S (Children), Re (Rev 1)
2014
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
- LADY JUSTICE MACUR DBE
- SIR ROBIN JACOB
Areas of Law
- Family Law
2014
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The father appealed against a placement order for his daughter A-M, arguing the judgment was based on insufficient evidence and reasoning. The appeal was allowed, and an interim care order was substituted, with the case remitted for further directions and potentially a re-hearing.
Judgment
Lady Justice Macur DBE :
The father appeals against a placement order made in respect of his daughter A-M by HHJ Karp on 31 July 2013.
The central issue in this appeal is whether the judgment is based upon proper evidence and reasoned sufficiently to be compliant with the admonitions of the President of the Family Division in Re B-S (Children) [2013] EWCA Civ 1146 . That is, in accordance with In the Matter of W (A Child), In the Matter of H (Children) [2013] EWCA Civ 1177 @ paragraph 16 , focusing “on substance rather than form” and whether “the judge’s approach as it appears from the judgment engage with the essence.”
For the reasons given below, the appeal is allowed, an interim care order is substituted in place of the full care order made and the case is remitted to HHJ Karp for further case management directions and, ultimately re-hearing.
Despite the conspicuously skilful advocacy of Ms Markham, Counsel for the Respondent local authority, I am of the clear view that the judge was wrong to make the order without further assessment of the situation of the father and child and in any event did not adequately articulate her reasons to proceed to make a placement order in the circumstances of this case.
The facts must be referred to in a limited compass relating to the court proceedings to provide the context of the grounds of appeal argued by Mr Bainham on behalf of the father. It is, however, unnecessary to descend into detail of the circumstances which first triggered the intervention of, and then led to proceedings initiated by, the local authority.
A-M is now 5, nearly 6, one of the mother’s four children ranging in age from 1 to 12 years old. The eldest and youngest children have the same biological father, DdS. He has had little practical input into his children’s lives and is not concerned with the outcome of this appeal.
The Appellant is the biological father of D, now aged 10 and A-M. He has parental responsibility in relation to L, now aged 12, by virtue of his marriage to her mother at the time of her birth. The mother is from Portugal. The father is from Nepal. They were married in August 2002 and separated in late 2007, prior to A-M’s birth. Post separation, his contact with the children was limited to visiting contact of short duration until the beginning of 2012 when proceedings were issued by the local authority.
The father was implicated in the first social services referral in 2005 when a neighbour reported that t