A Judge may choose not to follow court the Court Welfare officer’s recommendation with proper reasons.
Citations:
Ind Summary 24-Jul-1995
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Children
Updated: 21 January 2023; Ref: scu.85895
A Judge may choose not to follow court the Court Welfare officer’s recommendation with proper reasons.
Ind Summary 24-Jul-1995
England and Wales
Updated: 21 January 2023; Ref: scu.85895
A court can order mother to send photographs and reports to father to maintain contact.
Ind Summary 26-Jun-1995
England and Wales
Updated: 21 January 2023; Ref: scu.85843
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. ‘
Butler-Sloss LJ
Times 29-Jun-1995, [1995] 2 FLR 801
England and Wales
Updated: 21 January 2023; Ref: scu.82231
Cogent evidence of abuse is required varying according to the gravity of the case. A high standard is required in sexual abuse in care homes cases.
Times 03-Jul-1995
England and Wales
Updated: 21 January 2023; Ref: scu.81991
Court may look at financial disadvantages of residence order including Child Support.
Times 10-May-1995
England and Wales
Updated: 21 January 2023; Ref: scu.82139
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.’
Waite LJ
Gazette 06-Sep-1995, [1995] 2 FLR 639
England and Wales
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.
Updated: 20 December 2022; Ref: scu.85875
[2018] EWFC 64
England and Wales
Updated: 20 December 2022; Ref: scu.631823
[2018] EWFC B64
England and Wales
Updated: 20 December 2022; Ref: scu.631809
[2018] EWFC B76
England and Wales
Updated: 20 December 2022; Ref: scu.631819
[2018] EWFC B56
England and Wales
Updated: 20 December 2022; Ref: scu.631795
[2018] EWFC B58
England and Wales
Updated: 20 December 2022; Ref: scu.631796
[2018] EWFC B71
England and Wales
Updated: 20 December 2022; Ref: scu.631816
Appeal by adoptive parents against order for contact between natural grandparents
Kerr LCJ, Campbell LJ and Sheil LJ
[2004] NICA 35
Northern Ireland
Updated: 12 December 2022; Ref: scu.216022
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
Butler-Sloss LJ
Times 13-Jan-1995, [1995] 2 FLR 251
England and Wales
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.
Updated: 09 December 2022; Ref: scu.82219
Contact order pending adoption was a final order not variable as continuing.
Times 15-Feb-1995
England and Wales
Updated: 09 December 2022; Ref: scu.81799
A parent abducting a child to this jurisdiction may still show there might be danger on his return.
Times 15-Feb-1995
England and Wales
Updated: 09 December 2022; Ref: scu.81875
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.
Stuart-Smith LJ and Wilson J
Times 01-Dec-1995, [1996] 1 FLR 791
England and Wales
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.
Updated: 09 December 2022; Ref: scu.81726
A prohibited steps order is available if necessary against a non-party.
Independent 09-Feb-1995, Times 08-Feb-1995
England and Wales
Updated: 09 December 2022; Ref: scu.81926
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. ‘
Butler-Sloss LJ, Sir Roger Parker
Times 14-Nov-1995, Gazette 06-Dec-1995, Independent 08-Dec-1995, [1996] 1 WLR 1407, [1996] 1 FLR 276
Family Proceedings Rules 1991 4.23
England and Wales
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.
Updated: 09 December 2022; Ref: scu.81901
‘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.’
Sir John Arnold P
[1987] 1 WLR 1739
England and Wales
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.
Updated: 09 December 2022; Ref: scu.588738
A minor is presumed to be lesed, which need not be proved in limine of reduction; nor is it necessary that, before litis contestation, the minor produce a right to the property, which is to be subject of the action.
[1035] Mor 8989
Scotland
Updated: 09 December 2022; Ref: scu.547666
It was right that public should know of the high cost of family litigation.
Times 23-Mar-1993, [1993] 2 FLR 625
England and Wales
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.
Updated: 07 December 2022; Ref: scu.82263
An appeal against Judge’s order for preparation of welfare report was quite wrong.
