefore I need to flush out what the Local Authority is saying. If it will not agree that C should remain with the foster carers (should the court so recommend on the making of a care order and a rejection of the placement application), I will have to give directions for a special guardianship application to proceed (a written application is not necessary if I so determine – s14A(6)(b) of the 1989 Act). The possibility of C remaining with the foster carers is unassessed by the Local Authority and there has not been sufficient discussion with them.
iii) That C should live with Mr D and A. This is also unassessed. There is no blood relationship between Mr D and C but there is a blood relationship between A and C. They have a clear fraternal attachment (in which C is A's big brother). That possibility remains unassessed also.
iv) That C should be placed for adoption. That is an option upon which I have already commented. I am not suggesting that there are difficulties about that option on the basis of age alone. I say that there are difficulties about it because of the particular circumstances of this child.
HHJ Stephen Wildblood QC
14th September 2015.