LR v A Local Authority
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Lord Justice Baker,Moor J,King LJ |
| Judgment Date | 31 January 2019 |
| Neutral Citation | [2019] EWCA Civ 525 |
| Docket Number | Case No: B4/2018/2939 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Date | 31 January 2019 |
[2019] EWCA Civ 525
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM WEST LONDON FAMILY COURT
HH JUDGE ROWE QC
ZW17C00477
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Lady Justice King
Lord Justice Baker
and
Mr Justice Moor
Case No: B4/2018/2939
In the Matter of the Children Act
And in the Matter of RP (A Child) (Foster Carer's Appeal)
Deirdre Fottrell QC and Tom Wilson (instructed by Goodman Ray) for the Appellant
David Fowler (instructed by Local Authority Legal Services) for the First Respondent
The Second Respondent appeared in person
Sam King QC and Oliver Jones (instructed by Freeman Solicitors) for the Third Respondents
Sandra Fisher (instructed by Beu Solicitors) for the Fourth Respondent
Hearing date: 30 January 2019
Approved Judgment
This is an application by a foster carer, hereafter referred to as “LR”, for permission to appeal out of time against a care order made on 18 October 2018 by HHJ Rowe QC in the West London Family Court in respect of a little girl, R, who has been in her care for the past 14 months. The order, which was made at the end of proceedings involving R and her three older siblings to which LR had not been a party, was on the basis of the local authority's final care plan under which R is to be placed with foster carers in Poland.
The application for permission to appeal was considered on paper on 21 December 2018 by Moylan LJ who directed that “the applications by LR to be made a party for the purposes of the proposed appeal, for permission to appeal and the substantive appeal (if the former applications are granted) are all to be listed for hearing together”. He further ordered that the judge's order be stayed pending determination of the applications. The hearing took place before this court yesterday, after which we reserved judgment until today.
The principal issue arising on the appeal is whether the judge had regard to all of the relevant matters in reaching her decision about R's future. In reaching that decision, she was obliged to have regard to the relevant matters in the welfare checklist in s.1(3) of the Children Act 1989, including the likely effect on R of any change of circumstances. In addition, as the applications before her included an application for a placement order in respect of R under s.21 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002, she was obliged to have regard to the relevant matters in the welfare checklist in s.1(4) of that Act, including:
“(f) the relationship which the child has with relatives, with any person who is a prospective adopter with whom the child is placed, and with any other person in relation to whom the court or agency considers the relationship to be relevant, including
(i) the likelihood of any such relationship continuing and the value to the child of its doing so,
(ii) the ability and willingness of any of the child's relatives, or of any such person, to provide the child with a secure environment in which the child can develop, and otherwise to meet the child's needs,
(iii) the wishes and feelings of any of the child's relatives, or of any such person regarding the child.”
The principal ground of appeal advanced on behalf of LR is that the judge failed to identify her relationship with R as relevant to her decision or to take into account the value to R of that relationship continuing.
Background
The full background is set out in Judge Rowe's first judgment, dated 2 August 2018. For the purposes of this judgment, the important features are as follows.
R was born in March 2017 and is therefore now aged 22 months. Her mother comes from Poland and her father from Romania. Her mother has three older children, all by different Polish fathers – a girl, W, aged 15, a boy, K, aged 13, and another girl, O, aged rising nine.
The mother gave birth to her first three children when living in Poland. At some date thereafter, she moved to England to work. Initially, her children stayed in Poland but at a later date they moved to live with her here.
The family came to the attention of social services in the local authority in West London at the end of 2016. The mother was then pregnant with R and living with the father of the child she was carrying. The initial report to the local authority included allegations of domestic abuse. In March 2017, there was a report of a violent incident between the mother and W. In June 2017, the mother alleged to the police that R's father had been watching child pornography and that W had told her that he had given her a massage and had masturbated in front of her. The police also told the local authority that the mother was vacillating about the allegations and not fully cooperating with their investigation. Further referrals were made to social services by the local hospital and school raising concerns that W, then aged 13, was sexually active and that the mother was failing to protect her. On 11 July 2017, W was taken into police protection after reporting that she had been assaulted by the mother. The mother signed a written agreement under s.20 of the Children Act consenting for W to be accommodated by the local authority and a further agreement not to allow R's father into the house while assessments were carried out. Subsequently, W absconded from foster care and returned to her mother.