Times 25-Jan-1995
England and Wales
Updated: 07 December 2022; Ref: scu.82271
The court considered the standard of proof on child sex abuse. The standard might be higher if there was more than one possible perpetrator.
Times 01-Dec-1993, [1994] 1 FLR 419
England and Wales
Updated: 07 December 2022; Ref: scu.82277
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.
Ward LJ
Times 09-Apr-1998, Gazette 13-May-1998, [1999] Fam 1
Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction Act 1980
England and Wales
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.
Updated: 07 December 2022; Ref: scu.82279
The judge was wrong to limit his ability to draw inferences from a putative father’s refusal to take a test to discover paternity.
Times 18-May-1994, [1994] 2 FLR 463
Family Law Reform Act 1969 23(1)
England and Wales
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.
Updated: 07 December 2022; Ref: scu.82282
The court considered whether serious injuries to S (a young child) had been inflicted deliberately.
Keehan J
[2013] EWHC 4066 (Fam)
England and Wales
Updated: 30 November 2022; Ref: scu.519039
It ws improper to attach domestic violence type orders to an injunction within Children Act proceedings for contact.
Gazette 23-Jul-1997
England and Wales
Updated: 26 November 2022; Ref: scu.81822
Sentencing for contempt of court after refusal of parents to reveal location of their daughter for proceedings.
Keehan J
[2013] EWHC 3523 (Fam)
England and Wales
Updated: 26 November 2022; Ref: scu.518380
Challenge to decision to remove child from care of a family member into foster care without prior consultation.
Jeremy Richardson QC J
[2013] EWHC 388 (Admin)
Updated: 17 November 2022; Ref: scu.472685
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.
Robin Purchas QC
[2013] EWHC 691 (Admin)
Children Act 1989 17, Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 4
Updated: 14 November 2022; Ref: scu.472074
[2012] EWCA Civ 1923
England and Wales
Updated: 14 November 2022; Ref: scu.471674
[2013] EWHC 165 (Fam)
England and Wales
Updated: 14 November 2022; Ref: scu.471687
Baker J
[2013] EWHC 134 (Fam), [2013] 1 FLR 1334
England and Wales
Updated: 14 November 2022; Ref: scu.471688
[2013] EWCA Civ 132
England and Wales
Updated: 14 November 2022; Ref: scu.471653
Father’s appeal for contact with her children
[2012] EWCA Civ 1766
England and Wales
Updated: 14 November 2022; Ref: scu.470973
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.
Times 08-Dec-1997, Gazette 17-Dec-1997, [1998] 2 FLR 656
England and Wales
Updated: 13 November 2022; Ref: scu.81796
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.
Times 02-Feb-1998
England and Wales
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.
Updated: 13 November 2022; Ref: scu.81782
Pauffley J
[2012] EWHC 4027 (Fam)
England and Wales
Updated: 13 November 2022; Ref: scu.470755
Applications for blood tests for child’s HIV status to be in High Court.
Times 05-May-1994
England and Wales
Updated: 10 November 2022; Ref: scu.82301
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.
Times 19-Jan-2000, Gazette 07-Jan-2000
England and Wales
Updated: 10 November 2022; Ref: scu.82304
[2012] EWHC 3228 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.466538
[2012] EWCA Civ 1377
England and Wales
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.465474
A father is not to be refused supervised contact only because lifestyle failings make it unlikely that unsupervised contact will follow.
Times 10-Jun-1997
England and Wales
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.82020
Court to be satisfied that courts of a non-convention country will take proper care of child before returning him after abduction.
Times 03-Jul-1997
Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980
England and Wales
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.81621
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).’
Butler-Sloss LJ, Saville LJ, Thorpe LJ
Times 16-May-1997, [1997] 2 FLR 638, [1997] EWCA Civ 3084
Children Act 1989 8 11(7) 13(1)(b), European Convention on Human Rights 8 2
England and Wales
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.
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.81862
Applications for contact and for parental responsibility orders are to be kept as separate issues and not made conditional upon each other.
