V & Anor (Children: Welfare), Re
| Court | Family Court (EW) |
| Judge | Mr Recorder |
| Neutral Citation | [2024] EWFC 69 (B) |
| Date | 31 January 2024 |
| Year | 2024 |
| Counsel | Ms Emma Harman |
IMPORTANT NOTICE
This judgment was delivered in private. The judge has given leave for this version of the
judgment to be published on condi"on that (irrespec"ve of what is contained in the judgment)
in any published version of the judgment the anonymity of the children and members of their
family must be strictly preserved. All persons, including representa"ves of the media, must
ensure that this condi"on is strictly complied with. Failure to do so will be a contempt of court.
This Transcript is Crown Copyright. It may not be reproduced in whole or in part other than in
accordance with relevant licence or with the express consent of the Authority. All rights are
reserved.
Neutral citation: [2024] EWFC 69 (B)
Case No: BH22P00361
IN THE FAMILY COURT AT BOURNEMOUTH & POOLE
Bournemouth Combined Court
Courts of Justice
Deansleigh Road
Bournemouth
BH7 7DS
Date: Wednesday 31 January 2024
RE V AND W (CHILDREN: WELFARE)
Before:
MR RECORDER VEAL
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Between:
A FATHER Applicant
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A MOTHER Respondent
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MS EMMA HARMAN (instructed by Ellis Jones Solicitors LLP) for the Applicant
MR STEPHEN LUE (instructed via Direct Access) for the Respondent
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JUDGMENT
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RECORDER VEAL:
1. The court continues to be concerned with V, who… is now 5 years old, and W,
who… is now 3 years old. The children’s mother is A and their father is B. I am
going to refer to them as “the mother” and “the father” respectively.
2. The father issued these proceedings on 29 June 2022, at which time he sought a
prohibited steps order and a child arrangements order. The mother issued a cross-
application on 1 July 2022.
3. A prohibited steps order made on 4 July 2022 by Deputy District Judge Lowe (as she
was at the time) remains in force. That prevented the mother from removing the
children from the UK or from applying for passports or other travel documents for the
children until further order.
4. For the period until June 2023, a chronology of the proceedings was set out in a
judgment that I gave on 23 June 2023 at a conclusion of the fact-finding hearing, and
that judgment is to be considered alongside this one: Re V and W (Children: Finding
of Fact) [2023] EWFC 233.
5. Additionally, on 5 July 2023, I gave a judgment dealing with certain welfare issues
which should also be considered alongside this judgment. On that occasion, the case
was timetabled through to a directions or early decision hearing on 14 November
2023.
6. At that November hearing, the mother invited the court to extend the proceedings. I
refused to do so and listed the case for this final hearing, which has taken place on 26,
30, and 31 January 2024.
7. I will come back to some of the intervening procedural history, which is of some
importance. I have read, however, a very full bundle of documents and I have been
very ably assisted during the course of the hearing by counsel for the parties and by
the father’s solicitors who have undertaken much of the preparatory work. I have
heard evidence from both parents, an expert psychologist called Dr F and, given that
this is a Practice Direction 36Z case, the author from Cafcass of the child impact
reports who is called Ms G.
8. It is important, given the need for there to be a record of the position as at today’s
date, and to enable future work to be undertaken by and with the family, that I give a
fairly full judgment. To that end, I am proposing to direct a transcript at the end.
However, the fact that I do not mention something in this judgment does not mean
that I have not fully considered everything. It is impossible, in fact, to refer to
absolutely everything that I have heard and read.
9. The parties’ positions, in summary, are these. The father seeks a final order that V
and W live with him and have only indirect contact with the mother. He says that the
mother does not accept the court’s findings and that she continues to perpetrate abuse,
with which he struggles. Until the mother addresses her own abusive behaviours, he
says, there is no direct contact which is safe. He also seeks that the prohibited steps
order dated 4 July 2022 and the s.91(14) order dated 12 October 2023 continue, and
that the non-molestation order made on 5 July 2023 be extended.
Page 2
10. The mother sought, at the hearing on 14 November 2023, an order, as I have said, that
the proceedings be extended in order to give her time to engage in a Domestic Abuse
Perpetrator Programme and that supervised contact continue in the interim. The court
declined that application, and her primary position today is that her contact with the
children does not need to be supervised at all. That is in slight contrast to the position
as set out in her final evidence dated 17 January 2024, in which she says she was
seeking a final order for shared care which mirrored that ordered on 21 July 2022.
However, it was submitted to me today that, if the court is not in agreement with the
mother, then the mother seeks for supervised contact to continue at this stage. The
mother opposes any application for no contact and she does not view indirect contact
as being able to meet the best interests of the children, whether in the short, medium,
or long-term.
11. There is no dispute in relation to the jurisdiction of the court. V and W are habitually
resident in England and Wales. It is also undisputed that both parents have parental
responsibility for the children.
Legal framework
12. Turning to the law, in my judgment of 23 June 2023, I set out the legal framework in
some detail and so I am not proposing to repeat all of that again.
1989. The issues for the court focus primarily on V and W and their needs. I keep
firmly in mind that in determining questions about their upbringing, it is V and W’s
welfare that is the court’s paramount consideration.
14. Any questions about their upbringing are questions that the court should try and
resolve without delay because delay is known to prejudice children’s welfare. I
should not make orders unless I can conclude it would be better for V and W than not
making an order. Subject to any questions about risk of harm, the presumption is that
the involvement of both of their parents in V and W’s lives will further their welfare.
15. When coming to the conclusions that I do, I have regard to certain welfare
considerations set out in s.1(3) of the Act.
and so any order that this court makes has to be weighed against the rights of those
affected to respect for their private and family life and their home.
17. In paragraph 24 of the judgment that I gave on 23 June 2023, I said this: “When
parents live separately, the starting point is that children should remain in contact
with the parent that does not administer their day-to-day care. That starting point is,
of course, always subject to the question of children’s welfare. Making an order for
no direct contact is a serious and draconian order.”
18. That starting point has been considered in case law and that reminds me that: “I
should not make an order for no contact unless I am satisfied that it is both necessary
and proportionate to do so, and that no other less radical form of order will achieve
the essential end goal of being in the children’s welfare interests whilst also
promoting the involvement of both the mother and the father in V and W’s lives.”
Page 3
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