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These cases are from the lawindexpro database. They are now being transferred to the swarb.co.uk website in a better form. As a case is published there, an entry here will link to it. The swarb.co.uk site includes many later cases.  














Children - From: 2004 To: 2004

This page lists 86 cases, and was prepared on 20 May 2019.

 
C v FC (Children Proceedings: Costs) [2004] 1 FLR 362
2004
FD
Rex Tedd QC
Children, Costs
Practice in the Family Division has departed from the "costs follow the event" principle in significant respects. The court brought together recent cases on this topic.
1 Citers


 
Re C (Abduction: Interim Directions: Accommodation by Local Authority) [2004] 1 FLR 653
2004
FD
Singer J
Children
The court delivered a judgment settling the extent of the court's power to remove a child subject to an abduction application into Local Authority accommodation as an interim measure.
Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985 5
1 Citers


 
Islington London Borough Council v TM [2004] EWHC 2050 (Fam)
2004
FD

Children, Prisons
The court considered when a ward of court baby was to live with his mother in a prison mother and baby unit.
1 Citers


 
In Re B (Threshold Criteria: Fabricated Illness) [2004] 2 FLR 200
2004
FD
Bracewell J
Children
Bracewell J said that: "Although the medical evidence is of very great importance, it is not the only evidence in the case. Explanations given by carers and the credibility of those involved with the child concerned are of great significance. All the evidence, both medical and non-medical, has to be considered in assessing whether the pieces of the jigsaw form into a clear convincing picture of what happened."
1 Citers


 
Re R (Abduction: Habitual Residence) [2004] 1 FLR 216
2004


Children

1 Citers


 
Re H (2004) [2004] EWHC 1628 (Fam)
2004


Children
After the birth C had been placed with a foster carer with a view to adoption. the authority had had concerns about the mother's ability to care for the child after her treatment of older children. The mother found a more stable relationship, and now sought an assessment, and was supported by the guardian and psychiatrist. The authority agreed that some assessment was necessary, but not a residential assessment. Held: The authority's proposal would further delay the final order against C's interests. The changes in the mother's lifestyle, and the support which would be provided, justified the proposed intensive residential assessment. Without a residential assessment, the court would be deprived of evidence it would need to make the order. The mother's appeal succeeded.
Children Act 1989 38(6)

 
Pini and others v Romania (2004) 40 EHRR 312
2004
ECHR

Human Rights, Children

1 Citers


 
In re G (a Child) (Interim Care order: Residential assessment) Times, 29 January 2004; Gazette, 04 March 2004; [2004] 1 FLR 876; [2004] EWCA Civ 24
27 Jan 2004
CA
Elizabeth Butler-Sloss President, Thorpe, Latham LJJ
Children, Human Rights
An elder child had died, and the local authority felt unable to exculpate either the father or the mother. On the birth of this child all three had been brought in for a residential assessment. First one then another extension was sought. The court found that this service had become therapeutic rather than for assessment, and said it had no standing to order and extension. The authority amended its care plan for the child to live with the grandparents. Held: The correct approach was rather as in In re C, not In re M. "The essential question should always be, can what is sought be broadly classified as an assessment to enable the court to obtain the information necessary for its own decision?" The judge did have standing to extend the assessment. It was still directed to providing the court with material on which it might make a decision. In this case the psychotherapeutic involvement was an essential part of the assessment. The authority had not substantiated its claims as to lack of funding, and had given the family no opportunity to challenge its decision.
Children Act 1989 38(6) - Human Rights Act 1998
1 Cites

1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
S (A Child), Re [2004] EWCA Civ 18; [2004] 1 FCR 439,
28 Jan 2004
CA

Children
"The courts recognise the critical importance of the role of both parents in the lives of their children. The courts are not anti-father and pro-mother or vice versa. The court's task, imposed by Parliament in section 1 of the Children Act 1989 in every case is to treat the welfare of the child or children concerned as paramount, and to safeguard and promote the welfare of every child to the best of its ability. Unless there are cogent reasons against it, the children of separated parents are entitled to know and have the love and society of both their parents. In particular, the courts recognise the vital importance of the role of non-resident fathers in the lives of their children, and only make orders terminating contact when there is no alternative."
Children Act 1989 1
1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
W and Another v Vale of Glamorgan Council and others [2004] EWHC 116 (Fam)
30 Jan 2004
FD
Hedley J
Children

[ Bailii ]
 