Times 30-Jun-1997
England and Wales
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.81802
An application for contact can be dismissed summarily in appropriate cases. Threats in opposition by stepfather can harm child.
Times 09-Jul-1997
England and Wales
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.81716
A judge may choose whether a witness summons against child is appropriate according to the child’s interests.
Times 18-Apr-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 1306
England and Wales
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.82083
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.
Potter LJ, Holman J
Times 06-Jun-1997
England and Wales
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.
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.78047
A family court has power to require the surrender of a foreign passport to solicitors.
Times 07-Mar-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 1035, [1997] 2 FLR 569
England and Wales
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.
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.81690
Thorpe, Sullivan, McFarlane LJJ
[2012] EWCA Civ 1144
England and Wales
Updated: 04 November 2022; Ref: scu.463705
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’
Thorpe, Sullivan, McFarlane LJJ
[2013] 1 FLR 457, [2012] Fam Law 1312, [2012] EWCA Civ 1086
England and Wales
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.
Updated: 04 November 2022; Ref: scu.463710
Application for rehearing of fact finding exercise at child welfare hearing
Theis DBE J
[2012] EWHC 1975 (Fam)
Updated: 04 November 2022; Ref: scu.463339
‘Rights of custody’ under European Convention include custody under Hague Convention.
Times 08-Jan-1997
European Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement etc 1999
England and Wales
Updated: 04 November 2022; Ref: scu.82165
Review of authority to terminate contact after change and some re-investigation.
Times 01-Jan-1997
England and Wales
Updated: 04 November 2022; Ref: scu.82228
[2012] EWCA Civ 1031
England and Wales
Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.463105
[2010] EWCC 52 (Fam)
England and Wales
Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.463066
[2010] EWCC 56 (Fam)
England and Wales
Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.463035
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
[2010] EWCC 34 (Fam)
England and Wales
See Also – X Local Authority v M and Others CCF 18-May-2010
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.463056
[2010] EWCC 29 (Fam)
England and Wales
Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.463059
[2012] EWCA Civ 617
England and Wales
Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.462509
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.
Times 25-Nov-1996, [1996] EWCA Civ 936, [1997] 1 FCR 159
England and Wales
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.
Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.82085
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.
Times 22-Oct-1996, [1997] Fam 76, [1996] 2 FLR 725
England and Wales
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.
Updated: 01 November 2022; Ref: scu.81781
Court has no power to order Local Authority to provide residential assessment of family of child.
Gazette 23-Oct-1996
England and Wales
Updated: 01 November 2022; Ref: scu.81784
M’s application to relocate with child to Australia after recovery of child from father from Belgium.
Pauffley J
[2012] EWHC 139 (Fam), [2012] 2 FLR 653, [2012] Fam Law 523
England and Wales
Updated: 01 November 2022; Ref: scu.460517
Moor J
[2012] EWHC 1173 (Fam)
England and Wales
Updated: 01 November 2022; Ref: scu.460519
Eleanor King J
[2012] EWHC 1246 (Fam)
England and Wales
Updated: 01 November 2022; Ref: scu.460526
[2012] EWHC 931 (Fam)
England and Wales
Updated: 01 November 2022; Ref: scu.460525
Application by a mother for permission to take her child to live permanently in Tanzania.
Holman J
[2012] EWHC 846 (Fam), [2012] Fam Law 808, [2012] 2 FLR 581
England and Wales
Updated: 01 November 2022; Ref: scu.460524
The court’s power to restrict a party’s right to apply with regard to their children is to be used sparingly.
Times 14-Oct-1996
England and Wales
Updated: 31 October 2022; Ref: scu.78046
No child benefit was payable in respect of a child who was in the voluntary care of the Local Authority.
Times 10-May-1996
Children Act 1989 20, Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992
England and Wales
Updated: 31 October 2022; Ref: scu.83561
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
C-92/12, [2012] EUECJ C-92/12 – PPU, [2012] EUECJ C-92/12
European
Updated: 28 October 2022; Ref: scu.459565
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) . .’
