A Health and Social Care Trust and A Mother and A Father and in the matter of GA (a female child ages 13 months)
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judge | McFarland J |
| Judgment Date | 31 May 2023 |
| Neutral Citation | [2023] NIFam 9 |
| Court | Family Division (Northern Ireland) |
1
Neutral Citation No: [2023] NIFam 9
Judgment: approved by the court for handing down
(subject to editorial corrections)*
Ref: McF12183
ICOS: 21/004820
Delivered: 31/05/2023
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE IN NORTHERN IRELAND
___________
FAMILY DIVISION
OFFICE OF CARE AND PROTECTION
___________
Between:
A HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE TRUST
Plaintiff
-v-
A MOTHER AND A FATHER
Defendants
IN THE MATTER OF GA (A FEMALE CHILD AGED 13 MONTHS)
___________
Ms S Simpson KC with Ms L Murphy (instructed by the Directorate of Legal Services) for
the Trust
Mr H Toner KC with Ms E Ryan (instructed by Brendan Kearney & Co solicitors) for the
parents
Mr G McGuigan KC with Ms C McCloskey (instructed by Quigley, Grant & Kyle
solicitors) for the children’s court guardian on behalf of the child
___________
McFARLAND J
Introduction
[1] This judgment has been anonymised to protect the identity of the child. I
have used the cipher GA for the name of the child. These are not her initials; they
were randomly selected and had been used in an earlier judgment referred to below.
Nothing can be published that will identify her. As reference is also made to a full-
sibling and a half-sibling who are the subject of earlier orders of this court, nothing
can be published that will identify them. During his evidence the father suggested
that the court had changed the name of one of his daughters to Rose (see [2] below).
The court made no such order and had only chosen that name at random for use in
the judgment as a means to protect the real identity of the child.
2
[2] GA was born in April 2022 and is now 13 months of age. She is the child of
the mother and the father. She has an older full sister, six older maternal
half-siblings, and one older paternal half-sister. A more detailed background to the
extended family is set out in the judgments - Re: Rose (unreported 3 October 2019)
and Re RH [2022] NIFam 31. My judgment in Re RH was delivered in October 2022
and related to the older full sister who was freed for adoption. Re Rose was a
judgment of O’Hara J relating to the paternal half-sister. The maternal half-siblings
have been dealt with through the care system of the Republic of Ireland. The mother
does not have contact with any of her six children who live in the Republic of
Ireland, the father does not have contact with the child anonymised as Rose, and
neither parent has had contact with RH, their older child, or GA since November
2022.
[3] The Trust became aware of the mother’s pregnancy when contacted by the
father in November 2021. Communication between social workers and health
professionals with the parents was difficult with both parents adopting a loud,
aggressive, and argumentative tone. The mother had a midwifery appointment on
15 December 2021, but she later declined to attend for a booked scan on 4 March
2022. In all eight scan appointments were missed by the mother during this period.
[4] On 11 March 2022 the father advised the Trust that the mother was in Dublin
waiting to catch a boat to Scotland and that social services “would not be taking the
baby into care.” Whatever the travel arrangements of the mother were, she did
attend an appointment with an obstetrician in Northern Ireland on 15 March 2022.
A pre-birth initial child protection case conference was convened on 16 March 2022
but neither parent attended although both were invited. The conference
recommended that the baby be placed on the child protection register at birth under
categories of potential emotional abuse and neglect.
[5] The birth on 21 April 2022 was not without incident with an emergency
Caesarean section and transfer later that day to the neo-natal ward for tube feeding.
During this period both parents presented to medical staff as aggressive with
fluctuating co-operation.
[6] The Trust applied for an emergency protection order on 21 April 2022 with a
plan of removal of GA to foster care on discharge from hospital. The family
proceedings court granted the emergency protection order on 22 April 2022 but
discharge from hospital was delayed due to ongoing feeding problems. The Trust
then issued an application for a care order on 25 April 2022. GA was placed in a
short-term foster placement under the emergency protection order on 28 April 2022
and an interim care order was then made on 29 April 2022. The child was moved to
her concurrently approved placement on 13 December 2022.
[7] The Trust has reported that GA is currently meeting all her developmental
milestones, is presenting as a thriving infant with her physical and emotional needs
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