Category: Children

Re A (a Minor): CA 31 Jul 1997

After a family break up there had been continued litigation, and a refusal to comply with court orders by the mother. Eventually, the contact between mother an children all but broke down. There were three children. As the two elder children in turn reached majority, they went back to live with their mother, but allegations were made against and not denied by the mother. An order had been made for the mother not to make further applications. On a further application having been made, and failing, the judge having imposed on her a burden of proof, he awarded costs against her. The mother appealed saying that she should not have been asked to meet this evidential burden.
Held: The burden of proof was incorrectly placed upon the mother. It was for her to demonstrate a need for renewed judicial investigation, no more.

Judges:

Lord Justice Hirst, Lord Justice Thorpe

Citations:

[1997] EWCA Civ 2252

Statutes:

Children Act 1989 10(9) 91(14)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Re A and W (Minors) (Residence Order Leave to Apply) 1992
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.142649

Dawson v Wearmouth: CA 31 Jul 1997

The father was not married to the mother who, without consulting the father, registered the child in the name of her former husband by whom she had previously had two children. The father sought various orders under the Children Act, including a parental responsibility order and a specific issue order to change the child’s surname to his. The circuit judge made a contact and parental responsibility order and directed that the child be known by the father’s surname.
Held: The mother’s appeal succeeded. The court has the power to order the mother of an illegitimate baby to re-register the child’s surname as that of the father. It could be done by means of a specific issue order.

Judges:

Hirst LJ, Thorpe LJ

Citations:

Times 22-Aug-1997, Gazette 17-Sep-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 2272, [1997] 2 FLR 629, [1998] 1 All ER 271, [1998] 1 FCR 31, [1998] Fam Law 15, [1998] 2 WLR 392, [1998] Fam 75

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Children Act 1989 13, Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – In Re W (A Child); In Re A (A Child); In Re B (Children) CA 5-Aug-1999
Where either a child had been registered with his father’s name, or his parents had been married, there would need to be strong reasons for allowing a change of surname. Where the parents were not married, the degree of commitment shown by the . .
Appeal from – Dawson v Wearmouth HL 4-Feb-1999
The parents were unmarried. The mother had registered the child under her former partner’s surname. The father sought an order that his name be used instead. The mother’s apeal against an order to that effect had succeeded.
Held: The father’s . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.142669

A (a Minor): CA 18 Jul 1997

The applicant sought a writ of habeas corpus in respect of her child who was in the care of a local authority. The child was in their care following a contested care order made by a court. The detention, so far as it was one, was lawful.

Judges:

Lord Justice Butler-Sloss, Lord Justice Hutchison, Lord Justice Schiemann

Citations:

[1997] EWCA Civ 2136

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Children

Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.142533

MXB v East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust: QBD 20 Nov 2012

The claimant child invited the court to protect his identity in these proceedings by the making of an order under section 39 of the 1933 Act.
Held: The court described the limitations inherent in such order in modern conditions where the Internet was a substantial force: ‘Whereas in 1933, and until recently, the only form in which a report of proceedings was likely to reach the public was by newspaper or broadcasting, today reports of proceedings can be made by any individual posting a report on the internet. And whereas reports in newspapers and broadcasts were ephemeral and difficult to find even a day or two after they had first been published, reports on the internet are easy to find with a search engine, and very difficult to remove.
Accordingly, it is submitted, the limitation of s.39 of the 1933 Act to newspaper reports may not only be insufficient, it is also anomalous, in failing to provide for forms of reports to the public that have become technically possible, and now common, in addition to newspapers and broadcasts.’ An order was made which avoided these limitations.

Judges:

Tugendhat J

Citations:

[2012] EWHC 3279 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Children and Young Person’s Act 1933 39

Cited by:

Cited – MX v Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust and Others CA 17-Feb-2015
Application was made for approval of a compromise of a claim for damages for personal injury for the child. The court now considered whether an order should be made to protect the identity of the six year old claimant.
Held: An order should . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Litigation Practice, Children, Media

Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.465902

In re B (A Child): CA 14 Nov 2012

B had been taken from her parents at birth, the local authority anticipating a risk of harm. The mother had suffered violence at the hands of the father, and also had convictions for dishonesty and making false allegations. The judge had made a care order in relation to B on the basis of a care plan that she should be placed for adoption. she was placed with a foster mother on what was intended to be a short-term basis, but continued pending the appeal.
Held: The appeal failed. The judge had made management decisions within the range of permissible, and the conclusions on the evidence, both accepting certain parts and rejecting others, were supported within that evidence. He had given proper allowance for the mother’s tendency to lie.
Though not dissenting, Black and Lewsion LJJ thought the case came close to the limit of proper interference by the state. Their task was to decide whether the judge’s decision should be disturbed, and not whether they might have made the same decision.

Judges:

Rix, Black, Lewison LJJ

Citations:

[2012] EWCA Civ 1475

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Children Act 1989 31(2), European Convention on Human Rights 8

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal from – Re B (A Child) (Care Proceedings: Threshold Criteria) SC 12-Jun-2013
B had been removed into care at birth. The parents now appealed against a care order made with a view to B’s adoption. The Court was asked as to the situation where the risks were necessarily only anticipated, and as to appeals against a finding of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Human Rights

Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.465795

ZA and Another v NA: CA 26 Oct 2012

The wife brought wardship proceedings for the return of her children from Pakistan.

