BAILII is celebrating 24 years of free online access to the law! Would you consider making a contribution?
No donation is too small. If every visitor before 31 December gives just £5, it will have a significant impact on BAILII's ability to continue providing free access to the law.
Thank you very much for your support!
[Home] [Databases] [World Law] [Multidatabase Search] [Help] [Feedback] | ||
England and Wales High Court (Family Division) Decisions |
||
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Family Division) Decisions >> A London Borough v A & Ors [2012] EWHC 2203 (Fam) (27 July 2012) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Fam/2012/2203.html Cite as: [2012] EWHC 2203 (Fam) |
[New search] [Printable RTF version] [Help]
FAMILY DIVISION
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
||
B e f o r e :
____________________
A London Borough |
Applicant |
|
- and - |
||
Mrs A (1) Mr A (2) C, J and M (3) (children by their Children's Guardian Carmel Shepherd) |
Respondents |
____________________
David Boyd (instructed by Edwards Duthie) for the First Respondent mother
Wendy Frempong (instructed by Charles Allotey & Co) for the Second Respondent father
Giles Bain (instructed by Lawrence and Co) for the Respondent children
Hearing dates: 23-27 July 2012
____________________
Crown Copyright ©
Mr Justice Peter Jackson:
Laura Stephens, the children's social worker
Nkechi Ode, social worker, Moorfield Family Assessment Centre
Dr Eia Asen, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
Carmel Shepherd, Children's Guardian
The children's ages and relevant characteristics
The children's wishes and feelings
The children's needs
Effect of change of circumstances
Harm
Parental capacity
The disadvantages of the care plan
The disadvantages of deferring a decision
Discussion
The mother's actions cannot remotely be compared to the father's, and some understanding and sympathy is due. She has lost a child in tragic circumstances, been separated from her other children, and is now pregnant again. However, by her response to B's death, she has let him and the other children down. She has put her own dependence on the father ahead of the interests of her children. This cannot continue if she is going to parent C, J and the expected child safely without the father's involvement.
She has never even suggested that he might have injured B, instead choosing to marry him and become pregnant by him without even waiting to hear the medical opinions, let alone the court's conclusions. While continually asking others to help her to find out what happened, she has made no meaningful effort to do so herself.
Therapy
Weighing up the children's interests