In re V (a Child) (Care proceedings: Human Rights Claims) Times, 17 February 2004; Gazette, 18 March 2004; [2004] EWCA Civ 54; [2004] 1 WLR 1433
4 Feb 2004
CA
Tuckey, Ward LJJ
Human Rights, Children
In a hearing where the threshold standard was at issue, a party challenged the compliance with Human Rights law of the 1989 Act. The court adjourned the case for transfer to the High Court. Held: The correct court to hear such suggestions was the court seized of the case, and it should not be transferred. A transfer must bring additional delay. The court had to balance the need to respect family life and the rights of the child. The result had to be proportionate and best in the interests of the child.
Children Act 1989 41
1 Cites

1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
AM (A Minor), Re Application for Judicial Review [2004] NIQB 6
4 Feb 2004
QBNI

Children

[ Bailii ]
 
Re V (A Child) [2004] EWCA Civ 54
4 Feb 2004
CA
Lord Justice Tuckey Lord Justice Wall
Children

[ Bailii ]
 
A Father (Mr A) v A Mother (Mrs A); Their Two Children (B And C) [2004] EWHC 142 (Fam)
4 Feb 2004
FD
Mr Justice Wall
Children
After a divorce, the father sought a joint residence order for the two young children. The mother alleged sexually inappropriate behaviour by the father. The court found this allegation clearly untrue. The dispute was bitter and protracted.
1 Cites

1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
Kosmopoulou v Greece 60457/00; [2004] 1 FCR 427; [2004] ECHR 58
5 Feb 2004
ECHR

Children, Human Rights
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 8 ; Non-pecuniary damage - financial award ; Costs and expenses partial award - domestic proceedings ; Costs and expenses partial award - Convention proceedings
"the mutual enjoyment by parent and child of each other's company constitutes a fundamental element of family life, even if the relationship between the parents has broken down, and domestic measures hindering such enjoyment amount to an interference with the right protected by Article 8 of the Convention." and "In examining whether the non-enforcement of the access arrangements amounted to a lack of respect for the applicant's family life the Court must strike a balance between the various interests involved, namely the interests of the applicant's daughter, those of the applicant herself and the general interest in ensuring respect for the rule of law."
European Convention on Human Rights 8
1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council v K and others [2004] EWHC 191 (Fam)
10 Feb 2004
FD
Sumner J
Children

[ Bailii ]

 
 Regina (Smith) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; and similar; CA 11-Feb-2004 - [2004] EWCA Civ 99; Times, 18 February 2004; Gazette, 11 March 2004; [2004] QB 1341
 
I I for an Order Under the Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985
13 Feb 2004
OHCS
Lord Menzies
Scotland, Children

Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985
[ ScotC ]
 
CC (Return, Minor, Roma) Romania CG [2003] UKIAT 00212
16 Mar 2004
IAT

Children, Immigration

[ Bailii ]
 
Kent County Council v The Mother, The Father, B (By Her Children's Guardian); Re B (A Child) (Disclosure) [2004] EWHC 411 (Fam); [2004] 2 FLR 142; [2004] EWHC Fam 411; [2004] Lloyds Rep Med 303
19 Mar 2004
FD
Mr Justice Munby
Children, Media
The council had taken the applicant's children into care alleging that the mother had harmed them. In the light of the subsequent cases casting doubt on such findings, the mother sought the return of her children. She applied now that the hearings be in public. Held: The applicant and her solicitors had already made significant disclosures and had been very much less than candid with the court about what they had done. The starting point was that proceedings about children should be in private. Parents dissatisfied with court proceedings must be able to voice their doubts, and courts are not immune to significant error. Papers should be disclosed to the GMC subject to safeguards. The court identified which elements of children's cases were disclosable without the consent of the court. It was wrong to await an appeal hearing before conducting the delicate balancing exercise on disclosure. Orders were made rstricting publication of some elemments and consenting to others. "section 12 of the 1960 Act applies equally whether the dissemination of information or documents is to a journalist or to a Member of Parliament, a Minister of the Crown, a Law Officer, or any other public body or public official, that the Minister of State for Children is not a child protection professional, and that disclosure to the Minister of State cannot therefore be justified on the footing of the exception to the general principle recognised in In re M. Put shortly, a government department has no right to see a family court file and needs leave from a judge to do so. "
Munby said: "I need to emphasise that there is a 'publication' for [the] purpose [of AJA 1960 section 12] whether the dissemination of information or documents is to a journalist, a Minister of the Crown, a Law Officer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Crown Prosecution Service, the police (except when exercising child protection functions), the GMC, or any other public body or public official.' The law and practice of the family courts is a matter in which the public has a genuine and proper interest: "The workings of the family justice system and, very importantly, the views about the system of…(those)…caught up in it are … matters of public interest which can and should be discussed publicly.
We cannot afford to proceed on the blinkered assumption that there have been no miscarriages of justice in the family justice system. This is something that has to be addressed with honesty and candour if the family justice system is not to suffer further loss of public confidence. Open and public debate in the media is essential."
Family Proceedings Rules 1991 4.16(7) - Administration of Justice Act 1960 12 - Children Act 1989 97(2)
1 Cites