Judges:

Thorpe, Rimer, Patten LJJ

Citations:

[2012] EWCA Civ 1396, [2013] 1 Fam 232, [2013] 1 FLR 1041, [2012] WLR(D) 297, [2012] 3 FCR 421, [2013] Fam Law 380, [2013] Fam 232, [2013] 2 WLR 1061

Links:

Bailii, WLRD

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Children

Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.465448

AA, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department: CA 26 Oct 2012

The applicant had been detained for immigration purposes, but it then transpired that, though unaccompanied on arrival, he was under 18, and should not have been detained. He was released after 13 days, but now sought judicial review.

Judges:

Arden, David LJJ, Baron J

Citations:

[2012] EWCA Civ 1383

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal from – AA, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department SC 10-Jul-2013
The issue on this appeal is the effect of section 55 on the legality of the appellant’s detention under paragraph 16 over a period of 13 days. At the time of the detention the Secretary of State acted in the mistaken but reasonable belief that he . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Immigration

Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.465366

In re E (Minors) (Residence Orders: Imposition of Conditions): CA 30 Apr 1997

A residence order can not be accompanied by an order as to where a parent with care must live in the UK or with whom. An appeal may well arise in which a disappointed applicant will contend that section 13(1)(b) of the Children Act 1989 imposes a disproportionate restriction on a parent’s right to determine her place of habitual residence.
Butler-Sloss LJ said: ‘In my view the principles set out in a long line of authorities relating to leave to remove permanently from the jurisdiction have no application to conditions proposed under section 11(7).’

Judges:

Butler-Sloss LJ, Saville LJ, Thorpe LJ

Citations:

Times 16-May-1997, [1997] 2 FLR 638, [1997] EWCA Civ 3084

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Children Act 1989 8 11(7) 13(1)(b), European Convention on Human Rights 8 2

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – In Re G (A Minor) (Interim Care Order: Residential Assessment); G (Children), In Re (Residence: Same Sex Partner) HL 26-Jul-2006
The parties had been a lesbian couple each with children. Each now was in a new relationship. One registered the two daughters of the other at a school now local to her but without first consulting the birth mother, who then applied for residence . .
Cited – In re H (Children: Residence order: Relocation) CA 30-Jul-2001
A court has the power under the Act to impose a condition on a residence order to prevent a proposed move within the UK. Such an order would be exceptional. In the absence of such a condition, there was nothing to require a parent with residence . .
Cited – In re B (A child) (Relocation) CA 24-Jul-2007
The mother appealed against a prohibited steps order preventing her taking the child of the family with her on her relocation to Northern Ireland.
Held: The making of an order either as a prohibited steps order or as a condition of a residence . .
Cited – Payne v Payne; P v P CA 13-Feb-2001
No presumption for Mother on Relocation
The mother applied for leave to return to New Zealand taking with the parties’ daughter aged four. The father opposed the move, saying that allowing the move would infringe his and the child’s right to family life. He had been refused residence.
Cited – In re F (Children) CA 27-Oct-2010
The mother appealed against refusal of a specific issue order requested to allow her to remove the four children with her from Cleveland to Stronsay in the Orkneys. Both parents were GPs and accepted to be excellent parents. She and her new partner . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Human Rights

Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.81862

B v B (Minor: Residence Order): CA 6 Jun 1997

The judge should consider the checklist of relevant matters in the statute in a residence application even though no complaint was made by the parties. The use of the checklist can assist a court in obtaining clarity in its reasoning. Thoough an appeal court should be slow to interfere in a judge’s decision where his decision had been finely balanced, it was particularly in such cases that judges should set out their judgments more clearly. In this case neither the court nor the parties could discern the reasons behind the judgment, and it could not stand. Whilst the reference to the checklist should not be mechanical, that was not a good reason for not going through it.

Judges:

Potter LJ, Holman J

Citations:

Times 06-Jun-1997

Statutes:

Children Act 1989 1(3)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – In re N (Minors: Residence) CA 18-Apr-1995
Hopeless appeals on residence orders require detachment and objectivity from legal advisers. Particularly in finely balanced matters a court of appeal should be slower to interfere in a decision. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.78047

AAM (A Child) v Secretary of State for The Home Department: QBD 27 Sep 2012

The claimant sought damages, alleging false imprisonment and breach of article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The defendant conceded that the detention had been unlawful because officers had wrongly applied a presumption that an asylum seeker who arrived clandestinely should be detained, but disputed that other grounds on which the claimant alleged that his detention were unlawful. The judgment was concerned with that dispute, which was thought to have a potential bearing on the assessment of compensation.
The police were called when the claimant went into a petrol station asking for food. He told the police through an interpreter that he was 15 years old and came from Iran. He was detained and the police notified the social services department of the local county council. A social worker conducted an age assessment and concluded that he was over 18. The police called the Border Agency and an immigration officer took the decision that he should be detained. The immigration officer gave evidence. The judge found that the decision to detain was unlawful because the immigration officer failed to ask herself the right questions or to take reasonable steps to acquaint herself with the information needed to make her decision. She did not know the requirements of a Merton-compliant assessment. A later re-assessment by social services concluded that the appellant was 17. At the trial it was accepted as a fact that he was 15 and that the way in which the first assessment had been carried out was defective.
Held: Lang J accepted that the proper interpretation of the policy set out in EIG paragraph 55.9.3.1, was did not impose a pre-condition that a Merton-compliant age assessment had been carried out. An immigration officer was required to make an independent evaluation and exercise his judgment in deciding whether or not the criteria in the paragraph were met. On the judge’s findings, the immigration officer lacked the training to have done so and failed the test. Her factual findings were sufficient to justify the conclusion that the decision to detain was unlawful.
Lang J concluded: ‘Unfortunately, the immigration officers did not have regard to the claimant’s status as a child, and the need to safeguard and promote his welfare as a child, when they made the decision to detain him, because they were under the mistaken belief that he was not a child.
However, he was in fact a child, within the meaning of the definition of ‘child’ in sub-section (6), and it is not possible to interpret this definition as if Parliament had included the words ‘appears to be a child’ or ‘is reasonably believed to be a child’. . My conclusion is that, by failing to have regard to the need to safeguard and promote his welfare as a child, the immigration officers erred in law, rendering the decision to detain unlawful.’

