Care orders had been made and the care plans looked to adoption. Once the children had been placed with foster parents, contact was withheld. The parents appealed.
Held: The judge had recognised that the proper place for children with their parents, and had made the decision only after careful thought. There had been considerable publicity adverse to the authority’s actions. However: ‘The tragedy in this case, so it seems to me, is that the parents are unable, even when the most concentrated and intensive support is deployed to assist them, to adequately manage the day to day care of their children. Neither is blameworthy. But each has limitations which cannot be set to one side when considering the children’s needs. There is a naivety and innocence about them, the mother in particular, which I found disarming. But she was quite unable to focus her answers for the most part upon the question she had been asked, concentrating as she did upon the issues which bothered her most. The father found it impossible to provide an answer to the question as to how he would feel if he gave up work. ‘ The parents’ decision to withhold consent to adoption was in the circumstances unreasonable, and heir consent would be dispensed with: ‘the welfare of the children demands that they be placed for adoption as soon as possible. A reasonable parent would recognise that his / her child’s welfare was the decisive factor in the equation and would put to one side self interest and desire.’
Judges:
The Honourable Mrs Justice Pauffley
Citations:
[2005] EWHC B16 (Fam)
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Adoption, Children
Updated: 01 July 2022; Ref: scu.229276