1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
F v M [2004] EWHC 727 (Fam)
1 Apr 2004
FD
Munby J
Children
The court considered the 'ongoing debate' about the court's role in contact disputes. "this case illustrates all too uncomfortably the failings of the system. There is much wrong with our system and the time has come for us to recognise that fact and to face up to it honestly. If we do not we risk forfeiting public confidence. " The father in this case had behaved unwisely but the blame overwhelmingly lay with the mother who had set her mind against contact." The court gave guidnace on how courts should approach the management of such cases in future.
1 Cites

[ Bailii ] - [ Bailii ] - [ Bailii ]

 
 In re J (a child) (Child returned abroad: Convention Rights, Human Rights); CA 2-Apr-2004 - [2004] EWCA Civ 417; Times, 14 April 2004; [2004] 2 FLR 85
 
Representation of Children in Family Proceedings pursuant to FPR 1991 rule 9.5 [2004] 1 FLR 1188
5 Apr 2004


Children
Guidance was given including the following: "A litigant in person wishing to have the help of a McKenzie Friend should be allowed to do so unless the judge is satisfied that fairness and the interests of justice do not so require. The presumption in favour of permitting a McKenzie Friend is a strong one . . The court may refuse to allow a McKenzie Friend to act or continue to act in that capacity where the judge forms the view that the assistance he has given, or may give, impedes the efficient administration of justice. However, the court should also consider whether a firm an unequivocal warning to the litigant and / or the McKenzie Friend might suffice in the first instance. "
Family Proceedings Rules 1991 9.5
1 Citers


 
In re J (Children) (Child abduction: Child appellant) Times, 12 April 2004
5 Apr 2004
CA
Wall LJ, Gage J
Children
A child appealed an order for him to be returned to Croatia to be with his father. The mother had returned to England believing this to be her home. Held: In such cases where the court might make an order under the 1989 Act for residence with the mother, all the information necessary to such a determination should be before the court. In the unusual circumstances of the child himself appealing, he should have had separate legal representation.
Hague Convention on International Child Abduction A13 - Child Abduction and Custody act 1985

 
PBW v AGL Or WHW for an Order Under the Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985
6 Apr 2004
OHCS
Lord Hardie
Scotland, Children

Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985
[ ScotC ]
 
Regina, ex parte O v The London Borough of Haringey, The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2004] EWCA Civ 535; Times, 27 May 2004; [2004] 2 FNR 476
4 May 2004
CA
Lord Justice Rix, LCJ, Lord Justice Carnwath
Immigration, Benefits, Children
The court considered the duties of local authorities to support infirm asylum seekers with children. Held: The authority had an obligation to support the adult, but the responsibility for the children fell on the National Asylum Support Service.
National Assistance Act 1948 21 - Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
1 Cites

1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
In re S (Children) [2004] EWCA Civ 597
5 May 2004
CA

Children

[ Bailii ]
 
In re S (Children: Unco-operative mothers) Times, 28 May 2004
5 May 2004
CA
Thorpe LJ, Bennett J
Children
The father applying for contact had had very little contact with his children for seven years. Held: In a case involving persistent opposition by a mother to co-operation with a court in allowing contact, the case should be transferred to the High Court. Where a mother failed to co-operate with family therapy, it may lead to adverse inferences against her in the proceedings.

