Some recent decisions in the Family Court

Since the creation (on 22nd April - see post of 24th April) of the new Family Court for England and Wales, cases are being reported by Bailii under the headings of-

• England and Wales Family Court Decisions (other Judges)
• England and Wales Family Court Decisions (High Court Judges)

The following three reported decisions illustrate all too well the complex and difficult decisions required in this area of legal practice.   The decisions do not raise any new points of law but they are of interest because they illustrate well the anxious consideration given to the detail of the case by the judges involved.

• B & Ors (Fact Finding, Care Proceedings) [2014] EWFC B84 (8 July 2014- Her Honour Judge Brown (sitting at Milton Keynes) - 'I therefore make a Care Order and a Placement Order in respect of each of the three children. Given the seriousness and range of risks that these parents pose to their children separately and together, in my judgment these orders are the only realistic orders that can be made to safeguard these children's welfare. They are the only orders which will meet the children's need for a permanent family life. In my judgment they are necessary and proportionate to the risks posed to these children by their parents.'

• Lincolnshire County Council v KM & Ors [2014] EWFC B89 (07 July 2014) - His Honour Judge Swindells QC - 'In the children's best welfare interests I, therefore, make a care order based upon a plan of further intensive work with the maternal grandparents before the children are placed in their care.' 

• X (care and placement order) [2014] EWFC B86 (2 July 2014) - His Honour Judge Lynch (sitting at Leeds) - 'In this case, having carried out the balancing exercise that I must, I am satisfied that there is no realistic prospect of X being returned safely to her mother’s care or of being placed with her father, and that her needs for stability and permanence can only be met in an adoptive placement. I am satisfied that the local authority’s final care plan, as amended to allow for ongoing monthly contact between X and her parents until an adoptive placement is identified, is proportionate and .... in her best welfare interests. I therefore make a care order. Having also concluded that X’s welfare requires me to dispense with her mother’s consent to placing her for adoption, ..... , I therefore make a placement order authorising the local authority to place X for adoption.'