Judges:

Lang J

Citations:

[2012] EWHC 2567 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Cited by:

Cited – AA, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department SC 10-Jul-2013
The issue on this appeal is the effect of section 55 on the legality of the appellant’s detention under paragraph 16 over a period of 13 days. At the time of the detention the Secretary of State acted in the mistaken but reasonable belief that he . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Immigration, Children, Torts – Other, Human Rights

Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.464574

In re J (A Child: Disclosure): CA 21 Sep 2012

X had complained in confidence of an alleged assault by the father of A. Social services had wished to include that disclosure in an investigation of J’s care of A.

Judges:

Thorpe, Hallett, McFarlane LJJ

Citations:

[2012] 3 FCR 319, [2012] HRLR 34, [2012] EWCA Civ 1204

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – A, Re (Disclosure of Third Party Information) FD 16-Feb-2012
The mother and father disputed contact. It was known that a third party had made a confidential allegation of sexual abuse against the father. Disclosure was sought. The application was resisted on the basis that the woman’s own health would be . .
First appeal – In re X CA 24-Jul-2012
X had made, in confidence, an allegation that she had been abused as a child. The alleged perpetrator was now in another relationship, and with children. X resisted the disclosure of her complaint.
Held: An order was made for disclosure. There . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – In re A (A Child) SC 12-Dec-2012
A woman, X, had made an allegation in confidence she had been sexually assaulted as a child. The court was asked whether that confidence could be overriden to allow an investigation to protect if necessary a child still living with the man. Evidence . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.464403

In Re A-K (Minors)(Foreign Passport: Jurisdiction): CA 18 Feb 1997

A family court has power to require the surrender of a foreign passport to solicitors.

Citations:

Times 07-Mar-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 1035, [1997] 2 FLR 569

Statutes:

Family Law Act 1986 37

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Tower Hamlets v M and Others FD 27-Mar-2015
The authority sought orders to prevent the respondent children travelling to countries controlled by the ISIS groups. The parents being unlikely to be effective to restrain them, the court had made them wards of court.
Held: ‘the status of a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.81690

In re N (A Child) (Abduction: Appeal): CA 11 Jul 2012

M appealed against refusal of an order dismissing her application for the return of her daughter. The main issue related to T’s habitual residence and a claim that the jurisdiction of the court in England and Wales could be founded upon T being habitually resident in England and Wales on the occasion of her removal from this jurisdiction by her father to Lebanon.
Held: The facts did not require the High Court to assume a jurisdiction over the child.
McFarlane LJ commented that ‘If the jurisdiction exists in the manner described by Hogg J then it exists in cases which are at the very extreme end of the spectrum’

Judges:

Thorpe, Sullivan, McFarlane LJJ

Citations:

[2013] 1 FLR 457, [2012] Fam Law 1312, [2012] EWCA Civ 1086

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – A v A and another (Children) (Children: Habitual Residence) (Reunite International Child Abduction Centre intervening) SC 9-Sep-2013
Acquisition of Habitual Residence
Habitual residence can in principle be lost and another habitual residence acquired on the same day.
Held: The provisions giving the courts of a member state jurisdiction also apply where there is an alternative jurisdiction in a non-member . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 04 November 2022; Ref: scu.463710

KA (Afghanistan) and Others v Secretary of State for The Home Department: CA 25 Jul 2012

Child asylum applicants will be treated as young people and their whole history will be considered.

Judges:

Maurice Kay VP CA, Hooper, Moore-Bick LJJ

Citations:

[2012] EWCA Civ 1014, [2012] WLR(D) 230, [2013] 1 WLR 615, [2013] INLR 149, [2012] Imm AR 1054

Links:

Bailii, WLRD

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

See Also – KA (Afghanistan) v Secretary of State for The Home Department CA 6-Nov-2012
. .
Cited – TN, MA and AA (Afghanistan) v Secretary of State for The Home Department SC 24-Jun-2015
The appellants, children from Afghanistan whose asylum claims had been rejected, challenged the sufficiency of the appellate process, and the respondents obligations for family tracing.
Held: The appeals failed. An applicant could not claim, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Immigration, Children

Updated: 04 November 2022; Ref: scu.463151

Southwark, London Borough of v D: CA 7 Mar 2007

The social worker arranged for D, unable to live with her father because he was violent towards her, to live with his fomer partner. The court was asked whether the local authority had simply facilitated a private fostering arrangement, in which case they had no duty to maintain the child, or whether they had accommodated her under section 20, in which case they did.
Held: The social worker had prevented the father from taking the child home from school, had taken the lead in making the arrangements, and had told the woman that financial arrangements would be made for her. It had been discharging their duties under section 20 and could not escape the associated financial liabilities.