 
CD (A Minor) v O [2004] EWHC Ch 1036
11 May 2004
ChD
The Hon Mr Justice Lloyd
Trusts, Children

[ Bailii ]
 
In re LU (A Child); In re LB (A Child) (Serious Injury: Standard of Proof); re U (A Child) (Department for Education and Skills intervening) [2004] EWCA Civ 567; Times, 27 May 2004; Gazette, 03 June 2004; [2005] Fam 134; [2004] Fam Law 565; [2004] 2 FCR 257; [2004] 3 WLR 753; [2004] 2 FLR 263
14 May 2004
CA
Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss P, Lord Justice Thorpe, And Lord Justice Mantell
Children, Evidence
In each case, the other parent appealed care orders where she had been found to have injured her children. In each case the sole evidence was the injury to the child's health and expert medical evidence. The cases were referred following the Cannings case. Held: The appeals failed. It was wrong to diminish the difference in standards of proof between civil and criminal cases. "The standard of proof to be applied in Children Act cases is the balance of probabilities and the approach to these difficult cases was laid down by Lord Nicholls in his speech in re H. "There were significant differences between care and criminal cases: more evidence would be admitted, and the proceedings were inquisitorial rather than adversarial. "it by no means follows that an acquittal on a criminal charge or a successful appeal would lead to the absolution of the parent or carer in family or civil proceedings."
The court urged caution on those asked to find abuse: "(i) The cause of an injury or an episode that cannot be explained scientifically remains equivocal;
(ii) Recurrence is not in itself probative;
(iii) Particular caution is necessary in any case where the medical experts disagree, one opinion declining to exclude a reasonable possibility of natural cause;
(iv) The court must always be on guard against the over-dogmatic expert, the expert whose reputation or amour propre is at stake, or the expert who has developed a scientific prejudice;
(v) The judge in care proceedings must never forget that today's medical certainty may be discarded by the next generation of experts or that scientific research will throw light into corners that are at present dark."
1 Cites

1 Citers

[ Bailii ]

 
 In In Re T (Abuse: Standard of Proof); CA 19-May-2004 - [2004] EWCA Civ 558; [2004] 2 FLR 838; [2004] Fam Law 709

 
 V v V (Children) (Contact: Implacable Hostility); FD 20-May-2004 - Times, 28 May 2004
 
Re a Minor [2004] EW Mis 2
21 May 2004
CC
Barham J
Children
(Norfolk County Court)
1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
G (A Child), Re [2004] EWCA Civ 821
25 May 2004
CA

Children
A child subject to a residence order became subject to a life threatening condition. The mother applied for an order that the father should not be told.
[ Bailii ]
 
Morris, Regina (on the Application Of) v Westminster City Council, [2004] EWHC 1199 (Admin)
26 May 2004
Admn
Keith J
Housing, Immigration, Children

1 Cites

1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
A Local Authority v S and W and T By her Guardian [2004] EWHC 1270 (Fam)
27 May 2004
FD
Mr Justice Hedley
Children
A child had died. The father was accused and acquitted of murder by way of shaken baby syndrome. The local authority persisted with an application for care orders for the other children. Held: "I do not claim to have divined truth. I have reached conclusions based on what I believe to have been proved to the requisite standard by the evidence. I have done so with the perspective of the surviving child uppermost in my mind. I do not mean that my conclusions of fact have been influenced by any consideration of her welfare (that consideration is for the future); what I mean is that the purpose of this hearing has not been to try either the mother or W but to determine whether facts exist to justify state intervention in the life of T and also the factual matrix within which the welfare inquiry is now to be undertaken. " The case was made out and the order confirmed.
Children Act 1989 31(2)
1 Cites

1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
Re C (Abduction: Settlement) [2004] EWHC 1245 (Fam); [2005] 1 FLR 127
28 May 2004
FD
Singer J
Children
The mother had unlawfully and against the father's wishes, brought the child to the UK from the US. She hid their identity and whereabouts for a year, and resisted the father's request for his return to the US, saying the child was settled here. Held: The court rejected the orthodoxy that the phrase "the child is now settled in its new environment" imports far more than mere ostensible physical settlement, and also that a judicial finding of settlement only opens the gate to the exercise of a judicial discretion to order or refuse the child's return to the jurisdiction from which it had been abducted.
A finding that the child was settled precluded the judge from ordering a return. where the second paragraph of article 12 applies, a finding that the children are now settled in their new environment takes the case outside the Hague Convention altogether.
Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985 5
1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
B v B (Residence: Imposition of conditions) [2004] EWCA Civ 681; Times, 07 July 2004
28 May 2004
CA
Lady Justice Arden DBE and Lord Justice Wall
Jurisdiction, Children
The court was asked whether it had jurisdiction to hear applications with regard to a child removed from Scotland. The father lived in Scotland, and the mother and child in England. The child had been habitually resident in Scotland and removed to England without the father's consent. The father sought transfer of the proceedings to Scotland. Held: The county court had not had jurisdiction. However the child had lived for more than a year in England before the mother began proceedings. All the section did was to deem a child to be resident in the country from which he had been taken for a period of one year. It was wrong to suggest that the proceedings once tainted with unlawfulness must continue to be so. The father's appeal was rejected.
Family Law Act 1996 - Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985
1 Cites

