I recently represented a father in care proceedings where the court was asked to consider whether his child should live with him or be adopted.
This is not an everyday care case. Adoption is the most extreme outcome – often if there are concerns with the parenting of a child, they may be assisted and put under supervision, or the child put into foster care or with another family member (where the parents can continue to have contact).
The Case Background
The facts of this case were that both parents had significant substance abuse, mental health, and domestic abuse histories; they met in rehab, left before their time there had finished and got pregnant soon after leaving.
The parents were known to the local authority even before the child was born, and ‘pre-proceedings’ were started to see if they could be assisted to address the above concerns during the pregnancy.
Unfortunately instances of substance misuse continued during pregnancy. The mother gave birth in difficult circumstances and the local authority immediately made an application to take the child into interim foster care while the court considered its welfare and where it should be cared for long-term.
The Father’s Commitment
The father states that when he met his child in the hospital after its birth his life changed in that moment and he vowed to get clean from substances and address all the concerns of the local authority in full.
The Parent Assessments
Both parents underwent rigorous assessments – regular hair strand and other testing for drugs and alcohol, parenting assessments, psychiatric assessments, and for the father, domestic abuse work.
The mother was very sadly and unfortunately not able to fight her addictions, and due to this and mental health concerns, withdrew from seeking to care for her child at quite an early stage in proceedings.
The question therefore became, had the father done enough to address all of the concerns of the local authority, or were the risks just too high for the child.
The Challenges and Obstacles
There were difficulties in the case from day one:
- the parenting assessment was delayed by approximately 2 months due to various administrative matters;
- the local authority seemed against the idea the father could change and so were not willing to consider he could be helped to do so.
Eventually the parenting assessment came back negative for the father. That would normally be the end of the road. How can you care for a child when you have been assessed as unfit to do so?
Nevertheless, on careful analysis we fully questioned the effectiveness and fairness of the assessment and made an application to have another one due to its failings (this time in a residential setting where the father would go to live with the child for a few months under constant supervision). This was initially refused by the court, but we did not get disheartened and the application was put on the backburner for later.
More Legal Battles and Delays
Eventually a final hearing was listed for early April of this year. However, it had to be adjourned (delayed and pushed back) due to the local authority not realising in time that key witnesses were not available to give evidence at this final hearing. This caused a 3-month delay and the next final hearing was to take place in June.
The mother had, since withdrawing from seeking to care for her child, supported the father in seeking to do so himself (though they were no longer together, they had remained on friendly terms).
The Guardian’s Assessment
Therefore, it was all down to what the Guardian said, who is appointed by the court to represent the rights and interests of the child. Due to their neutrality and expertise, what the Guardian says is almost always how the judgement goes, and so we waited with bated breath to see what the Guardian would say in this case.
The Guardian’s analysis came back negative for the father as well – she also thought adoption for the child was best and the risks of staying with the father too high.
The Final Hearing
Once again, we made our application for a further parenting assessment of the father in a residential setting.
The final hearing in June was being heard in front of magistrates (no legally trained people).
During the 4-day trial key witnesses give oral evidence and are questioned by each of the parties’ legal representatives (barristers) in court.
The parenting assessor was the first one up and was one of the most important witnesses as it was her evidence we had to convince the magistrates was faulty. The magistrates did not appear engaged, and interrupted the father’s barrister mid-questioning to tell him he was out of time (when he was not).
Then as our barrister continued, one of the magistrates fell asleep. This did not bode well – they were clearly not paying attention and seemed to have made up their minds even before the trial had begun: that this father was not getting his child back.
Our barrister continued questioning the witness. But after the magistrate fell asleep for the second time he could not let this stand and he called them out in court. The magistrates went out of the courtroom to discuss the matter and returned saying that they had never fallen asleep. A blatant lie as everyone in the court had seen it happen.
Our barrister said he would therefore be making an application to have the matter adjourned and put before a proper judge. The magistrates again left the room to discuss this, and came back to say the application was refused. Our barrister cleverly stated he had not in fact made the application yet, but had merely said he was going to… and the fact that the magistrates had dismissed it without even hearing the arguments, was automatically an appealable point.
The magistrates retreated again.
This time they came back and conceded that the trial could be adjourned and re-listed before a judge.
Another delay. But again, another lucky escape for the father as it had not looked like the magistrates would have given him a fair hearing.
The Next Final Hearing
The next ‘final’ hearing was to take place at the end of July.
We had 3 days of evidence: the parenting assessor and allocated social worker were both heavily cross-examined by the father’s barrister, and as we argued, had not done everything they could to see if the child could remain with its biological family.
The father was grilled on the second day for 3 hours straight – he stood up to this incredibly under heavy fire from the Guardian’s barrister in particular.
The Guardian came next and gave very compelling arguments to the contrary: the risks were too high of the father relapsing, and this would have devastating consequences for the child’s future.
The Judgement
The judgement was the following week and we were all on tenterhooks.
But, a miracle occurred.
The judge agreed with almost everything we had argued:
- that the parenting assessor had failed to consider key evidence, developments, nor analysed the evidence before her in reaching her conclusions;
- that the social worker equally had not properly understood the case, nor done everything she could to assist the child to remain with her biological family;
- that the Guardian had overstated her concerns and the judge did not feel that everything had been done at this stage that could have, and there was evidence lacking before she could make a final decision;
- that the father had evidenced over 12 months abstinence from alcohol and drugs (which the other parties had strongly argued against);
- and finally, that the father had been a credible and thoughtful witness, showing insight into his past and an ability to change.
The Challenges Ahead
The judge ordered a further adjournment (delay) in order to give the father a chance to go to a residential setting with his child to be assessed, to receive a further psychiatric assessment, and for a serious consideration of whether he could practically care for his daughter and what this may look like (including who could support him to do so) – all the things that should have happened before but had not.
A story of hope for a father and his child
We were not at the end of the road, but this judgement was significant. The father now had a chance to prove himself, and to do so in a situation where the professionals around him had not already written him off from the start. So long as he maintained his abstinence and good work, it felt like he now had a real chance.
Justice had been done.
Contact a Specialist Care Proceedings Solicitor
If you are facing care proceedings, it’s crucial to seek legal advice from a qualified solicitor specialising in children law. Our dedicated Family Law Solicitors can guide you through the process, ensure your rights are protected, and represent you in court. Please feel free to contact our specialist Care Proceedings Solicitors or call us on 020 8492 2290.
