Tag: Children

In Re TB (Minors) (Care Proceedings: Criminal Trial): CA 29 Jun 1995

Pending criminal proceedings against a family need not stop care proceedings going ahead. Butler-Sloss LJ said: ‘One starts with the fact that the criminal proceedings of themselves are not a reason to adjourn the care proceedings. There must be some detriment to the children in the broadest terms for not bringing on the care proceedings because delay is detrimental generally to the children . . I think that we do have to hold the line that in the majority of cases, unless there are circumstances which warrant taking a different course, that the care proceedings should come on, even if they are to be heard before the criminal proceedings. That is in line with the President’s ruling and it is a ruling which this court ought respectfully to follow. ‘

Judges:

Butler-Sloss LJ

Citations:

Times 29-Jun-1995, [1995] 2 FLR 801

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Children

Updated: 21 January 2023; Ref: scu.82231

Re S (Minors)(Care Order: Appeal); Dyfed County Council v S, Re S (Discharge of Care Order): CA 6 Sep 1995

Discharge of care order is the appropriate procedure not an appeal after very long time. The court considered its approach in admitting new evidence on appeal in family law cases: ‘The willingness of the family jurisdiction to relax the ordinary rules of issue estoppel, and (at the appellate stage) the constraints of Ladd v Marshall [1954] 1 WLR 1489 upon the admission of new evidence, does not originate from laxity or benevolence but from recognition that where children are concerned there is liable to be an infinite variety of circumstance whose proper consideration in the best interests of the child is not to be trammelled by the arbitrary imposition of procedural rules. That is a policy whose sole purpose, however, is to preserve flexibility to deal with unusual circumstances.’ and ‘In the general run of cases the family courts (including the Court of Appeal when it is dealing with applications in the family jurisdiction) will be every bit as alert as courts in other jurisdictions to see to it that no one is allowed to litigate afresh issues that have already been determined. The maxim ‘sit finis litis’ is, as a general rule, rigorously enforced in children cases, where the statutory objective of an early determination of questions concerning the upbringing of a child expressed in s 1(2) of the Children Act is treated as requiring that such determination shall not only be swift but final.’

Judges:

Waite LJ

Citations:

Gazette 06-Sep-1995, [1995] 2 FLR 639

Statutes:

Children Act 1989 1(2)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – In re K (Children) (Non-accidental injuries: Perpetrator: New Evidence) CA 27-Aug-2004
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 . .
Cited – Webster (the Parents) v Norfolk County Council and others CA 11-Feb-2009
Four brothers and sisters had been adopted after the parents had been found to have abused them. The parents now had expert evidence that the injuries may have been the result of scurvy, and sought leave to appeal.
Held: Leave was refused. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 20 December 2022; Ref: scu.85875

In Re T (A Minor) (Contact Order); In Re T (Adoption: Contact): CA 13 Jan 1995

A contact order which was not strictly necessary should not be made in adoption proceedings. Arrangements for contact should not be ‘imposed’ upon the adoptive parents but should be ‘left to their good sense so that they could be trusted to do what they believe to be in the best interests of their daughter.’ Butler-Sloss LJ indicated that the court could intervene in future and make an order if the adoptive parents were to behave unreasonably

Judges:

Butler-Sloss LJ

Citations:

Times 13-Jan-1995, [1995] 2 FLR 251

Statutes:

Adoption Act 1976

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Oxfordshire County Council v X and Others CA 27-May-2010
The LA, the guardian and adoptive parents appealed against an order that they should provide to the parents an annual photograph of the child. They contended that an image should only be made available to be viewed at the authority’s offices . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Adoption

Updated: 09 December 2022; Ref: scu.82219

In Re B (Minors) (Change of Surname): CA 1 Dec 1995

The mother sought to change the surname of the three children of the family from that of her divorced husband to that of the husband whom she had subsequently married. Her application for leave was refused by the circuit judge. She appealed.
Held: The appeal failed. A change of children’s surname was refused despite clear wishes of teenage children.