[ Bailii ]
 
W v W [2004] EWHC 1247 (Fam)
28 May 2004
FD

Children

Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985
[ Bailii ]
 
B (Children), Re [2004] EWCA Civ 956
1 Jul 2004
CA

Children

[ Bailii ]
 
Taylor (A Child Proceeding By his Mother and Litigation Friend C M Taylor) v Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police [2004] EWCA Civ 858; Times, 13 July 2004; [2004] 3 All ER 503; [2004] 1 WLR 3155
6 Jul 2004
CA
Lord Justice Clarke Lord Justice Sedley Vice-Chancellor, The Vice-Chancellor
Police, Torts - Other, Children
The Chief Constable appealed aganst a finding that his officers had wrongfully arrested and imprisoned the claimant. The claimant was 10 years old when arrested, and complained that the officers had not properly advised him of the nature and purpose of the arrest. Held: "The question is thus whether, having regard to all the circumstances of the particular case, the person arrested was told in simple, non-technical language that he could understand, the essential legal and factual grounds for his arrest." The cases are fact sensitive. The claimant was told he was being arrested for a violent disorder on an identified previous occasion. To ask the officer to go further would invite even more doubt. As to the period of detention, the judge was entitled to find on the evidence that the delay in interview had been unreasonable.
1 Cites

1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
Regina on the Application of Keating v Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council [2004] EWHC 1933 (Admin)
22 Jul 2004
QBD
Mr Justice Harrison
Magistrates, Children
Refusal of magistrates to make order prohibiting disclosure of child's name on application for anti-social behaviour order.
Children and Young Persons Act 1933 39 - Crime and Disorder Act 1998 1D
[ Bailii ]
 
M (A Child), Regina (on the Application of) v Sheffield Magistrates' Court and Another [2004] EWHC 1830 (Admin); Times, 30 August 2004
27 Jul 2004
Admn

Local Government, Children, Crime
The local authority applied for and obtained an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) in respect of a child in their care. The boy sought judicial review. Held: There was a real potential conflict of interest on the part of the authority. On the one hand it had a duty to promote his welfare, and on the other it was the relevant authority to make an application under the 1998 Act. The position was not easily resolved. The authority could do its best to make sure that the child had independent protection of his interests by the obtaining of appropriate written reports.
Crime and Disorder Act 1998 1 - Children Act 1989 22(4)
[ Bailii ]
 
In re P (A Child) (Abduction: Consent); (Abduction: Custody Rights) Times, 19 August 2004; [2005] Fam 293
28 Jul 2004
CA
Ward, Scott Baker LJJ, Lawrence Collins J
Children
The father sought the return to the USA of his daughter, brought here by her mother. The father had custody, but the mother said he had consented to the child being brought here. Held: The issue of consent did not affect the question of the unlawfulness of the original abduction, but was relevant only when the judge came ask whether he should exercise his discretion. Article 13 should take its place as the exception to the general duty to return a child. Article 3 governed the entire Convention. The rights given by the New York courts were the ones which governed the question of what rights existed. The court was abundantly satisfied that C v C and the subsequent decisions in England to the same effect were right.
Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 12 13
1 Cites

1 Citers


 
In re P (A Child) [2004] EWCA Civ 971
28 Jul 2004
CA

Children

[ Bailii ]
 
London Borough of E v J and Another [2004] EWHC 2256 (Fam)
28 Jul 2004
FD

Children

[ Bailii ]
 
T v T [2004] EWHC 1885 (Fam)
30 Jul 2004
FD

Children
Application by father for permission to take son to USA for Easter.
[ Bailii ]
 
Twomey, Regina (on the Application of) v Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council [2004] EWHC 1998 (Admin)
12 Aug 2004
Admn
Stanlet Burnton J
Children, Local Government
The court considered the continuing support to be given as the child with special needs became an adult.
Children Act 1989 17(1)
[ Bailii ]
 