Judges:

May LJ, Keene LJ, Smith LJ

Citations:

[2007] EWCA Civ 182, [2007] 1 FLR 2181, [2007] Fam Law 701, (2007) 10 CCL Rep 280, [2007] 1 FCR 788

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Children Act 1989 20

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – M, Regina (on the Application of) v London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham HL 27-Feb-2008
M, a girl aged 16 had become estranged from her mother, and sought housing assistance. She was not referred to the authority’s children’s services, and was not housed. The House examined the duties of local authorities under the section towards . .
Cited – G, Regina (on the Application of) v London Borough Of Southwark HL 20-May-2009
The House was asked whether when a child of 16 or 17 who was ejected from home and presents himself to a local children’s services authority and asks to be accommodated by them under section 20 of the Children Act 1989, it is open to that authority . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Local Government

Updated: 04 November 2022; Ref: scu.249888

Re M (Residential Assessment Directions): CA 1997

The mother was seen to be unstable with a history of self harm, and with a violent association. Two older children were in care, and despite psychiatric evidence that she was improving the authority resisted a suggestion that there be a residential assessment, wishing to proceed straight to a final care order. The mother appealed the order giving effect to the authority’views.
Held: A residential assessment order was made. The court acting under s38 (6) may direct the local authority to implement and fund a family residential assessment. The court must consider whether the propose programme was in reality an assessment, and not just treatment of the mother; that it was genuinely in the child’s broad best interests; and that the assessment was a necessary part of the court making the findings which would found its decision. It must also find it not unreasonable and in the interests of justice that the authority find the assessment.

Citations:

[1998] 2 FLR 371

Statutes:

Children act 1989 38

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Applied – In Re C (A Minor) (Interim Care Order: Residential Assessment) HL 29-Nov-1996
The parents were suspected of causing the child non-accidental injury. The court wanted a residential assessment of the family, but the local authority refused, saying it would be too expensive, and would expose the child to continuing risk. The . .

Cited by:

Doubted – In re G (a Child) (Interim Care order: Residential assessment) CA 27-Jan-2004
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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Local Government

Updated: 04 November 2022; Ref: scu.228015

Regina (Behre and Others) v Hillingdon London Borough Council: Admn 29 Aug 2003

Each claimant arrived as an unaccompanied child to claim asylum, and destitute. Assistance was provided under the 1989 Act until they were 18. They claimed a duty under the 200 Act to continue to assist them.
Held: Under the 2000 Act a duty was owed to a ‘former relevant child’ – a person who had been looked after by the local authority for 13 weeks before attaining 18 and was eligible at that time. ‘Looked after’ included having had accommodation provided. Exceptions were spelt out in the Regulations, and there was no need to add a gloss to the combined definition. It did no disservice to the definition to count the applicants as former relevant children, and the duty to assist applied to them.

Judges:

Sullivan J

Citations:

Times 22-Sep-2003, Gazette 16-Oct-2003, [2003] EWHC 2075 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 2, Children Act 1989 19B(2) 23C(1), Children (Leaving Care) (England) Regulations) 2000 (200 No 2874)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Hillingdon, Regina (on the Application of) v the Secretary of State for Education and Skills Admn 15-Mar-2007
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Immigration, Children, Local Government

Updated: 04 November 2022; Ref: scu.186340

H (Child), Re (Care Order: Appropriate Local Authority): CA 18 Nov 2003

The court had to decide to which of two local authorities, responsibility for supervising a care order should be assigned. The child had moved to live with his grandparents.
Held: The judge had been correct to find that family circumstances might justify not following the rules in Northamptonshire and Plymouth, but the case was not sufficiently exceptional on that ground. However, the child here could properly be said to have been resident with the grandparents, and the order assigning responsibility to the authority where they lived was appropriate.

Judges:

Lord Justice Jonathan Parker Lord Justice Thorpe Lord Justice Dyson

Citations:

[2003] EWCA Civ 1629, Times 26-Nov-2003, Gazette 15-Jan-2004, [2004] 2 WLR 419, [2004] Fam 89

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Children Act 1989 105(6)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Northamptonshire County Council v Islington London Borough Council CA 21-Jul-1999
When two local authorities were competing not to be responsible for the costs of a child committed to care, and the child had proper connections with both areas, the issue was to be decided by asking first whether the child had in fact any ‘ordinary . .
Cited – Plymouth City Council v C and Another CA 21-Mar-2000
Where a child coming into care had had connection with two local authorities beforehand, the primary statutory responsibility for care would be determined by assessing which was the authority with a connection to the child immediately before the . .
Applied – Re C (Care Order: Appropriate Local Authority) 1997
A local authority which permitted children in care to remain at home with their mother was not providing accommodation within the meaning of section 23(1)(a) of the Children Act 1989 and accordingly section 105(6)(c) did not apply. The court . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Local Government

Updated: 04 November 2022; Ref: scu.187975

Regina (SR) v Nottingham Magistrates’ Court: Admn 19 Oct 2001

The applicant SR, aged 15, was remanded in custody to a Youth Offenders Institution pending sentence. Had he been a girl, he could not have been so remanded, since no similar provision was available for them. He complained that the law infringed his human rights. It was accepted that he was properly dealt with under the rules. For Art 14, a difference is discriminatory if it ‘has no objective and reasonable justification’, that is, it pursues no ‘legitimate aim’ or if there is no ‘reasonable relationship of proportionality between the means and the aim to be realised’. The court refused the declaration of incompatibility requested, but ordered that the committal to custody had been wrong.