Ward LJ, Millett LJ
[1996] 2 WLR 395
England and Wales
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.
Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.228016
Court may not make care order on application to extend supervision order.
Ind Summary 05-Dec-1994
England and Wales
Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.85686
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.
Ind Summary 18-Apr-1995, Times 06-Apr-1995, [1995] 2 FLR 230
England and Wales
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.
Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.85841
A County Court does not have a power to accept a mother’s undertaking when making a supervision order.
Times 12-Jan-1996, Ind Summary 08-Jan-1996
England and Wales
Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.85720
Power to restrain applications for contact not to be used save for oppression.
Gazette 15-Mar-1995
England and Wales
Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.85774
A Judge may depart from the recommendations of the Court Welfare Officer without taking the Court Welfare Officer’s oral evidence.
Times 21-Nov-1994
England and Wales
Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.81791
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.’
Sir Thomas Bingham MR
Times 17-Mar-1995, [1995] 2 FLR 124
England and Wales
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 – 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.
Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.82084
A father’s defence solicitor was entitled to interview children as witnesses of an alleged assault on the mother.
Times 12-Dec-1994, Ind Summary 16-Jan-1995
England and Wales
Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.81876
Blood tests can be ordered against the express wishes of a mother; an adverse inference can be drawn if the tests are refused.
Times 12-Mar-1996
England and Wales
Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.81921
Parental responsibility orders must not be used to oblige the payment of maintenance.
Times 28-Feb-1996
England and Wales
Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.81924
The court may not order a Local Authority having care of child to obtain a psychiatric report.
Times 13-Apr-1995
England and Wales
Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.81614
Justices do not have the power to make an interim care order pending a later hearing on the extension of an existing supervision order.
Times 11-Nov-1994, [1995] 1 FLR 335
England and Wales
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.
Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.81620
A local Authority has a duty to act upon a housing request for children even though the family were intentionally homeless.
Independent 18-Aug-1993, Times 04-Aug-1993
Housing Act 1985, Children Act 1989
England and Wales
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.
Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.87474
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.
Lloyd LJ
Ind Summary 12-Apr-1993, [1993] FLR 187
England and Wales
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.
Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.87087
Wardship proceedings were not to be used to impose a Guardian ad Litem on a child.
Independent 07-May-1993
England and Wales
Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.85747
After the Judge finds s31 to be satisfied he cannot then add conditions to the residence order.
Ind Summary 23-May-1994, Gazette 01-Jun-1994
England and Wales
Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.85888
A paternity test was not to be ordered if it would be detrimental to the child’s interests.
Independent 10-Feb-1993
Family Law Reform Act 1969 20(1)
England and Wales
Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.85768
Court should make final order when possible – not adjourn.
Ind Summary 10-May-1993
England and Wales
Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.85846
Need for system to be set up to provide judges to hear High Court children applications.
Ind Summary 26-Jul-1993
England and Wales
Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.85736
A court may stay an application for residence without staying a parental responsibility order.
Ind Summary 26-Jul-1993
England and Wales
Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.85863
The legal professional privilege for medical reports obtained privately, must yield in child cases, and the report was discoverable.
Ind Summary 15-Nov-1993, Times 02-Nov-1993
England and Wales
Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.84509
Joint residence order can be appropriate where residence to be shared.
Ind Summary 14-Feb-1994
England and Wales
Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.85684
The child’s interests are to be taken into account when varying a maintenance order.
Times 29-Jul-1993
Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 31(7)
England and Wales
Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.84147
The Local Authority sought to obtain residence and contact orders by back door practices. This was wrong in principle.
Gazette 07-Jul-1993
England and Wales
Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.84378
Counsel should double up if appropriate to reduce costs on interlocutory applications.
Ind Summary 13-Sep-1993
England and Wales
Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.83249
Guardian ad litem entitled to examine case record prepared on adopters.
Times 12-Jan-1994
England and Wales
Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.83371
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’
Millett LJ
Times 25-Apr-1994, [1994] 1 Fam 254
Children and Young Persons Act 1933 39
England and Wales
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.
Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.82140