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England and Wales Family Court Decisions (other Judges) |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales Family Court Decisions (other Judges) >> A Local Authority v H & W [2016] EWFC B56 (11 August 2016) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWFC/OJ/2016/B56.html Cite as: [2016] EWFC B56 |
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IN THE MATTER OF THE CHILDREN ACT 1989
AND THE ADOPTION AND CHILDREN ACT 2002
B e f o r e :
____________________
A LOCAL AUTHORITY | Applicant | |
And | ||
CH | 1st Respondent | |
PW | 2nd Respondent | |
CW, CW And MW (Acting through their Child(ren)'s Guardian) |
3rd Respondent |
____________________
Crown Copyright ©
HHJ CLEARY
"P and C need immediate and intensive teaching and support from social care family support and the local children centre on a daily basis with regular home visits to address identified areas of parenting."
'… Social care would need to consider if C is able to meet the all-round needs of her children, as well as the ability to keep them safe. We have grave concerns that C does not have the ability to do this and this is evident throughout the contents of this report.
C would need a program that is customised to her needs and this would involve intensive support on a regular basis. This support would need to be available to her throughout her children's childhood as she does not in our opinion have the understanding, capacity or knowledge to meet the children's needs.'
And in the case of the father, 6 months later, the assessor found:
'Despite completing the Pam's assessment well, I feel that P will continue to face growing difficulties as the children get older and will require a higher level of support'.
I am concerned about C's well-being because she appears not to be able to understand many instructions or information or learning given to her . She can be hard to understand and has not got a huge vocabulary which hinders her communication with others . This leads to her being frustrated . C seems unaware of how to behave socially with others, she often hits and hurts other children and she often puts her face very close to the other children's faces and then sometimes shouts in their ears . Sometimes C makes random noises on the carpet and screams throughout the day for no apparent reason. She has been unable to make any friendships at school ...
and
... She is significantly below the national average in all areas of learning.
She often has headlice. Her class teacher and teaching assistant has informed both mum and dad about this problem several times but she often comes in with headlice even if it is the day after that they have told the mum or dad about this problem.
'C's well-being appears to vary hugely. On occasion, C will be confident and settle quickly into nursery routines, she will be happy and relaxed and engage with others. On other occasions C will be upset, resistant to coming into nursery and 'stroppy' with mum at the door. Mum says C refuses to walk and so often used to arrive in the pushchair, now she walks or stands on the back of her brother's pushchair since a visit to the doctor when mum was told C is showing behaviour rather than a physical problem with walking.
C will go through phases of toileting confidently with no support whatsoever and then will suddenly begin to have as many as 3 or 4 toilet accidents (wetting and soiling) during one three-hour session, every day, over a period of about a week. This has been explored with mum who is not aware of any links to an explanation or changes at home. However, on the 1st occasion this happened it was noted by her class teacher that it was during the same period that contact with dad changed significantly and on the 2nd occasion it was noted that C had been spending much more time with dad than previously the week before the accidents started. [However] mum said dad had not been around as much during the week she was having a heightened number of accidents.
And most worryingly
C is well below in all areas of learning
[She] consistently has headlice that can be seen without close inspection. We have shared this with mum and dad on several occasions. C has to wear glasses and these have been an issue as mum says C refuses to wear them at home. Her response to the glasses within school is positive and we have no issue with her taking them off at all. Often C will arrive at nursery without her glasses and mum says C has lost them. On the 1st occasion her class teacher highlighted the importance of C wearing her glasses, and suggested mum have a look and bring them to nursery if she found them during the morning, since then, mum has said on each day that C does not have her glasses but she will look for them and bring them in later, which she or dad always do. It has been suggested many times to keep them in a safe place overnight and that C should be wearing them at all other times. This happens on average twice per week'.
C was walking from the age of 16 months, and running since 21 months but was falling frequently and her mother kept her in her pushchair a lot. She was reported to be crawling up the stairs and sliding down on her bottom at 2 years of age.
"Her speech was very limited to about 3 words and will [sic] only use [these] in response to her mother and maternal grandmother. She would follow single commands and did not talk at all at nursery. On balance it was felt that she was making normal but slow developmental progress with significant speech delay.'
'I propose the making of Interim Supervision Order regarding C, C and M at an early stage of proceedings'
'Mother has had care of the children for the duration of their childhoods and there are serious concerns about the children's welfare and presentation which has developed in this time. Repeated parenting assessments completed within these proceedings have highlighted high levels of concerns in relation to the children's experiences and needs and CH's parenting capacity which is at a greater level than was apparent to the assessors and involved professionals [and show] that CH is not able to make changes within her children's timescales.'
The child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding.
'What is required is parenting which is good enough not for some hypothetical average typical or normal child, whatever that means but for the particular child and having regard to that child's needs and requirements. Where the child has needs over and above those of other children of his age then what is good enough for him may well require a greater level of input… That is the point and that is what is relevant… The descriptive label is merely that, a convenient form of professional shorthand.'
'Children of parents with learning difficulties often do not enter the child protection system as the result of abuse by their parents. More regularly the prevailing concerns centre on a perceived risk of neglect, both as the result of the parents intellectual impairments, and the impact of the social and economic deprivation commonly faced by adults with learning difficulties. It is in this context that a shift must be made from the old assumption that adults with learning difficulties could not parent, to a process of questioning why appropriate levels of support are not provided to them so that they can parent successfully and why their children should often be taken into care. At its simplest, this means a court carefully enquiring as to what support is needed to enable parents to show whether or not they can become good enough parents rather than automatically assuming that they are destined to fail.'