Judges:

Lord Justice Brooke, Mr Justice Newman

Citations:

[2001] EWHC Admin 802

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Crime and Disorder Act 1998 98, European Convention on Human Rights art 14

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Inze v Austria ECHR 28-Oct-1987
Art 14 was engaged in respect of discrimination over future interests despite Marckx. The case turned on what singular provisions of Austrian inheritance law, whereby the illegitimate claimant had some, but incomplete, rights on his mother’s . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Sentencing, Human Rights, Children, Discrimination

Updated: 04 November 2022; Ref: scu.166635

X Local Authority v M and Others: CCF 18 May 2010

Citations:

[2010] EWCC 19 (Fam)

Links:

Bailii

Cited by:

See Also – Local Authority X v M CCF 4-Aug-2010
Local Authority [LA] seeks a Care Order in respect of the one child age 16 months. Their Care Plan is for placement of the child with a substitute family by way of adoption. Mother opposes the application and seeks the return of the child . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.463072

In re W (Children) (Direct Contact): CA 24 Jul 2012

The court took the opportunity to emphasise the importance of parental responsibility as an incident of family life. McFarlane LJ said: ‘Whether or not a parent has parental responsibility is not simply a matter that achieves the ticking of a box on a form. It is a significant matter of status as between parent and child and, just as important, as between each of the parents. By stressing the ‘responsibility’ which is so clearly given prominence in the Children Act 1989, section 3 and the likely circumstance that that responsibility is shared with the other parent, it is hoped that some parents may be encouraged more readily to engage with the difficulties that undoubtedly arise when contemplating post separation contact than may hitherto been the case.’

Judges:

Rix, Tomlinson McFarlane LJJ

Citations:

[2012] EWCA Civ 999

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Re D (A Child) CA 26-Mar-2014
F appealed against the removal of his parental responsibility for his son. M and F were not married, but F had been named on the birth certificate. He had later been convicted of sexual assaults against two daughters of M by an earlier relationship. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.463106

Local Authority X v M: CCF 4 Aug 2010

Local Authority [LA] seeks a Care Order in respect of the one child age 16 months. Their Care Plan is for placement of the child with a substitute family by way of adoption. Mother opposes the application and seeks the return of the child

Citations:

[2010] EWCC 34 (Fam)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

See Also – X Local Authority v M and Others CCF 18-May-2010
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.463056

In re L and B (Children): CA 18 Jul 2012

In care proceedings, there had been protracted fact finding hearings. The judge had given a preliminary report as to her conclusions, but received a communication from counsel for the father requesting her to re-address certain aspects. She later delivered a judgment which differed substantially. The parties complained that the judge had not explained the change .
Held: The judge had been bound by her findings. However the judgment delivered did not differ to such an extent as to amount to a breach.

Judges:

Thorpe, Rimer LJJ, Sir Stephen Sedley

Citations:

[2012] EWCA Civ 984, [2012] WLR(D) 240

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – In re A and L (Children) (Judgment: Adequacy of Reasoning) (Practice Note) CA 27-Oct-2011
The mother appealed against a factual findings made in the course of care proceedings as to her involvement in sexual abuse of the children.
Held: The court gave guidance as to the reconsideration of a court’s decision. Munby LJ said: ‘it is . .
Cited – English v Emery Reimbold and Strick Ltd; etc, (Practice Note) CA 30-Apr-2002
Judge’s Reasons Must Show How Reached
In each case appeals were made, following Flannery, complaining of a lack of reasons given by the judge for his decision.
Held: Human Rights jurisprudence required judges to put parties into a position where they could understand how the . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Re L and B (Children) SC 20-Feb-2013
The court was asked as to the extent to which a court, having once declared its decision, could later change its mind. Though this case arose with in care proceedings, the court asked it as a general question. The judge in a fact finding hearing in . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Litigation Practice

Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.462949

Pontes v Portugal: ECHR 10 Apr 2012

‘The Court repeats forcefully, in such cases, the interests of the child must come before any other consideration.’

Judges:

Tulkens P

Citations:

19554/09 (French text), [2012] ECHR 1573

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights

Cited by:

Cited – ANS and Another v ML SC 11-Jul-2012
The mother opposed adoption proceedings, and argued that the provision in the 2007 Act, allowing a court to dispense with her consent, infringed her rights under Article 8 and was therefore made outwith the powers of the Scottish Parliament.
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Children

Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.462552

re F (Children): CA 3 Apr 2012

The mother appealed against a finding as regards her actions during a supervised contact session. It was alleged that she had assaulted two social workers.

Judges:

Black, Ward, Elias LJJ

Citations:

[2012] EWCA Civ 828

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Children

Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.462511

Re C (A Child): CA 15 May 2007

The mother and child were released from hospital after the child’s birth. The mother claimed that she was subject to donmestic violence from the father and also that he had shaken the baby. The father was prosecuted and care proceedings instituted. The authority began care proceedings

Citations:

[2007] EWCA Civ 576

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Children Act 1989 18 31

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Children

Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.254564

Z And Others v The United Kingdom: ECHR 10 May 2001

Four children complained that, for years before they were taken into care by the local authority, its social services department was well aware that they were living in filthy conditions and suffering ‘appalling’ neglect in the home of their parents. Suspicions of abuse had arisen in 1987, but they were given effective support only in 1992.
Held: The claim succeeded. The state had been in breach of its duty under Article 3 to protect them against inhuman or degrading treatment. The court upheld the commission’s conclusion that the social services department had been aware that the children had been suffering such neglect as amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment and had failed to take reasonable steps to prevent its continuance: ‘The Court acknowledges the difficult and sensitive decisions facing social services and the important countervailing principle of respecting and preserving family life. The present case however leaves no doubt as to the failure of the system to protect these child applicants from serious, long-term neglect and abuse.’