Judges:

Stuart-Smith LJ and Wilson J

Citations:

Times 01-Dec-1995, [1996] 1 FLR 791

Statutes:

Children Act 1989 8

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – 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 December 2022; Ref: scu.81726

In Re G (A Minor) (Social Worker: Disclosure): CA 14 Nov 1995

A social worker may relate oral admissions made by parents to him to the police without first getting a court’s permission.
Butler-Sloss LJ said: ‘I would on balance and in the absence of argument give the more restrictive interpretation to r 4.23 and limit it to documents held by the court in the court file. I doubt that it extends to documents created for the purposes of the proceedings even if intended to be filed with the court, since they may not in fact become part of the court file. It is important that the rule should not be widely and loosely interpreted so as to bring within its ambit information at a stage when I am sure it was not intended to be covered and which would be contrary to wider considerations of the best interests of the child.’
Sir Roger Parker said: ‘The wording of rule 4.23 of the Family Proceedings Rules 1991 appears to me to be plain. Leave to disclose is only required in respect of documents and only in respect of documents held by the court . The rule thus follows established wardship practice as can be seen from the judgments of this Court in re D (Minors)(Wardship:Disclosure) [1994] 1 FLR 346. I can see neither need nor justification for extending the scope of the words so as to require leave for the disclosure of information imparted to a social worker and recorded in case notes or a report which for one reason or another has never reached the court. To do so would, in my view, not be construction but a complete rewriting of the rule and thus legislation, which is neither the function nor within the powers of the court. ‘

Judges:

Butler-Sloss LJ, Sir Roger Parker

Citations:

Times 14-Nov-1995, Gazette 06-Dec-1995, Independent 08-Dec-1995, [1996] 1 WLR 1407, [1996] 1 FLR 276

Statutes:

Family Proceedings Rules 1991 4.23

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Doctor A and Others v Ward and Another FD 9-Feb-2010
. .
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.

Police, Children

Updated: 09 December 2022; Ref: scu.81901

Practice Direction (Ward: Witness at Trial): EW 11 Nov 1987

‘Where the police desire to interview a child who is already a ward of court application must be made for leave for the police to do so . . If it is desired to conduct any interview beyond what is permitted by the order further application should be made for this purpose.
The President directs that all of the above applications be made to a judge on summons on notice to all parties.’

Judges:

Sir John Arnold P

Citations:

[1987] 1 WLR 1739

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Updated – Practice Direction (Ward: Witness at Trial) (No 2) FD 18-Jul-1988
‘The registrar’s direction of 11 November 1987, Practice Direction (Ward: Witness at Trial) [1987] 1 W.L.R. 1739, set out the procedure to be followed to obtain leave for the police to interview a child who is a ward of court. It provided that all . .
Cited – Re A Ward of Court FD 4-May-2017
Ward has no extra privilege from Police Interview
The court considered the need to apply to court in respect of the care of a ward of the court when the Security services needed to investigate possible terrorist involvement of her and of her contacts. Application was made for a declaration as to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 09 December 2022; Ref: scu.588738

In Re W (A Minor): CA 23 Mar 1993

It was right that public should know of the high cost of family litigation.

Citations:

Times 23-Mar-1993, [1993] 2 FLR 625

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – CG v CW and Another (Children) CA 6-Apr-2006
A lesbian couple had split up and disputed the care of the children. An order had been made but then, in breach of that order, one removed the children overnight to Cornwall. An argument was made that the court had failed to give proper weight to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 07 December 2022; Ref: scu.82263

In Re W (Minors) (Child Abduction: Unmarried Father); In Re B (A Minor) (Child Abduction: Unmarried Father): FD 9 Apr 1998

An unmarried father has no rights as regards a child until an application is made, but a mother taking child abroad whilst a court application was continuing could be restrained as an act of child abduction through the court’s own parental rights and duties.

Judges:

Ward LJ

Citations:

Times 09-Apr-1998, Gazette 13-May-1998, [1999] Fam 1

Statutes:

Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction Act 1980

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – In re D (A Child), (Abduction: Rights of Custody) HL 16-Nov-2006
The child had been born to parents who married and later divorced in Romania. The mother brought him to England without the father’s consent, and now appealed an order for his return.
Held: The mother’s appeal succeeded. The Convention . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 07 December 2022; Ref: scu.82279

In Re W v G (Paternity); In Re A (A Minor): CA 18 May 1994

The judge was wrong to limit his ability to draw inferences from a putative father’s refusal to take a test to discover paternity.

Citations:

Times 18-May-1994, [1994] 2 FLR 463

Statutes:

Family Law Reform Act 1969 23(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Applied – Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Jones FD 2-Jul-2003
The appellant Secretary of State challenged a decision of magistrates as to whether the respondent was the father of a child for whom Child Support was sought. The mother had been married, but had been living with the respondent at the appropriate . .
Followed – In re G (Parentage: Blood Sample) CA 1997
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Evidence

Updated: 07 December 2022; Ref: scu.82282

ES, Regina (on The Application of) v London Borough of Barking and Dagenham: Admn 27 Mar 2013

The claimant sought judicial review of the Defendant’s failure to assess her son’s needs for the purposes of providing accommodation and support under section 17 of the 1989 Act. While the case is specific to its particular facts, it raises the question of the extent to which the Defendant could rely upon the Secretary of State’s power to provide facilities for accommodation under section 4 of the 999 Act in deciding whether or not to carry out an assessment of need.