AJ for Declarator Under the Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985 [2004] ScotCS 203
13 Aug 2004
OHCS
Lady Paton
Scotland, Children

Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985
[ ScotC ] - [ Bailii ]

 
 X Council v B (Emergency Protection Orders); FD 16-Aug-2004 - [2005] 1 FLR 341; [2004] EWHC 2015 (Fam)
 
In re J (Children) [2004] EWCA Civ 1188
19 Aug 2004
CA

Children

[ Bailii ]
 
Re G (Children) [2004] EWCA Civ 1187
20 Aug 2004
CA

Children

[ Bailii ]
 
B v O [2004] EWHC 2064 (Fam)
26 Aug 2004
FD

Children

[ Bailii ]
 
In re K (Children) (Non-accidental injuries: Perpetrator: New Evidence) [2004] EWCA Civ 1181; [2005] 1 FLR 285
27 Aug 2004
CA
Lord Justice Neuberge, Lord Justice Wall
Children
The children had been taken into care, and freed for adoption. The mother appealed saying the blame for non-accidental injury was misplaced. The court had not thought her responsible for the non-accidental injuries, but she had been unwilling to separate from the assumed perpetrator. Held: The mother had now taken the step of breaking free. The substantial public interest in identifying the true causers of child abuse required the admission of the evidence, and children should also have the truth available to them. On the facts justice required the question of perpetration to be re-visited. The final outcome remained at large.
"It is paradigmatic of such cases that the perpetrator denies responsibility and that those close to or emotionally engaged with the perpetrator likewise deny any knowledge of how the injuries occurred. Any process, which encourages or facilitates frankness, is, accordingly, in our view, to be welcomed in principle."
Children Act 1989 31(2)
1 Cites

1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
H v H [2004] EWHC 2111 (Fam)
10 Sep 2004
FD

Children

Hague Convention
[ Bailii ]
 
P, Regina (on the Application Of) v London Borough of Newham [2004] EWHC 2210 (Admin)
14 Sep 2004
Admn

Local Government, Children

Children Act 1989 Sch 2
[ Bailii ]
 
C, Regina (on the Application of) v London Borough of Enfield [2004] EWHC 2297 (Admin)
30 Sep 2004
Admn

Children

Children Act 1989 105(1)
[ Bailii ]
 
L-P, Re an Application By [2004] NICA 35
30 Sep 2004
CANI
Kerr LCJ, Campbell LJ and Sheil LJ
Northern Ireland, Children, Adoption
Appeal by adoptive parents against order for contact between natural grandparents
[ Bailii ]

 
 Portsmouth NHS Trust v Wyatt and others; FD 7-Oct-2004 - [2004] EWHC 2247 (Fam); [2005] 1 FLR 21; [2004] Fam Law 866; (2005) 84 BMLR 206
 
N (A Minor), Re an Application for Judicial Review [2004] NIQB 65
7 Oct 2004
QBNI

Children

[ Bailii ]
 
In re V (a Child) (Care: pre-birth actions) Times, 01 December 2004; [2005] 1 FLR 627; [2004] EWCA Civ 1575
12 Oct 2004
CA
Thorpe LJ, Wall LJ, Holman J
Children, Human Rights
Immediately after a child was born, the social worker began proceedings for it to be taken into care. The judge severely criticised the actions of the social worker before the birth. The local authority now appealed against an order at the conclusion of care proceedings that they should pay each parent damages in the sum of £100 for having infringed their rights under Article 6. Held: Actions of the social worker before the birth were not to be taken into account when considering the appropriateness of an action for damages for an infringement of its human rights to family life after the birth. The court should be careful to review the proceedings as a whole, but criticisms of the actions of the local authority before the birth could not amount to unfairness in the proceedings as a whole.
Thorpe LJ: "It seems to me almost self-evident that the order which [counsel for the local authority] challenges is unprincipled, but we have heard full submissions from him to enable us to deliver a judgment to discourage repetition of such an outcome in other cases. We have also heard from [counsel] for the guardian, who warns us that as a consequence in part of the case of Re L … long trials of alleged breaches of Arts 6 and 8 rights are beginning to encumber local authority applications for care orders, with consequential delay and expense that ultimately proves wasted."
Wall LJ: "The mischief identified by the case … lies in the fact that the judge has isolated a sentence in the judgment of a judge of the Family Division dealing with issues of good practice, and has elevated an alleged failure by the local authority to comply with the practice identified in that sentence into a breach of the parents' Art 6 rights . . . [judges] should be acute to identify and weed out barren arguments under the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention which do not relate either to the identification of the threshold criteria under s.31 of the Act or the ultimate welfare disposal of issues in the case."
European Convention on Human Rights 6
1 Cites