Effective measures were particularly needed in the case of children and other vulnerable people. Because there was a serious doubt about the availability of a remedy through the courts, there was equally a failure to provide a remedy and accordingly a breach of Article 13. There was no breach or articles 6 or 8. Article 6(1) does not itself guarantee any particular content for civil rights and obligations in the substantive law of the Contracting States. ‘Article 6(1) extends only to contestations (disputes) over (civil) ‘rights and obligations’ which can be said, at least on arguable grounds, to be recognised under domestic law; it does not itself guarantee any particular content for (civil) ‘rights and obligations’ in the substantive law of the contracting states. It will however apply to disputes of a ‘genuine and serious nature’ concerning the actual existence of the right as well as to the scope and manner in which it is exercised.’
‘The applicants alleged that the local authority had failed to protect them from inhuman and degrading treatment contrary to Article 3 of the Convention which provides:
‘No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.’
The Commission in its report found unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 3 of the Convention. It considered that there was a positive obligation on the Government to protect children from treatment contrary to this provision. The authorities had been aware of the serious ill-treatment and neglect suffered by the four children over a period of years at the hands of their parents and failed, despite the means reasonably available to them, to take any effective steps to bring it to an end.
The applicants requested the Court to confirm this finding of a violation.
The Government did not contest the Commission’s finding that the treatment suffered by the four applicants reached the level of severity prohibited by Article 3 and that the State failed in its positive obligation under Article 3 of the Convention to provide the applicants with adequate protection against inhuman and degrading treatment.
The Court re-iterates that Article 3 enshrines one of the most fundamental values of democratic society. It prohibits in absolute terms torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The obligation on High Contracting Parties under Article 1 of the Convention to secure to everyone within their jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in the Convention, taken together with Article 3, requires States to take measures designed to ensure that individuals within their jurisdiction are not subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment, including such ill-treatment administered by private individuals (see A v the United Kingdom judgment of 23 September 1998, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1998-VI, para 22). These measures should provide effective protection, in particular, of children and other vulnerable persons and include reasonable steps to prevent ill-treatment of which the authorities had or ought to have had knowledge.’

Citations:

Times 31-May-2001, 29392/95, [2001] 34 EHRR 97, [2001] 2 FLR 612, [2001] ECHR 329, [2001] ECHR 333, 10 BHRC 384, (2002) 34 EHRR 3, [2001] 2 FCR 246

Links:

Worldlii, Bailii, Bailii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 3 6 13

Jurisdiction:

Human Rights

Citing:

Appeal from – X (Minors) v Bedfordshire County Council; M (A Minor) and Another v Newham London Borough Council; Etc HL 29-Jun-1995
Liability in Damages on Statute Breach to be Clear
Damages were to be awarded against a Local Authority for breach of statutory duty in a care case only if the statute was clear that damages were capable of being awarded. in the ordinary case a breach of statutory duty does not, by itself, give rise . .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v G and R CACD 17-Jul-2002
The defendants were children accused of arson being reckless as to the danger of damage. They were not entitled to require the jury to consider as a separate question whether the risk of damage was obvious other than to an ordinary adult.
Cited – Matthews v Ministry of Defence HL 13-Feb-2003
The claimant sought damages against the Crown, having suffered asbestosis whilst in the armed forces. He challenged the denial to him of a right of action by the 1947 Act.
Held: Human rights law did not create civil rights, but rather voided . .
Cited – McGlinchey and Others v The United Kingdom ECHR 29-Apr-2003
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 3 ; Violation of Art. 13 ; Non-pecuniary damage – financial award
A prisoner was admitted but with a heroin addiction. Through various mistakes . .
Cited – Hollins v Russell etc CA 22-May-2003
Six appeals concerned a number of aspects of the new Conditional Fee Agreement.
Held: It should be normal for a CFA, redacted as necessary, to be disclosed for costs proceedings where a success fee is claimed. If a party seeks to rely on the . .
Cited – Wilson v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry; Wilson v First County Trust Ltd (No 2) HL 10-Jul-2003
The respondent appealed against a finding that the provision which made a loan agreement completely invalid for lack of compliance with the 1974 Act was itself invalid under the Human Rights Act since it deprived the respondent lender of its . .
Cited – Munjaz v Mersey Care National Health Service Trust And the Secretary of State for Health, the National Association for Mental Health (Mind) Respondent interested; CA 16-Jul-2003
The claimant was a mental patient under compulsory detention, and complained that he had been subjected to periods of seclusion.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The hospital had failed to follow the appropriate Code of Practice. The Code was not . .
Cited – Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Kehoe CA 5-Mar-2004
The claimant had applied to the Child Support Agncy for maintenance. They failed utterly to obtain payment, and she complained now that she was denied the opportunity by the 1991 Act to take court proceedings herself.
Held: The denial of . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for Education and Employment and others ex parte Williamson and others HL 24-Feb-2005
The appellants were teachers in Christian schools who said that the blanket ban on corporal punishment interfered with their religious freedom. They saw moderate physical discipline as an essential part of educating children in a Christian manner. . .
Cited – JD v East Berkshire Community Health NHS Trust and others HL 21-Apr-2005
Parents of children had falsely and negligently been accused of abusing their children. The children sought damages for negligence against the doctors or social workers who had made the statements supporting the actions taken. The House was asked if . .
Cited – Brooks v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and others HL 21-Apr-2005
The claimant was with Stephen Lawrence when they were both attacked and Mr Lawrence killed. He claimed damages for the negligent way the police had dealt with his case, and particularly said that they had failed to assess him as a victim of crime, . .
Cited – Kehoe, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions HL 14-Jul-2005
The applicant contended that the 1991 Act infringed her human rights in denying her access to court to obtain maintenance for her children.
Held: The applicant had no substantive right to take part in the enforcement process in domestic law . .
Cited – Regina v Ashworth Hospital Authority (Now Mersey Care National Health Service Trust) ex parte Munjaz HL 13-Oct-2005
The claimant was detained in a secure Mental Hospital. He complained at the seclusions policy applied by the hospital, saying that it departed from the Guidance issued for such policies by the Secretary of State under the Act.
Held: The House . .
Cited – Plymouth City Council v HM Coroner for the County of Devon and Another Admn 27-May-2005
The local authority in whose care the deceased child had been held challenged a decision by the coroner not to limit his inquiry to the last few days of the child’s life. The coroner had decided that he had an obligation to conduct a wider enquiry . .
Cited – Rhondda Cynon Taff Borough Council v Watkins CA 12-Feb-2003
Land had been purchased compulsorily, but the respondent unlawfully returned to possession in 1966, and now claimed title by adverse possession. The Council executed a vesting deed poll in 1988. The Council asserted that he could not be in adverse . .
Cited – C Plc and W v P and Secretary of State for the Home Office and the Attorney General ChD 26-May-2006
The claimant sought damages from the first defendant for breach of copyright. An ex parte search order had been executed, with the defendant asserting his privilege against self-incrimination. As computer disks were examined, potentially unlawful . .
Cited – Pierce v Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council QBD 13-Dec-2007
The claimant sought damages, saying that the local authority had failed to protect him when he was a child against abuse by his parents.
Held: The claimant had been known to the authority since he was a young child, and they owed him a duty of . .
Cited – Regina v G (Secretary of State for the Home Department intervening) HL 18-Jun-2008
The defendant was fifteen. He was convicted of statutory rape of a 13 year old girl, believing her to be 15. He appealed saying that as an offence of strict liability he had been denied a right to a fair trial, and also that the offence charged was . .
Cited – Gldani Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses Others v Georgia ECHR 3-May-2007
The applicant claimed that the police had known in advance of an attack upon the applicants by religious opponents, which he said would constitute inhuman or degrading treatment, but that they had failed to take any preventive action.
Held: . .
Cited – Re E (A Child); E v Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and Another (Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and others intervening) HL 12-Nov-2008
(Northern Ireland) Children had been taken to school in the face of vehement protests from Loyalists. The parents complained that the police had failed to protect them properly, since the behaviour was so bad as to amount to inhuman or degrading . .
Cited – Rabone and Another v Pennine Care NHS Foundation SC 8-Feb-2012
The claimant’s daughter had committed suicide whilst on home leave from a hospital where she had stayed as a voluntary patient with depression. Her admission had followed a suicide attempt. The hospital admitted negligence but denied that it owed . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Human Rights

Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.166101

Re X (Children): CA 30 May 2002

Foster carers of children wanted to adopt them without the parents knowing their identity, using the confidential serial number approach. The parents had been led to believe that the children had been placed with a different family for adoption and wanted to continue to have contact with the children. The irony was that their preference had been for the children to stay with the original foster family. The judge decided that the parents should not be told the adopters’ identity. The Court of Appeal considered the difficulties which this would give their representatives, who were aware of the true position and decided that the judge could not be said to be plainly wrong. Passing criticism was made of the local authority in not seeking orders giving them permission to refuse contact and free the children for adoption and for deceiving the parents in the first place. The Court of Appeal could only hope that some compromise could be reached by the time the adoption application came on for hearing.

Judges:

President, Buxton LJ, Hale LJ

Citations:

[2002] EWCA Civ 828, [2002] 2 FLR 476, [2002] 3 FCR 648

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Children, Adoption

Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.175472

B (Minors): CA 27 Nov 1996

The case concerned applications for care orders. Four young girls would be separated from their elder sister and their mother, who sought interim contact. The judge disagreed with the care plan proposed by the local authority. His powers were, either to allow the care order and submit them to the care plan, or to refuse the care order, and have them with a possibly inappropriate carer. The local authority had since concluded that adoption would no longer succeed. A placement with a foster family might allow renewed contact, once the issue of care order came back to court, it was for the judge to settle the issue of contact. That is what the court should consider once a placement had been found.

Citations:

[1996] EWCA Civ 1045

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Re S and D (Child Care Powers of the Court ) CA 1995
The court considered the powers of the court in care proceedings where it did not approve the authority’s proposed care plan. The judge had made supervision orders in relation to both children coupled with an injunction restraining the mother from . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Adoption, Children

Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.140912

In Re O (A Minor) (Costs:Liability of Legal Aid Board); orse Re O (A Minor) (Legal Aid Costs): CA 25 Nov 1996

Grandparents should have conceded at an early stage in the Court of Appeal that an order made by the judge in proceedings relating to their grandchild had been made without jurisdiction.
Held: The court considered the procedures for applying for costs for an unassisted party in children proceedings.