Judges:

Robin Purchas QC

Citations:

[2013] EWHC 691 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Children Act 1989 17, Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 4

Local Government, Children, Immigration

Updated: 14 November 2022; Ref: scu.472074

In Re C (Minors) (Change of Surname): CA 8 Dec 1997

Child’s surname changed wrongly by father, though not to be changed back after mother had remarried taking new name herself. The fact that mother and child bear the same name should not necessarily be sufficient reason for refusing a change if there are valid countervailing reasons.

Citations:

Times 08-Dec-1997, Gazette 17-Dec-1997, [1998] 2 FLR 656

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Children

Updated: 13 November 2022; Ref: scu.81796

In Re C (A Minor) (Change of Name): CA 2 Feb 1998

A parent challenging a child’s lawful change of name after the event must do so against the background at time of name change; cogent reasons were needed.

Citations:

Times 02-Feb-1998

Statutes:

Children Act 1989

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – In Re T (A Minor)(Change of Surname) FD 8-Jul-1998
A child’s surname should be changed only with the consent of the father even though parties were unmarried, but particularly where the father has a parental responsibility order. Change back ordered even after several years. . .
Cited – 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: 13 November 2022; Ref: scu.81782

In Re X (Minors) (Care Proceedings: Parental Responsibility): FD 7 Jan 2000

Even though a local authority had obtained an interim care order in an application for the child to be committed to its care, that did not prevent the unmarried mother entering into a parental responsibility agreement with the child’s father. The children were subject to interim orders, and the plan was to place them for adoption. The father’s signing of such an agreement was not an act exercising parental responsibility, and therefore neither could the mother’s signature be, and the Act was not limited by the interim order.

Citations:

Times 19-Jan-2000, Gazette 07-Jan-2000

Statutes:

Children Act 1989 94

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Children

Updated: 10 November 2022; Ref: scu.82304

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

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

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 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 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

Health Service Executive v SC AC: ECJ 26 Apr 2012

Jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and in the matters of parental responsibility – Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 – Child habitually resident in Ireland, where the child has been placed in care on many occasions – Child’s behaviour aggressive and placing herself at risk – Judgment ordering placement of the child in a secure care institution in England – Material scope of the regulation – Article 56 – Procedures for consultation and consent – Obligation to recognise or declare enforceable the decision to place the child in a secure care institution – Provisional measures – Urgent preliminary ruling procedure

Citations:

C-92/12, [2012] EUECJ C-92/12 – PPU, [2012] EUECJ C-92/12

Links:

Bailii, Bailii

Jurisdiction:

European

Children

Updated: 28 October 2022; Ref: scu.459565

In re L: CA 1996

In exercising its jurisdiction under the Act, the court’s function is investigative and non-adversarial. Ward LJ: the court had no power to order a residential assessment at a specified place. Millett LJ agreed, but said that a judge could impose ‘a condition which is consequential upon the giving of directions for a residential assessment under section 38(6) . .’

Judges:

Ward LJ, Millett LJ

Citations:

[1996] 2 WLR 395

Statutes:

Children Act 1989 38

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – 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 . .
Followed – In Re M (Interim Care Order: Assessment) CA 2-Jan-1996
There was no jurisdiction under section 38(6) to order residential assessment of a family involved in care proceedings. The words ‘other assessment of the child’ had to be construed as ejusdem generis with the words ‘medical or psychiatric . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.228016

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.

Citations:

Ind Summary 18-Apr-1995, Times 06-Apr-1995, [1995] 2 FLR 230

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – 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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.85841

In Re O (A Minor) (Contact: Imposition of Conditions): CA 17 Mar 1995

The court may impose detailed conditions on the form of indirect contact. His Lordship set out the relevant principles: ‘1 Overriding all else, as provided by section 1(1) of the Children Act 1989, the welfare of the child was the paramount consideratin, and the court was concerned with the interests of the mother and the father only in so far as they bore on the welfare of the child.
2 It was almost always in the interests of a child whose parents were separated that he or she whould have contact with the parent with whom the child was not living.
3 The court had power to enforce orders for contact, which it should not hesitate to exercise where it judged that that would overall promote the welfare of the child to do so.
4 Cases did not, unhappily and infrequently but occasionally, arise in which a court was compelled to conclude that in existing circumstances an order for immediate direct contact should not be ordered, because so to order would injure the welfare of the child: see In re D (a Minor) (Contact: Mother’s hostility)
5 In cases in which, for whatever reasons, direct contact could not for te time being be ordered, it was ordinarily highly desirable that there should be indirect contact so that the child grew up knowing of the love and interest of the absent parent with whom, in due course, direct contact should be established.’ After referring to In Re O: ‘The courts should not at all readily acept that the child’s welfare will be injured by direct contact. Jodging that question, the court should take a medium-term and long-term view of the child’s development and not accord excessive weight to what appear likely to be short-term or transient problems. Neither parent should be encouraged or permitted to think that the more unreasonable, the more obdurate and the more unco-operative they are, the more likely thay are to go their own way.’

