North Yorkshire County Council v G
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 1993 |
| Date | 1993 |
| Court | Family Division |
DOUGLAS BROWN, J
Care proceedings – application by a brother of the child in question to be joined as a party – factors to be taken into account.
Guardian ad litem – recommendation – where not followed court to state reason in its reasons.
Reasons – recommendation of guardian ad litem – court's reasons for not following recommendation to be clearly stated.
The father was English and the mother came from Central America. They had three children, all boys: S born in 1976, D born in 1979, and B born in 1984. The mother suffered from mental ill-health, spoke little English, and was isolated in the community. The local authority commenced care proceedings in respect of the child D. The eldest child, S, applied to the family proceedings court to be joined as a party to the proceedings. No evidence was called and the application was dealt with by way of submissions by the advocates. The local authority and the guardian ad litem opposed the application, but it was supported by the mother and father. The magistrates granted the application stating, in very brief reasons, that it was in D's best interests that S be joined as a party.
The guardian ad litem appealed.
Held – allowing the appeal: (1) The magistrates were wrong to grant the application by the elder brother to be joined as a party. They had applied the wrong principle in basing their decision on what would be in the best interests of the child who was the subject of the care proceedings. This was the same thing as stating that the child's welfare was paramount on such an application. This was not so. The correct test was to apply the criteria in s 10(9) of the Children Act 1989 coupled with the criteria in s 1(3) of that Act.
JR v Merton London Borough[1992] 2 FCR 174 and G v Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council[1993] 1 FCR 357 followed.
(2) The magistrates' reasons were inadequate. It was plain from their reasons that the magistrates had not, as they ought to have done, considered the relevant authorities (cited above). Further, although the court was not required to follow a guardian ad litem's recommendation if it had good reason not to do so, it must state that reason in its reasons for its decision.
S v Oxfordshire County Council[1993] 2 FCR 676 followed.
(3) The elder brother had no separate point of view or argument to put forward. There
was no value to the mother, nor to the child who was the subject of the proceedings, nor to the applicant himself, in the applicant being joined as a party and separately represented. His role was to be supportive to the mother and this he could do by being present in court, by giving evidence, and by otherwise assisting the mother in any way short of being a party. The decision of the magistrates could not stand and the elder brother's application to be joined as a party would be refused.
Re M (Minors) (Sexual Abuse: Evidence)[1993] 1 FCR 253 followed.
Statutory Provisions referred to:Children Act 1989, ss 1 and 10(9).
Family Proceedings Courts (Children Act 1989) Rules 1991, r 21(5) and (6).
Cases referred to in judgment:G v Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council[1993] 1 FCR 357.
JR v Merton London Borough[1992] 2 FCR 174; sub nom Re A (Minors) (Residence Orders: Leave to Apply) [1992] Fam 182; [1992] 3 WLR 422; sub nom Re A and Others (Minors) (Residence Order) [1992] 3 All ER 872.
M (Minors) (Sexual Abuse: Evidence), Re[1993] 1 FCR 253.
S v Oxfordshire County Council[1993] 2 FCR 676
Eleanor Hamilton for the guardian ad litem.
Margaret De Haas for the local authority.
Michael Sellars for the mother and the child S.
MR JUSTICE DOUGLAS BROWN....
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