Citations:

Times 25-Nov-1996, [1996] EWCA Civ 936, [1997] 1 FCR 159

Statutes:

Legal Aid Act 1988

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – D and D W v Portsmouth Hospital NHS; in re W (A Child) CA 3-May-2006
The claimants had sought court orders against the hospital to secure continuing life-supporting treatment for their daughter who had been born very severely disabled. The Trust now sought their costs from the various actions.
Held: The parents . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Legal Aid, Children

Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.82085

In re T (a Minor): CA 24 Oct 1996

C was born with a liver defect. After a failed operation, the parents, both caring health professionals, decided not to put him through major surgery again. The local authority and doctors obtained an order to allow a potentially life saving liver transplant. The parents now appealed.
Held: The appeal succeeded.
Butler-Sloss LJ said: ‘it is clear that when an application under the inherent jurisdiction is made to the court the welfare of the child is the paramount consideration. The consent or refusal of consent of the parents is an important consideration to weigh in the balancing exercise to be carried out by the judge. In that context the extent to which the court will have regard to the view of the parent will depend upon the court’s assessment of that view. But as Sir Thomas Bingham MR said in Re Z, the court decides and in doing so may overrule the decision of a reasonable parent. ‘
The court below had unquestioningly accepted the advice of three consultants but had failed to ‘consider . . the evidence of Dr P and his strong reservations to the effect of coercing, (as Dr P put it) this mother into playing the crucial and irreplaceable part in the aftermath of major invasive surgery not just during the post-operative treatment of an eighteen month old baby but also throughout the childhood of her son. She would inevitably be the primary carer, (no-one suggested that this baby should be taken into care) and would be expected to care for him for many years through surgery and continuing treatment while she, on her present view, believed that this course was not right for her son.’
and ‘The welfare of the child is the paramount consideration and I recognise the ‘very strong presumption in favour of a course of action which will prolong life’ and the inevitable consequences for the child of not giving consent. But to prolong life, as Lord Donaldson MR recognised in somewhat different circumstances, is not the sole objective of the court and to require it at the expense of other considerations may not be in a child’s best interests. I would stress that, on the most unusual facts of this case with the enormous significance of the close attachment between the mother and baby, the court is not concerned with the reasonableness of the mother’s refusal to consent but with the consequences of that refusal and whether it is in the best interests of C. for this Court in effect to direct the mother to take on this total commitment where she does not agree with the course proposed.’
Roch LJ said: ‘the judge mislead himself by categorising the parents’ decision as being ‘unreasonable’. I can see nothing to justify the judge’s conclusion that the child’s mother is deluding herself that with her care the child miraculously will survive beyond that period of time forecast by the doctors, or that the parents have failed to grasp the improvements in operating technique and subsequent treatment which have taken place in the field of liver transplantation in recent years, particularly in view of Dr P’s evidence of the protracted and thorough discussions he has had with the mother.
If the proper stance for parents is that whenever there is a treatment which may prolong the life of their child, then that treatment should be accepted, a decision not to accept that treatment would be unreasonable. But in my opinion that cannot be and will not be the answer in every case. Nor are such decisions to be taken solely with medical factors in mind. The presumption in favour of the sustaining of life is not irrebuttable and perhaps has less weight where the issue is whether to prolong or not to prolong life by means of organ transplantation.’

Judges:

Butler-Sloss, Waite, Roch LJJ

Citations:

[1997] 1 WLR 242, [1996] EWCA Civ 805

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Children Act 1989 10093)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – In Re B (A Minor) (Wardship: Medical Treatment) CA 1981
The child was born with Down’s Syndrome and an intestinal blockage. She needed the obstruction to be relieved if she was to survive. If the operation were performed, the child might die within a few months but it was probable that her life . .
Cited – In re J (a Minor) (Wardship: Medical Treatment) CA 1986
The court referred to a case of extremely painful treatment causing continuous agony or such continuous sedation as to lead to there being no conscious life at all. The child suffered a condition which included the likelihood of periodic respiratory . .
Cited – In re Z (A Minor) (Identification: Restrictions on Publication) CA 31-Jul-1995
The court was asked whether the daughter of Cecil Parkinson and Sarah Keays should be permitted to take part in a television programme about the specialist help she was receiving for her special educational needs.
Held: The court refused to . .
Cited – In re B (A Minor) (Wardship: Sterilisation) HL 1987
Paramount Consideration in Wardship Application
The House considered a case involving the sterilisation of a girl just under 18, who suffered from mental disability.
Held: A court exercising wardship jurisdiction, when reaching a decision on an application to authorise an operation for . .
Cited – Re W (a minor) (medical treatment: courts jurisdiction) CA 1992
An application was made for a declaration allowing a hospital to treat a girl aged 16 years suffering from anorexia nervosa against her wishes.
Held: The order was made. It is a feature of anorexia nervosa that it is capable of destroying the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Health

Updated: 01 November 2022; Ref: scu.140672

In Re C (A Minor) (Care Proceedings: Disclosure); Re EC (Disclosure of Material): CA 22 Oct 1996

Guidance was to the courts on disclosure of care proceedings statements etc to police. But for section 12 it would have been contempt of court to have disclosed to the police matters before the children’s court.

Citations:

Times 22-Oct-1996, [1997] Fam 76, [1996] 2 FLR 725

Statutes:

Children Act 1989 12 98

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Kent County Council v The Mother, The Father, B (By Her Children’s Guardian); Re B (A Child) (Disclosure) FD 19-Mar-2004
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 . .
Cited – Doctor A and Others v Ward and Another FD 8-Jan-2010
Parents wished to publicise the way care proceedings had been handled, naming the doctors, social workers and experts some of whom had been criticised. Their names had been shown as initials so far, and interim contra mundum orders had been made . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Police

Updated: 01 November 2022; Ref: scu.81781

AR (A Child), Regina (on The Application of) v The London Borough of Waltham Forest: Admn 16 Mar 2020

Challenge to an alleged systemic failure by the defendant local authority to provide adequate secure accommodation for children who are at risk of being detained in police cells in circumstances where normal local authority accommodation would be unsuitable to meet the risks they pose to the general public.

Judges:

Mrs Justice Andrews

Citations:

[2020] EWHC 622 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Local Government, Children

Updated: 01 November 2022; Ref: scu.649125