1 Citers


 
Re V (A Child) [2004] EWCA Civ 1575; [2006] 2 FCR 121; [2005] 1 FLR 627; [2005] Fam Law 201; [2005] UKHRR 144
12 Oct 2004
CA
Thorpe, Wall, LJJ, Holman J
Children, Human Rights
The local authority had succeeded in its application for a freeing order, but the judge had also found that it had infringed the parents human riights by the way it had acted toward them before the birth of V, and had awarded sums of damages for that breach. The authority appealed against that finding. Held: The order was indeed extraordinary. The appeal was allowed.
[ Bailii ]
 
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council v S and Another Times, 18 November 2004; [2005] 1 FLR 751
18 Oct 2004
FD
Bodey J
Children
An expert's report was required for the purposes of care proceedings. The court ordered that the cost be paid as to half by the local authority, where there were three other parties. The authority appealed. Held: The authority's appeal was allowed. The proportionate basis, where the cost was divided equally between the four parties was to be preferred. The other three parties had the benefit of legal aid. There was no statutory guidance, but the following points arose: The court should seek a fair apportionment; the court should allow for whether the report was to go purely to satisfaction of the threshold condition; whether the expert was a treating expert rather than merely a forensic expert; and the fact that a party was publicly funded should not lead to a different position.
Children Act 1989 38(9)
1 Cites

1 Citers


 
Cannon v Cannon [2004] EWCA Civ 1330; Times, 28 October 2004; [2005] 1 FLR 169; [2005] 1 WLR 32
19 Oct 2004
CA
Thorpe LJ
Children, International
The mother had brought the child to the UK wrongfully. She had hidden their identity for more than a year. Upon discovering her, the father came to England and began proceedings for the child's return to the US. Held: Because the child's identity had been hidden, that period could not be counted as settled existence under the Act. The section must be given a broad and purposive construction. Despite the passing of the year, the court retained its discretion to order the return of the child to the US. In exercising its discretion, each case was dependent upon its own facts. "Concealment or subterfuge in themselves have many guises and degrees of turpitude. Abduction is itself a wrongful act, in that it breaches rights of custody, but the degree of wrong will vary from case to case. Furthermore abduction may also be a criminal offence in the jurisdiction where it occurred. The abductor may have been prosecuted, convicted, and even sentenced in absentia. There may be an international arrest warrant passed to Interpol to execute either in respect of a conviction and sentence. The abductor may have entered the jurisdiction of flight without right of entry or special leave. The abductor may therefore be, or may rapidly become, an illegal immigrant. " and "The fugitive from justice is always alert for any sign that the pursuers are closing in and equally in a state of mental and physical readiness to move on before the approaching arrest. " Such a period should not count.
Thorpe LJ said: "For the exercise of a discretion under the Hague Convention requires the court to have due regard to the [overriding] objectives of the Convention whilst acknowledging the importance of the child's welfare (particularly in a case where the court has found settlement), whereas the consideration of the welfare of the child is paramount if the discretion is exercised in the context of our domestic law."
Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985
1 Cites

1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
Re WK (A Child) [2004] NIQB 76
27 Oct 2004
QBNI

Children

[ Bailii ]
 
S v S for an Order Under the Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985
27 Oct 2004
OHCS
Lord Kingarth
Scotland, Children

Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985
[ ScotC ]

 
 In re S (a Child) (Identification: Restrictions on Publication); HL 28-Oct-2004 - [2004] UKHL 47; Times, 29 October 2004; [2005] 1 FLR 591; [2005] 1 AC 593; 17 BHRC 646; [2004] 4 All ER 683; [2005] Crim LR 310; [2004] 3 FCR 407; [2005] HRLR 5; [2004] 3 WLR 1129; [2005] EMLR 11; [2005] UKHRR 129; [2005] EMLR 2
 
Re L (a child) (Medical Treatment: Benefit) [2004] EWHC 2713 (Fam); [2005] 1 FLR 491
1 Nov 2004
FD
Dame Elizabeth Butler Sloss
Children, Health
(Date)
1 Cites