A s.47 assessment of the family concluded that the children were at risk of harm and, following a case conference on 31 July 2017, W and R were made subject to child protection plans and K and O subject to child in need plans. In the following weeks, W absconded on several further occasions and on 18 September moved to a therapeutic residential home. In conversation with social workers, she stated that she had had sex with between 30 and 40 men. Meanwhile, further reports were received that R's father had continued to visit the family home.
On 27 September 2017, the local authority started proceedings under Part IV of the Children Act and obtained an interim care order in respect of W and interim supervision orders in respect of the three younger children. In early October, W absconded again from her residential home, and on 11 October was placed under a secure accommodation order.
In late October, the mother removed K and O from school and concerns grew about their whereabouts. On 9 November 2017, the local authority granted interim care orders in respect of the three younger children. At the hearing, the parents refused to disclose the children's whereabouts, and applications were therefore made to the Family Division of the High Court for tipstaff orders to locate the children. Despite these efforts, on 30 November, the maternal grandmother removed K and O to Poland. R, however, was safely recovered from an address in West London and shortly afterwards placed with LR with whom she has lived ever since. The local authority started proceedings in Poland under the Hague Child Abduction Convention and eventually through that process the children were returned to this jurisdiction in June 2018.
Meanwhile, a number of assessments had been carried out, including a psychiatric assessment of W and parenting assessments of the mother and R's father. The local authority also considered other options for long-term placement of the children. These included placing the children in Poland with family members or in foster care. The local authority also considered long-term placement options for the children in this country.
On 9 April 2018, the local authority filed its final care plans for the children. For the three older children, the local authority proposed that they be placed under a full care order, with W remaining in her residential placement and K and O being placed in long term foster care. For R, the plan was that she should be placed for adoption, and the local authority filed an application for a placement order under s.21 of the 2002 Act. Section 4 of the plan stated into alia:
“4.2 The local authority proposes that R should remain in the care of her current foster carer until prospective adopters have been selected.
4.3 The local authority currently has approximately 16 adopters who have successfully been assessed to adopt a child of R's age. Those successful prospective adopters will be subject to a selection process, followed by presentation for matching at the local authority's adoption and permanency panel. It is therefore anticipated that R will be placed with her adoptive parents within three months of the making of the final orders.
4.4 …. [R] will remain placed with her current foster care until such time as she is placed for adoption.”
The final statement filed on 22 April 2018 by the local authority social worker assigned to the family confirmed that the local authority's plan was for R to remain in her current foster placement whilst efforts were made to find an adoptive family. On 15 May 2018, R's case was allocated to a member of the local authority's family finding team, ZC. It seems clear that, at that stage, the local authority was not contemplating the possibility of R remaining in her current placement.
On 11 June, the children's guardian filed her report for the final hearing. She recommended that W should remain in her residential unit, that K and O be placed in long-term foster care, and that R be placed for adoption, with no ongoing direct contact with her half-siblings. No consideration was given in her report to the possibility of any of the children being placed in Poland.
The proceedings were listed for a 7-day final hearing starting on 18 June 2018 for the court to determine whether the threshold criteria under s.31 were satisfied and, if so, what orders should be made for their future welfare. On 27 June,...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
LR v A Local Authority
...a care order made by HH Judge Rowe QC in respect of a girl, R, who had been in her care for 14 months. The judgment is now reported at [2019] EWCA Civ 525. Following our decision, the appellant applied for an order that her costs be paid by the local authority and Cafcass. In accordance wi......