J-A (Children)
2014
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
- LADY JUSTICE ARDEN
- LADY JUSTICE BLACK
- LORD JUSTICE BRIGGS
Areas of Law
- Family Law
- Civil Procedure
2014
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
This case concerns the appeal by the mother (M) against the care arrangement decisions made by Judge Jenkins. M contested the decision to place the children with their father (F) following findings of her failure to protect one child from significant harm. The judge decided in favor of F based on positive assessments of his capacity and the adverse findings against M. The Court of Appeal, led by Lady Justice Black, upheld the decisions, emphasizing the necessity of quick resolutions in the children's best interest and the credibility of findings and changed circumstances.
Judgment
Lady Justice Black :
This is an appeal against orders made by HHJ Jenkins on 16 October 2013 in relation to two children, an 8 year old boy who I will call MA and a 5 year old girl who I will call AA. The appellant is their mother (M). The appeal is opposed by the children's father (F), their guardian and the local authority (LA).
The proceedings before Judge Jenkins were care proceedings which began in June 2012 following the discovery that the children's half-sibling, I (then aged 9 months) had sustained serious injuries. Interim care orders were made in relation to all three children and remained in place until the judge made final decisions as to what the arrangements for their future should be. I's future was not resolved until January 2014. The decision that Judge Jenkins then took about him is not the subject of the present appeal. However, the judge felt able to make final decisions about the other two children in October 2013 when he refused M's application for an assessment by an independent social worker, instead making care orders in relation to them with a care plan that they should go to live with F who would be supported by his parents. Since the beginning of December 2013, the children have been living full time with F pursuant to this plan. They see M six times a year.
It is important to recognise that M was not putting herself forward as an immediate carer for the children in October 2013. As the judge recorded her position in his judgment of 16 October 2013, she acknowledged that she was not ready immediately to take on the children and needed guidance for the future, and she did not present any satisfactory evidence as to the practical arrangements she proposed for her care of them. She asked that the decision as to their future should be postponed whilst an independent social work assessment was carried out and she intended to seek guidance from the independent social worker.
It is also important to recognise that the judgment of 16 October 2013 was part of a sequence of judgments given by Judge Jenkins in this case, beginning with a crucial judgment handed down on 3 May 2013. The hearing leading up to that judgment examined the circumstances in which I had come to be injured. It was intended that it would be a final hearing resolving all of the issues in relation to the children and evidence as to their welfare was heard. This led the judge to rule M out as a carer for any of her children (§89) although he very properly