Judges:

Sir Thomas Bingham MR

Citations:

Times 17-Mar-1995, [1995] 2 FLR 124

Statutes:

Children Act 1989 1(1) 11(7)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – In Re D (a Minor) (Contact: Mother’s Hostility) CA 1993
Waite LJ: ‘It is now well settled that the implacable hostility of a mother towards access or contact is a factor which is capable, according to the circumstances of each particular case, of supplying a cogent reason for departing from the general . .
Cited – In re J (a Minor) (Contact) CA 1994
Balcombe LJ said: ‘But before concluding this judgment, I would like to make three general points. The first is that judges should be very reluctant to allow the implacable hostility of one parent (usually the parent who has a residence order in his . .

Cited by:

Cited – In Re P (Minors) (Contact) CA 15-May-1996
The father appealed an order refusing him direct contact with the child. The judge had made the order because he considered that the mother’s hostility to contact made it likely that her health would suffer if contact was ordered, and that the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.82084

In Re F (A Minor) (Criminal Proceedings): CA 12 Dec 1994

A father’s defence solicitor was entitled to interview children as witnesses of an alleged assault on the mother.

Citations:

Times 12-Dec-1994, Ind Summary 16-Jan-1995

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Criminal Practice, Children, Criminal Evidence

Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.81876

In Re A (A Minor) (Supervision Order: Extension): CA 11 Nov 1994

Justices do not have the power to make an interim care order pending a later hearing on the extension of an existing supervision order.

Citations:

Times 11-Nov-1994, [1995] 1 FLR 335

Statutes:

Children Act 1989 31

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Applied – T (A Child) v Wakefield Metropolitan District Council CA 19-Mar-2008
A supervision order had been made for twelve months. There was a concern at contact with the mother’s mother’s partner. The father appealed refusal of an order extending the period to three years.
Held: Such an order was permissible. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.81620

Regina v Northavon District Council, ex parte Smith: CA 4 Aug 1993

A local Authority has a duty to act upon a housing request for children even though the family were intentionally homeless.

Citations:

Independent 18-Aug-1993, Times 04-Aug-1993

Statutes:

Housing Act 1985, Children Act 1989

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal from – Regina v Northavon District Council ex parte Smith HL 18-Jul-1994
Local Authority is under no obligation to provide permanent housing for a family with children save as provided under the Act. The Children Act not to be used as a way around homelessness decisions and rules. A Social Services request to house . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Housing, Children

Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.87474

Regina v Kirklees Borough Council ex parte C (A Minor): CA 12 Apr 1993

A Local Authority may admit a minor in care to a mental hospital for assessment or treatment. Section 131 merely preserves or confirms the common law and previous law. Consent requires proof of conduct and a reasoning capacity.

Judges:

Lloyd LJ

Citations:

Ind Summary 12-Apr-1993, [1993] FLR 187

Statutes:

Mental Health Act 1983 131

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – L v Bournewood Community and Mental Health NHS Trust Admn 9-Oct-1997
L was adult autistic. He had been admitted to mental hospital for fear of his self-harming behaviours, and detained informally. He complained that that detention was unlawful.
Held: The continued detention of a mental health patient who is . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Local Government, Children, Health

Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.87087

In Re R (A Minor) (Wardship: Restraint of Publication): CA 25 Apr 1994

In a criminal case involving a ward of court, the judge in the criminal case may restrict the reporting without leaving it for the wardship Judge. The jurisdiction of the High Court in cases involving the care and upbringing of children over whose welfare the court is exercising a supervisory role is ‘ . . . theoretically unlimited. But in practice its exercise is limited by the nature and source of the jurisdiction itself, which is historically derived from the protective jurisdiction of the Crown as parens patriae’

Judges:

Millett LJ

Citations:

Times 25-Apr-1994, [1994] 1 Fam 254

Statutes:

Children and Young Persons Act 1933 39

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Re S (A Child) CA 10-Jul-2003
The mother of the child on behalf of whom the application was made, was to face trial for murder. The child was in care and an order was sought to restrain publiction of material which might reveal his identity, including matters arising during the . .
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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Media

Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.82140