1 Citers


 
In re Auld (Child: Temporary removal from Jurisdiction) Times, 10 November 2004
4 Nov 2004
CA
Thorpe LJ, Wall LJ, Black LJ
Children
The applicant wanted to go to South Africa to study, taking her child with her. The course would last for two years. Held: The jurisprudence on removing children abroad had to be applied differently when the removal was temporary. Some considerations would not be relevant, and the test would not be as high. The court had to be practical and balance the various interests.
1 Cites


 
W v A [2004] EWCA Civ 1587
4 Nov 2004
CA

Children

1 Cites

[ Bailii ]
 
T (A Child), Re [2004] EWCA Civ 1667
5 Nov 2004
CA
Black J
Children

[ Bailii ]
 
C1 and Another (Minors), Re [2004] NIFam 12
9 Nov 2004
FDNI

Northern Ireland, Children

[ Bailii ]
 
In re S (a child) (Financial Provision) Times, 15 November 2004
9 Nov 2004
CA
Thorpe LJ, Wall LJ, Black J
Children
The child's mother sought financial assistance to travel to Sudan to visit her child who was being unlawfully restrained there by the father, and to seek his return. Held: The 1989 Act gave the court power to make an order for the benefit of the child. That provision was to be read widely, and the court had power to make such provision, and it was ordered.
Children Act 1989 Sch1 p14

 
S (A Child), Re [2004] EWCA Civ 1685
9 Nov 2004
CA

Children

[ Bailii ]
 
Emma R v Edward R [2004] EWHC 2572 (Fam)
10 Nov 2004
FD
Baron J
Children
Mother's application for residence order allowing the children to live with her in Paris.
1 Cites

[ Bailii ]
 
Petition of M for an Order Under the Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985
11 Nov 2004
OHCS
Lady Smith
Scotland, Children

Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985
[ ScotC ]

 
 In re W (a Child) (Care proceedings: Leave to apply); FD 11-Nov-2004 - Times, 22 November 2004
 
The London Borough of Haringey and E, E v 'C' (A Child, By her Children's Guardian) [2004] EWHC 2580 (Fam)
12 Nov 2004
FD
The Honourable Mr Justice Ryder
Children


 
London Borough of Haringey v E [2004] EWHC 2580 (Fam)
12 Nov 2004
FD

Children
The parents were led to believe that C was their child, but the authority asserted the child had been subject to a child trafficking system.
Children Act 1989
[ Bailii ]
 
Re J and Others [2004] NIFam 13
17 Nov 2004
FDNI

Children
Care orders: concurrent criminal and family proceedings: burden of proof.
[ Bailii ]
 
Norfolk County Council v Webster [2004] EW Mis 1
24 Nov 2004
CC
Narham J
Children
(Norwich County Court)
1 Cites

1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
Hampshire County Council v SL and others [2004] EWHC 2720 (Fam)
25 Nov 2004
FD

Children, Local Government
Care plan
[ Bailii ]
 
In re S (a Child) (Contact dispute: Committal) Times, 09 December 2004
1 Dec 2004
CA
Thorpe, Arden, Neuberger LJJ
Children, Contempt of Court
The mother of a child had persistently refused to comply with an order to give contact with her child to the father. She had been committed for contempt, and appealed. Held: The circumstances left the court with no other choice than to impose the suspended committal order. The order gave the mother another opportunity to demonstrate her intention to comply with the order.

 
S (A Child), Re [2004] EWCA Civ 1790
1 Dec 2004
CA

Children

[ Bailii ]
 
London Borough of Lambeth v Grant [2004] EWCA Civ 1711; Times, 05 January 2005
16 Dec 2004
CA
Lord Justice Kennedy Lord Justice Chadwick
Housing, Children, Immigration, Human Rights
The applicant was an overstaying immigrant, and was to be returned to Jamaica. She had three children, the youngest of whom had been born in England. The council sought to pay the fares to return to Jamaica for the whole family rather than to have to pay the costs of housing for them. Held: The appeal succeeded. It was imoportant to remember that the applicant and her family were here illegally, and had no right to support. The applicant could not create such a right by making an application to remain. The power to promote the family's well being included the power to provide the fares.
European Convention on Human Rights 8 - Local Government Act 2000 2
1 Cites

[ Bailii ]
 
J (A Child), Re [2004] EWCA Civ 1849
16 Dec 2004
CA

Children

[ Bailii ]
 
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